You may expect to see holes at the seams of your favorite old tee that's seen better days. But finding a hole in a garment after one hour of wear? That's reason for a rant.
One Torrid shopper recently took to Reddit to express frustration over the plus-size brand's quality. As it turns out, the shopper isn't alone.
In the post on the r/Torrid subreddit, the customer reported getting "a few items with very poor-quality stitching," asking if others had a similar experience with the brand.
The shopper included pictures of two items they had problems with, including one that they wore for only an hour before noticing a hole at the seam. Another item — a simple T-shirt — had fabric from the body of the shirt sewn to the sleeve seam.
"Torrid's quality, in general, has gone down — but it also looks like their quality control for the basic act of sewing the dang clothes together is gone too," the shopper wrote in frustration. "It's really disappointing, and it just feels like I'm throwing money out the window."
The problem of poor quality clothing isn't isolated to one brand. Many shoppers report being unhappy with the longevity of their clothing from both moderately priced and luxury brands. And ongoing quality issues in fashion can have detrimental impacts on the planet.
According to Earth.org, more than 101 million tons of textile waste end up in landfills annually, with the average U.S. consumer throwing away an estimated 81.5 pounds of clothing in a single year. Globally, only about 12% of used clothing is recycled.
And fast fashion has accelerated the issue, as more clothes are produced cheaply, leaving consumers needing to replace items sooner than expected. By buying high-quality clothes instead of fast-fashion items, shoppers can save around $200 per year.
According to Torrid's 2023 sustainability report, the company has used "Environmental Impact Measuring software to evaluate a range of our denim products, comparing our current finishing processes to traditional finishing processes." That data is then used to see where improvements can be made. The company also noted recent achievements, including 56% of trim on clothing coming from recycled materials.
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Giving me money back 💰 Unfortunately, other shoppers have also had trouble with clothing from Torrid, reporting the brand's quality has decreased in recent years.
"My Torrid items from years past are going strong — but the new stuff is just not cutting it," one commenter wrote. "[I] bought pants and had to sew the seams up on every [pair] because there were similar holes."
"The quality of their leggings has plummeted," another commenter lamented. "The fabric is so, so thin now!"
Several commenters said the brand's quality doesn't match its price point. A T-shirt from the brand costs $35.90, while the pairs of jeans run from around $69.90 to $89.90. The brand's popular leggings, which many commenters said are of lesser quality than years ago, retail for $29.90.
"I used to love Torrid clothes from years ago — some still going strong," a commenter wrote. "But…more recent items have all had seam issues. I stopped shopping there because the clothes are too expensive now — even on sale — and the quality sucks."
"With clothing that expensive, there is no excuse for that amount of sloppy work in the tailoring," another commenter added. "I don't know why they started going downhill."
While a long-term solution to this clothing problem has to come from within the fashion industry, there is one solution that eco-minded shoppers can explore: shopping secondhand. Not only will thrifting clothing save you money and reduce your environmental footprint, but you could also stumble upon high-quality pieces at low prices. That sounds better than instant holes in a new tee.
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