With all the complaints you’ve seen online about clothing and other items being the wrong size or maybe not sized for life-sized humans, you may be wondering if Amazon ever takes the time to authenticate what they sell. Or rather, if they sell authentic clothes in the first place.
These are essential things to think about when shopping for clothes on Amazon because you don’t want to spend your money on poor-quality clothes or items you will never wear or return.
So, if you are planning to buy clothes from Amazon and you would like to have all the bases covered before the purchase, this article is for you. Even with Amazon ShopFront and Influencers recommending clothes that you can buy on Amazon, it helps to take time to research and understand the marketplace.
Are the clothes on Amazon real?
We live in the era of fake products, with the rate at which counterfeits are flooding the market very alarming. It is one of the biggest problems in the consumer market today, and it’s not just limited to the online landscape. It is more rampant online, though, and what you may not have realized is that most of the product listings on Amazon tend to be counterfeit because the products are not actually sold by Amazon but by different third-party sellers from all over the place. Of course, all these third-party sellers are not selling counterfeits, and a good number of these sellers are actually authentic and upstanding sellers. Unfortunately, an awful lot of these third-party sellers are always peddling fakes.
An investigation carried out by the Wall Street Journal supports the arguments above, revealing that Amazon recently listed not hundreds but thousands of unsafe, banned, and even mislabelled products, ranging from electronics to children’s products, all with fake certification documents. Similar reports/ claims were made by The Verge in a report where they found that even in some of Amazon’s own product listings, there were impostor sellers hijacking these products, and you’d have to be extra vigilant when shopping on Amazon. This is topped by the report compiled by CNBC, which discovered that Amazon has, in the past (several occasions), shipped expired foods that include baby formula. All these reports point to Amazon’s inability to fully monitor some of the most basic details of the products they sell, including expiration dates, which points to a bigger rot in the system, and that you shouldn’t be surprised to find many counterfeit clothes today.
With the proliferation and an increase in the number of counterfeits sold on Amazon, and the online retailer’s seeming unwillingness to join forces in a bid to fight the counterfeiters, you’d have to take extra precautions when shopping on Amazon. Keep in mind that such issues are what drove big brands like Nike to pull their products from Amazon.
That said, Amazon appears to be trying to fight the counterfeits, although it goes without saying that they are not doing enough to combat the menace.
If you are thinking of buying clothes off Amazon, you may be wondering if you should even consider making the purchase in the first place. And if the clothes sold on Amazon are even real. Well, the clothes are, without a doubt, real. But if you are going to shop for clothes on Amazon, knowing all too well that the clothes you are interested in could easily be counterfeits from the third-party sellers, you’d want to be a little more cautious in your purchase. We’ll share tips on how to shop safely on Amazon.
But first,
How many Clothing brands are on Amazon? (Including the third party sellers or the sold by Amazon)
With over 20,000 product listings in the Clothing category, Amazon would easily be your go-to place to shop for the best quality clothing. And though there are times when you would be unlucky, and you’d get fakes delivered to you, you can still find real and legitimate clothing options to choose from. This is made possible by the fact that Amazon has product listings from some of the biggest clothing brands on the market.
Today, Amazon boasts over 50 clothing/ fashion labels that sell everything from workwear and lingerie to baby clothes and athleisure styles, among others. The market share taken by the third-party sellers as of July 2021 stands at 56%.
Why does Amazon have so many clothing brands?
With 66 out of Amazon’s 74 sub-brands dealing in apparel, it might be confusing to know who to choose from, which really is the biggest challenge for most shoppers. But it begs the question, why have all these many brands and sub-brands? Well, it all has to do with the bottom line. With a large audience and the fact that Amazon offers the lowest prices, especially for clothing, sellers often throng Amazon, all of them hoping to make sales.
Unfortunately, the fashion category isn’t Amazon’s most profitable category, and it would seem that their decision to involve or allow multiple sellers is an attempt at increasing sales by offering lower prices. This hasn’t been a very successful strategy for them, however, especially with Walmart and Target being their biggest competitors.
In other words, the numbers point to Amazon’s attempt at being profitable, especially in the clothing industry. Though they are not always successful, they have a number of house labels that offer high-quality clothes, which is a reason why Amazon remains an unbeatable brand.
Are Amazon clothes good quality?
Although there are some third-party sellers that sell lower-quality clothes, most of the clothes from the bigger brands are actually of great quality. You just need to take your time to research and make sure that what you are buying is a good buy.
So, how do you make sure that the clothes you order off Amazon meet your high-quality standards。
How to find high-quality clothes on Amazon?
1.Filters
When it comes down to shopping for the best products on Amazon, and not just clothes, the most important thing to do would be to make the most out of the filters. One of these filters is the Amazon Prime filter, and it will save you from so many headaches and heartaches.
While there are multiple cute clothes on Amazon, they often have weird shipping plans offered, especially because these sellers would be overseas, which would also mean that you are not buying clothes from the brand you thought you were buying from. So, to protect your finances and peace of mind, and to ensure the quality of the clothes you are buying, filter the sellers/ clothes using Amazon Prime.
If you are wondering if Amazon Prime is worth it, the answer is – many times yes. It might not seem like it at first, but paying for this service means that you reduce your chances of being scammed, and that means access to high-quality clothes.
2.Know what to search for
If you are looking for a nice dress, you may be tempted to just type in the word dress or a cute dress. Unfortunately, this is the biggest mistake you could make because there are thousands of cute dresses on Amazon, and they are all peddled by all kinds of sellers, meaning that you may end up with the lowest quality dress after 2-3 weeks and lost money.
To avoid such mistakes, think of the features of the dress you are interested in, then type in that. So, instead of a ‘work dress,’ you could type in ‘Sheath dress’ for better results. Such a level of specificity is important because it ensures that you can access the best dresses from top brands such as Calvin Klein.
In other words, you should think of polishing up your vocabulary to make sure that you use more specific words and filter out the unnecessary results
3.Start your search from a different site or app.
Apps like LIkeittoknowit or Shopbop would be ideal for you to kick off your search for the best clothing options to buy from Amazon because most of the time, the best and the chicest clothes and accessories are listed on these pages, meaning that you will have an idea of exactly what you need to buy by the time you are logged into Amazon.
The best part about these sites is that they allow you to shop from the biggest fashion/ clothes brands, and you will also learn about the newer brands offering the best clothes you didn’t know you needed.
4.Learn more about the bigger Amazon clothes brands
There are over 50 brands you could shop from and many new brands that you may not have heard about before.
These brands offer a great variety at great prices, and you’ll also enjoy fast shipping because they are local brands. Some of these in-house brands include Luna Coalition and Cable Stitch, or even Paris Sunday, and they all promise the best quality clothes to build or revamp your wardrobe.
You could also stick to the good ol’ fashion brands that you know and love like Ann Taylor, Calvin Klein, Adidas, Levi’s, Timberland, etc.
The good news is that once you start shopping from these brands regularly, they will be recommended to you more often, and as long you know the size, you will have an easier time shopping without worrying about the third-party sellers that often sell knockoffs from these reputable brands.
5.Try your luck with Amazon’s fashion lines
You can find a good selection of authentic clothes from Amazon’s Our Brands checkbox, where you will find 50+ labels all owned by Amazon and selling good quality outfits and accessories for everyone. These brands include GoodThreads, Amazon Essentials, and Lark & Ro.
6.Always go through the reviews
And be objective when reading the reviews. Go through the 4-star and the 1-star reviews to identify common threads, and look for things like the material’s quality (flimsy), sizing, and the overall quality of the garments. Phrases to be keen about include – fabric doesn’t hold up too well, the sizing is off, the material feels and looks flimsy. Check the 5-star ratings too to identify the features that make that outfit a winner for these happy shoppers.
Other tips
- Always browse the Bargains section
- Go to the Own Outlet pages
- Take advantage of the virtual sales associate
Conclusion
Amazon sells authentic clothes, but there are fake/ counterfeits on this marketplace too, which is why you have to be extra vigilant when shopping on Amazon. Avoid little-known brands with long shipping periods, and read the reviews thoroughly.
Tiger is a fashion&jewelry lover. He is also a fashion jewelry manufacturer that help thousands of small business to grow and also do business with some big fashion jewelry brands. He is a truly metal expert and he will share some information you are looking for.