I have noticed a lot of beautiful skating dresses appearing on e-bay recently that have been made in China, I have been tempted to buy, but am not sure about the conditions in which they are made, does anyone have any idea?

I don't know the conditions in which they're made but they're showing up at all the competitions and for anyone who's been around ebay a bit you can recognise them. It's like getting a dress from some mass market high street store - everyone knows where it came from.
Although there were two girls at the last competition with basically the same dress, one had it halter, the other had poppers at the shoulder. The poppers caused a "wardrobe" malfunction mid program and the poor girl was trying to do her poppers up whilst continuing on.
I have heard that if you watch ebay long enough you can always get a dress at the opening price in the auction and not the buy it now price, because they cycle around what's in the auction and it's a matter of being patient. Looking at them, there seems to be a tendency that no one outbids the person buying it at $1 on the basis that the shipping probably covers more than just shipping costs.

I bought one. I am really happy with the quality of the dress and was surprised how quickly it came. The price was bargain.

I can't comment on whether someone else will ever have the same one on a competition, but the dress I ordered is beautiful! Perhaps if you want to make sure that someone else doesn't have exactly the same, you can ask them to make it in a different colour. They did it for me. Or ask them to add the sleeves if it is a dress without sleeves...

One of my friends ordered a really pretty black and white one that came from China. There is also someone selling from (at least it says) Denver and I saw a lot of people in those at ANs. Some of the dresses on ebay though are WAY overdone. Sequins, stones, puffy paint (I think the puffy paint bugs me).

I saw one on there that would be perfect for my flamenco program, but I'm not using the music after this year and the classic, elegant goes-with-anything dress that I spent over $300 on when all was said and done (not to mention the time it took gluing 1000+ stones on it myself) and have only worn twice so far works just fine. Too bad the Hong Kong one doesn't have a longer skirt, otherwise it would be perfect for the paso/tango/argentine.

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A couple of my students have ordered them and one is a repeat buyer, and we've all been very happy with the dresses!

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- Ashley

When you ask about the conditions in which they are made, do you mean whether they are sweat-shop, made by children etc?
I have no idea how you would research that. Can anyone give tips on how to check that out?

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

I'd really like to know this too....

there are 2 dresses on ebay that appear to be knockoffs of a Rosiewear dress that I love. I wouldn't buy them because I don't feel right about it...but they are so much cheaper...

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There is also a dress that is identical to the one Mao Asada wore for her LP at the beginning of the last season.

So assessing my program for this year and plans for the next two years, I think I will be keeping the current music for 2 full seasons, this and next...I used it last year but the program was put together 3 weeks before ANs and competed once so that doesn't really count. So I did break down and order the one on there I liked (since I need another freestyle dress for compulsories and spin/jump events, and my current free dress would work fine for that). She is making the skirt a little longer so the dress can double for the paso/argentine, since it's chiffon the extra length will be fine for freestyle. I also asked her not to put any stones on it since I enjoy doing that myself and have a different way I'd like them than what was pictured (there were not a lot on this dress).

This dress is actually almost EXACTLY what I was going to make last year to go with this program, but don't have the time and for the $55 this dress will end up costing (before I add stones), it's not even worth trying to make it.

I'll report back when it arrives

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Update on my dress: Wow they are FAST. My auction ended at 11pm on Monday (so 11am Tuesday in China). I had an email from the lady this morning letting me know it shipped. It should arrive in 4-7 days.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

My DD picked out one for her new program and it is absolutely beautiful. We were talking about the Chinese dress issue at a competition this summer and one of the ladies in the dressing room had 5! She has them make the skirts longer than pictured as she is very modest and otherwise made exactly to her measurements - which was great to know because DD's dress was big in the waist. At the prices that we have to pay for anything else, including the new boots and blades she'll need this year, I love being able to save money somewhere!

I don't know about in the USA or Canada, but here in the UK you can get dinged for customs duty and VAT on skating dresses imported from abroad (guess how I know that!), so be careful.

I believe clothing factories in China offer better conditions to their workforce than some in Eastern Europe do - I, personally, wouldn't worry about buying clothing from them on that score, only on the Customs front. But one doesn't always get dinged, only sometimes!

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Mrs Redboots
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I think it depends what they say the item is. I believe if they state it's a gift then custom does not apply.

I've recently ordered one of the dresses, I won it last Friday and had the 4-7day email today, so I will update if I have to pay custom on it once it arrives.

Having bought a couple of dresses from China from Ebay, I would say they are worth buying. However, a word of caution if you are over about 5ft 4 as I'm 5ft 8 and on trying them on discovered they are a tad on the short side, so they really are for the shorter person.

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I've bought other stuff off of Ebay that came from other countires and never had an issue with customs.

I'm glad it looks like I'll have mine in time for testing on the 23rd (even if I don't have time to get stones for it), that way I have time to take it for a test drive and make any necessary ajdustments and add stones before I compete in it on Sept 6th.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

I have a dress from China which fits exactly as they stated, arrived FAST, and I love it! I also have a student who has 2. I'd definitely order from them again.

ETA--I am 6 feet tall w/ a long torso--no length problems at all!

I ordered the dress from China and did not have to pay customs duty and VAT. (I live in the UK). Though when I ordered one from USA I did have to pay customs and it cost about £50!

I think if you are careful about the size charts, it should be fine. DD is 5'8" with a girth of 67 so we went with the AXL and it definitely is not too short.

The limit used to be that the cost price couldn't be more than £18 for mail order coming into the UK before customs gets interested and double that on a gift. But as people say, some things seem to slip through the net. You can check what the limit is for mail order if you go on the HMRC website, if you are worried but because of the distinction about gifts and the cost declared you are at the mercy of the supplier on what they put on the customs declaration.

I agree! I don't like the over done dresses either! I would never buy dd one of those horrible and totally tacky dresses... YUCK. I think her coach would croak if I showed up with one! LOL. Maybe if I could buy one for 1.00 including shipping, I might buy one as a JOKE just to see dd's coaches reaction, but other then that, no way, no how! LOL

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

I think puffy paint + skating dresses just gives me horrible flashbacks to the early 90s when my synchro team (well, it was called precision team back then) would get our finished competition dresses dresses, which were usually already hideous, and the coach and team manager would decide that something was "missing"....and since we were not allowed sequins, rhinestones, etc...usually that meant some sort of puffy painted fugliness would be added to our already horrid dresses. For example, in the photo below from 1993, as if the fact that we skated to The Country Bears Jamboree and had to wear homemade white Davy Crockett hats were not traumatizing enough, they added lace appliques covered in puffy paint:



It's a wonder I'm still around after some of the fug I've had to wear over the years This was not the worst I had to wear but it was the only example I had handy. I think this is why, as an adult and now that I'm skating singles, I'm going nuts with the dresses. Because I need to make up for all the ugly I was forced to wear.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Oh, dear - I won't go so far as to say that I actually LIKE painted dresses, but I have one anyway. From eBay. My daughter, who has that fashion sense typical of nine-year-old aspiring artists, chose it. She saw some girls (her own age, mind you!!!!) wearing similar ones at our rink and thought that a hand-painted dress would be very pretty for me too. So I bought this one with her wholehearted approval (and because it was sale priced so not too painful an invenstment for something I'll wear once or twice). I will probably wear it for a beginner-level interpretive program at Adult Mids, assuming they have an introductory level interpretive event again (they did last year). It's okay - overdone with paint and all kinds of sparkles, but okay. Goes nicely with my sparkling personality. It has a longer point skirt, which helps - at least it covers most of the hips, and the thunder thighs.

Okay, I'm admitting to cluelessness here ... please forgive me, I'm HOCKEY going back generations, not a lot of decoration on hockey stuff

What IS puffy paint? Anybody got some examples, because I'm completely intrigued ... it just sounds so weird.

Paint that explodes outward after you paint it on. It's truly amazing stuff. Really fun to use, although it's not necessarily the height of fashion. The only garment I own with puffy paint on it is a pink painted hockey jersey somebody in my rec group made for me. Very ironic!!

This is not to say that hand-painted dresses are ALL tacky. I've seen some very beautiful hand-painted dresses, both skating dresses and evening wear. And the point of rhinestones and sequins is not necessarily to look great close up--they have to look good from whatever distance people are going to be watching you from--which means you need about ten times as many crystals as look attractive and classy close up--otherwise they generally can't be seen at all!

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Okay, NOW I recognize the puffy paint stuff - thanks! I was getting it confused with handpainting, which can be very attractive.

You're so right about the rhinestone stuff: Piles of SS30 Swarovskis look tacky up close, but, darn, they look good on the ice ! Just like stage or competition makeup, if you think about it ...