H&M men's skirted cancelled

[wichor]

H&M stopped their global spread of men's skirts. they announced earlier they would start selling skirts for men in March (this appeared in a national free Dutch newspaper)

Now they back off completely, they are not on sale, and will not be in the near future.

I hate it when they just attract lots of attention and then back off just because some people tend to ciritisize them (don't know if it's because of that that they backed off, or that they never intended to do so).

[crfriend]

Alright, that just plain stinks. I was hoping that we'd actually see somebody move forward.

Thanks for the news. I guess I can avoid them now.

[skirts4me]

Greetings follow skirted men, and those who support us.

Recently there were several comments floating around about H&M advertising a skirt and it not being available.

In my capacity as Australian media rep for men-in-skirts.org I have been doing some work behind the scenes to find out what really happened, or as well as anyone outside the company's decision-making section can do.

According to information provided to me by the company, the skirt was withdrawn from circulation because of problems with the quality of the workmanship involved its making. Some people may wish to jump on that and say it's an excuse to cover what happened. I'm not willing to do that, and at this stage I would encourage others not to do so either. I have known of some high-publicity items, with very widespread appeal and being offered by major international businesses, which have been withdrawn because the manufacturer couldn't maintain the required standard of work.

Again, according to my informant (and I'm not aware that this is restricted information), H&M intends having skirts and kilts available for us for the northern autumn. If/when I hear anything to update that I will post on all the sites I frequent.

Keep skirting men-folk, and please keep supporting us everyone else.

[Ryan]

skirts4me, or Steve,

Thanks for the information about H&M's postponed plans to sell their man's skirts. When I Googled "H&M skirts for men," I found this: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/h ... toViewer=1

I didn't see any mention of H&M plans to see the skirt. But I think it's a spiffy skirt. I would buy one. What do you think? Would you buy one?

Do you have any further news about H&M's plans to sell this skirt?

You said:

<<According to information provided to me by the company, the skirt was withdrawn from circulation because of problems with the quality of the workmanship involved its making.>>

I'm glad that H&M is concerned about the quality of the workmanship of the skirt. This contrasts to Banana Republic. I often buy my skirts at Banana Republic. While I know BR only sells "woman's skirts," I like them and they fit me. But workmanship is another story. Most of BR's skirts (and other garments) are badly sewn. Often I have to buy several skirts to settle on one that's reasonably sewn well.

For example, I bought a gray melange pencil skirt a few weeks ago. It's nicely styled and made from a blend of 55% linen and 45% cotton (you could even wash it in water or dry clean it). Two flaws, the stitching around the zipper in the back was lumpy and the slit would now lay flat but stick out like a tail. (Although I tried on the skirt at BR, I couldn't find these flaw until I tried it at home.)

I bought a second sample. The slit would like flat, but the front of the skirt was sewn unevenly and fabric bunched around. Instead of looking smooth, the front showed depressions and valleys. A third sample was even worse and I didn't test the slit on this one. Will I try a fourth sample. I don't know. These skirts were made in Thailand. Perhaps BR should switch their contractors.

Anyhow, I can't wait to see the workmanship of H&M's new skirts. No doubt its quality will be better than BR and I hope I won't have to buy more than one sample of H&M's skirt to be pleased. (Is H&M taking "pre-orders?)

RYAN

[skirted_in_SF]

Geeze, Banana Republic is supposed to be the upscale Gap brand. I have five Gap or Old Navy cotton ruffle skirts and the workmanship seems to be ok on them. But they are elastic waist with no pesky zipper to install poorly.

Lands' End make good quality products but they might be a bit dowdy for your taste. I bought a skirt from them that was supposed to be high knee length (according to the picture) and when I wore it it turned out to be bottom the the knee or even a bit longer. Lucky for me I had a tip on an alterations shop in San Francisco's Chinatown that shortened it three inches for a small sum of money.

[Ryan]

Hi Skirted in SF,

Thanks for replying. You said, partly:

<< Geeze, Banana Republic is supposed to be the upscale Gap brand. >>

I never thought of BR as the "upscale GAP brand." But that might be an accurate depiction, or at least what BR want's us to think.

<< I have five Gap or Old Navy cotton ruffle skirts and the workmanship seems to be ok on them. But they are elastic waist with no pesky zipper to install poorly.>>

Have you ever bought a skirt from BR? The sewing quality with the three samples of skirts I complained about was not just about zippers poorly "installed." I also complained about how the fabric were unevenly sewn to the waist bands. The front of the skirt would not look flat because the fabric had "hills and valleys." One sample also had some "puckered" seams. And the slit on one sample would not lie flat but would stick out and look like you had a "tail."
BR's suit jackets are particularly badly sewn. And BR's "Monogram" collection is supposed to be their "premium" line. The fabric may be better, and the garments more stylish, but don't think the craftsmanship is that much better than their regular line.

Maybe I'm too picky, but buy some BR skirts and other garments and check out my complaints for yourself

<< Lands' End make good quality products but they might be a bit dowdy for your taste. >>

I've never bought anything from Lands' End. From what I saw at their web site, some of their products do look "dowdy." But when I clicked on their "School Uniforms" for Woman, I saw several skirts that didn't look dowdy. Three examples:

School Uniform Women's Pleat Front Stretch Cargo Skirt
http://www.landsend.com/pp/StretchCargo ... igin=index

School Uniform Women's Regular Uniform Plaid A-line Skirt
http://www.landsend.com/pp/UniformPlaid ... igin=index

School Uniform Women's Regular Solid Pleated Skirt
http://www.landsend.com/pp/UniformSolid ... igin=index

Surprisingly, these skirts are also offered as "regular" woman's skirts. Maybe I might order a couple of garments from Lands End. But it seems that Lands' End have stores inside some nearby SEARS. So I might go there to see and feel the garments, and avoid your pitfall (see below).

<< I bought a skirt from them that was supposed to be high knee length (according to the picture) and when I wore it it turned out to be bottom the the knee or even a bit longer. >>

Unlike most other purveyors of woman's skirts, Lands' End don't give any measurement of their skirts' length. Regrettably, as you learned, what they consider "knee length" is ankle length on you. I don't suppose you're some sort of midget, are you?

<< Lucky for me I had a tip on an alterations shop in San Francisco's Chinatown that shortened it three inches for a small sum of money. >>

I'm glad you were able to shorten the skirt to your liking. Did you put on the skirt while the tailor measure it? Or did you just ask the tailor to shorten the skirt three inches?

When I had a sheath dress altered, among the alterations I wanted were the hips tapered, the shoulders lifted and shortened, and the hem length shortened. I remember the tailor's clever technique to shorten the hem. With the shoulders pinned to the new length, he measured the distance between the floor and the dress's hem. He then asked me to raise the hem to my preferred height. I raised it to just above my knee, which he agreed was a good height. As I held the dress, he again measured the distance between the floor and dress' hem. The difference between the two distances determined how much fabric he must cut. Clever, no? (I regret I did not pay a "small sum of money" for all those alterations. )

BTW, are you from San Francisco or do you live there? I visited SF a couple of times. Beautiful city, although it's one big shopping mall. The last time I was there was in '95. I wasn't skirting then, but I like to visit SF again. This time I would like to go skirting. Have you worn skirts or freestyle fashion publicly in SF? If so, what have you worn and how friendly (or unfriendly) is SF towards men wearing skirts or freestyle fashion?

That's all for now.

Thanks again for your reply.

RYAN

[skirted_in_SF]

Unlike most other purveyors of woman's skirts, Lands' End don't give any measurement of their skirts' length. Regrettably, as you learned, what they consider "knee length" is ankle length on you. I don't suppose you're some sort of midget, are you?

<< Lucky for me I had a tip on an alterations shop in San Francisco's Chinatown that shortened it three inches for a small sum of money. >>

I'm glad you were able to shorten the skirt to your liking. Did you put on the skirt while the tailor measure it? Or did you just ask the tailor to shorten the skirt three inches? RYAN

I think LE provides lengths on some of their skirts (sometimes on the second tab of the description) but they are inconsistent. I recently bought two more skirts from them to wear while hiking. As I recall, none of the images showed them on a model but they were all described as being knee length or short. What I did was write down the item number of the four I was interested in and then click the link on the site to start an online chat. A person came on in a few seconds and I gave them the four numbers. They gave me the lengths in return. It's a good service that I've used before.

What I did was pin the skirt up at home trying different lengths. I left it pinned at the length I wanted. It was a very simple slightly A-line skirt with no slit so it was a relatively easy job.

BTW, are you from San Francisco or do you live there? I visited SF a couple of times. Beautiful city, although it's one big shopping mall. The last time I was there was in '95. I wasn't skirting then, but I like to visit SF again. This time I would like to go skirting. Have you worn skirts or freestyle fashion publicly in SF? If so, what have you worn and how friendly (or unfriendly) is SF towards men wearing skirts or freestyle fashion?
RYAN

Except for three years when I foolishly moved to Seattle (1989 - 1992), I have lived in SF continually since 1978. Read my post about finally living up to my user name and you will find that yes, I do wear my skirts freely. I had absolutely no comments on what I was wearing. The attitude might be summed up by the answer I got from the owner of the nail salon that I go to. I asked her if she or her customers would mind if I wore a skirt to her shop. She said no, this is San Francisco, people wear what they want. She also implied that she has other male customers that wear skirts to her shop.