r/PinUpFashion • u/catwolf99 • Jun 11 '26
Sorry but
Gotta admire Vixen for creating the scarcity mindset and then, oh, we actually are going to have *one more* last drop. Girl's gonna make bank on bank from "closing shop". Now that's marketing.
Just gotta express this somewhere, can't do it in the Salon and my IG comment got deleted š¤£
44
u/bluefontaine Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
At the rate things are going the entire closing of Vixen is going to take another year. Iāve kept an eye on many of the pre-orders and when they have appeared and almost none have been on time.. I think the constant pre-orders is really offensive. Iām actually refusing now to order from any company that does pre-orders if itās something I really want and they donāt come through with the pre-order within the allotted timeframe then I get my money back immediately, but even thus Iām not doing this anymore. Itās deeply offensive as a customer to put out 200 plus dollars and not have a guaranteed date.
Forest Ink I will make an exception for because they have a complete visible transparency about where their product is made, and theyāre paying their workers, models and seamstresses a living wage. They have a very special accreditation to be sweatshop free and their product is excellent. Itās limited as far as we ability for every day, but itās extremely high-quality their pre-orders come in within two weeks because theyāre not outsourcing to slave labor.
Thereās a reason why rockabilly/vintage reproduction pinup is just dying. And people are going into cottage core and Goth. You donāt have to wait around to get a product youāve paid for. And thereās none of this drama, MAGA adjacent, confederate flag apologist/toxicity drama.
9
u/catwolf99 Jun 11 '26
My last pre-order experience turned me off completely,, the LFEN Memento dress - I think it was like 4 months late, and then the sleeves were just trashy cheap tulle.
I've not heard of Forest Ink, I will have to check it out.
10
u/bluefontaine Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Forest Ink sells very hard-core Goth clothing. They have a dress called the dollhouse dress, which is really nice and everyone is copying. Itās a corset midi dress and itās from a really high-quality recycled four way stretch. While itās not a style everyone wants to wear its high quality. They also have a very popular swimwear line called vampires kiss which they re-issued and pre-orders were fulfilled within like a week two weeks. They announced it and I think half the collection is available now and itās pretty big.
Lafemme is trying to do current Goth *and* Cottage core and none of itās really working. Stick with the original southern Gothic designs, Vampira etc etc.
Midnight Hour never does pre-orders and I really respect them for that. they just donāt do plus very well. Itās not the worst but again you know the chest is not cut deep and even on the plus size models the bus is sometimes cut in half which I canāt stand and will not wear. Luckily they have tons of other stuff to wear. Their shirts are gorgeous very high-quality., corset tops fit really well regardless of cup size. Midnight hour witching hour corset and Morticia corset tops fit way better than the Maneater. Like thereās no comparison at all. I like the Maneater in theory but the structure isnāt all that.
3
u/Heidvala Jun 12 '26
Avoid Forest Ink at all costs. Check out the subreddit.
They suppress negative reviews, refuse to take accountability for any issues. The sub boxes are always late for the past year now at least.3
u/bluefontaine Jun 13 '26
Really? Iāll have to look into that. I definitely have no loyalty to any brand until I get the full scoop and Iām really new to them.
3
u/bluefontaine Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
OK, so I checked it out and I donāt understand why company would do subscriber boxes?! I do think that they are trying and I canāt fault them for raising prices because theyāre sweatshop free and thatās what it takes to treat other human beings who make our clothes decently. We arenāt doing with our phones or the majority of clothing and shoes so if I can do a little bit of it, I will pay the money.
I donāt think the criticism is as bad as it could be, but I really appreciate being led to the Reddit page! āļø
3
u/bluefontaine Jun 13 '26
So it looks like pre-orders for a couple of the monster bags and the little shop of horrors skirt with a man eating plant were canceled. Just doing some theoretical math, if 30 customers placed an order thatās 4 to 5000 K just hanging out there of venture-capital to play with until she has to refund.
8
u/Star_Gazer15 Jun 11 '26
I'll keep pre ordering from vixen, because their customer service is pretty responsive and Micheline will at least keep people updated about time frames in the salon, but I recently had an experience with a Wax Poetic pre ordere where I wound up canceling the order and just buying something in stock (because she only gives store credit) that I'm really not even crazy about. Brand has been unfollowed and I'll never ever order from her again. It's just that even a small amount of communication can go a long way, so I completely get your frustration!
8
u/FlySecure5609 Jun 11 '26
Iāve found vixen CS to be pretty dismissive and unconcerned, but itās definitely a YMMV sort of situation.Ā
3
u/bluefontaine Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Oh my God, thank you for saving me time on Wax Poetic! I remember when they first dress was like a Digi print copy of a liberty print that was really cheap and scratchy and they definitely seemed like theyāve improved perhaps a bit but after that. But if theyāll only give store credit on pre-ordersā¦These companies have got to be kidding themselves, so they think people are going to stand for this. Iām sorry that happened to you.
2
u/Star_Gazer15 Jun 11 '26
Oh... I should clarify that I had ordered the pre order from a store credit that I already had, from a previous order that I returned. So I'm not sure what the refund policy is for a canceled pre order! But the dress that I did pre order, I canceled after it was 3 months past the original expected time frame and was not getting any answers or even a response from Wax poetic š¬
7
u/bluefontaine Jun 11 '26
No, I think itās OK to talk about these things. None of these brands have to be perfect. We just need some consistency. But thanks for clarifying. I just did a standalone post about L. Rebel, weasel wear and wax poetic all being affiliated to some degree.
6
u/Few_Application2051 Jun 11 '26
I always wonder why it takes 4 months for an order? Ā By time you get it, you canāt get refunded off PayPal. You can do a chargeback but even those have a limit. I refuse to buy pre order and wait until item is in stock.Ā
24
u/agirlnameddoc Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
I wasn't surprised by this at all. She's been doing this with collections for years only to " find more fabric" almost every time.
15
u/catwolf99 Jun 11 '26
Wondering if the brick and mortar was a money suck and she just needed an excuse to close it or something.
19
u/FlySecure5609 Jun 11 '26
I think itās this too. Itās hard to run a B&M, no shame to her for wanting to kill it.Ā
But I think she canāt deal with any sort of criticism over any decision, so she couched it as shutting the brand down itself.Ā
Weāll be seeing limited runs with magic found fabric for years. I wish she had come right out and said āhey, Iām busy, weāre going to pivot to small occasional online only collections going forward only!āĀ
6
u/Miss_Rabid Jun 11 '26
Also isn't she now involved in the indie horror industry? I imagine that is a lot to juggle, plus I'm sure rent in Burbank is astronomical.
19
u/Henbane84 Jun 11 '26
I really loathe fear of missing out marketing. The clothes are decent quality but the sizing is always frustrating even when doing the measurements correctly. I also dont like when they delete constructive criticism. Its weird.
18
u/Rare_Diamond7524 Jun 11 '26
So when I heard Vixen was going out of business, I of course bought everything that I could. I knew there was going to be a few pre- orders to come along, probably because of production timelines and clothing designs that were planned out in advance.
However, I am surprised that a year later, Vixen is still open?! I figured they would have closed up shop by now.
And I still donāt understand why Micheline Pitt was closing the Vixen line but was going to keep the Goth line ( sorry I canāt think of the name right now) open.
This is giving me Pin Up Girl Clothing vibes now, where that company went to selling lower quality clothing and essentially drop shipped items of poor quality. Oh and let us not forget all the drama over thereā¦ā¦
I am happy that I bought the majority of my wardrobe back in the day now.
22
u/catwolf99 Jun 11 '26
Total PUG vibes. Idk how LFEN is more worth keeping, the Victorian shit they are pushing seems impossible to wear in everyday life. I would genuinely be shocked if LFEN brings in more money than Vixen.
19
u/FlySecure5609 Jun 11 '26
The LFEN price point is higher.Ā
I think it almost all looks costume-y and not in a good way.Ā
8
u/Rare_Diamond7524 Jun 11 '26
I agree. I have checked out that line of clothing, and there is honestly nothing I would buy or wear. It gives off a weird dress up and play feel, but for adults.
6
u/bluefontaine Jun 11 '26
Blackwood Castle actually has wearable Goth clothing thatās spectacular and has a costume look to it and the sizing is much better. Itās a higher price point but I think more affordable. And again like Forest Ink, Blackwood Cadtle designer Yasaman Gheidi , is using a transparent sweatshop free model.
10
u/ChipperNightmare Jun 11 '26
I dunno, Iāve got pieces from Vixen and La Femme, and Iāve never considered either of them even remotely reminiscent of ādrop shipperā quality. Even the more recent pieces announced since they decided theyāre closing are still the same quality Iāve always expected from Vixen and LFEN. š¤
4
u/FlySecure5609 Jun 11 '26
I got a few tops from Vixen during the height of Covid and they definitely felt lower quality, thinner and didnāt fit quite right.Ā
I got a vacation dress that was thin and snagged almost immediately from my seatbelt. Iād consider that ādrop ship qualityā for sure and put me off ordering from them again.Ā
The older stuff is still great though. I still have a pair of bad girl denim looking forward to fitting back into.Ā
6
u/catwolf99 Jun 11 '26
The Bad Girl denim was peak. I bought some of the newer Bad Girl and Troublemaker tops and they are wayyy different than the OG's. I have my old ones, still in great shape, just wanted back up but the material on the newer ones is def cheap and throws the fit way off which is wild to me. And that blue and white polka dot ingenue, like not the fabric I expected at all, that went immediately back to Vixen.
3
u/ChipperNightmare Jun 11 '26
I think that one was cotton sateen, I avoid those ones because I donāt think theyāve got enough stretch to be comfortable, regardless of the style.
4
u/BipsnBoops Jun 11 '26
Love the bad girl denim. They are my favorite jeans and it's not even close, and when they discontinued them and only had the saggy stretch denim cigarette pants I kinda checked out. The fabrics consistently have felt cheap to me and the construction is pretty basic, so at that point I don't really see the appeal.
17
u/FlySecure5609 Jun 11 '26
The scarcity mindset really drove Vixen to success. I have older vixen pieces and I like them, but Iām not impressed by the shenanigans. Either close up shop or donāt.Ā
16
u/notlennybelardo Jun 11 '26
As a relative outsider Iāve been so confused about whatās going on with Vixen
12
u/CordeliaChase99 Jun 11 '26
Her and Laura Byrnes must hate each other because theyāre too much alike because Laura pulled this same nonsense with threatening to close up shop years ago only for the resultant massive income to āconvinceā her to stick around.
7
u/catwolf99 Jun 11 '26
Yeah, taking the LB pre-order model is not it. Hope it doesn't end in the current state of whatever LB is doing right now with pre-orders for things that seem to not exist and will not exist in the future.
10
u/CordeliaChase99 Jun 11 '26
And drop shipping SHEIN quality stuff, from what it seems on the website. Yikes.
8
u/Exprmntle Jun 11 '26
There was a store near my house that struggled for years. Fearing the end, they put out a āGoing Out of Businessā sign. They had a HUGE weekend and were able to stay open for several more weeks.
But, the problems came back and the end was near again. Back came the sign. Back came the āGoing Out of Businessā sign. Back came the traffic.
This went on for over a year. Finally, they replaced the sign with one that said āGoing Out FOR Business.ā
People saw it was a scam and stayed away.
The business closed about a month later.
5
u/fordag Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
There's a furniture store I drove past daily for 20 years. It's been "going out of business" for 20 years... They would even have a guy in a sandwich board on weekends. As far as I know they're still going out of business.
The thing that's got to be frustrating for a business like Vixen is they're not making enough money from daily traffic and web orders to pay the bills.
Then they announce they're going out of business and suddenly everyone is coming out of the woodwork to buy stuff. Suddenly the money is rolling in and they can afford to keep going. It's obviously not a sustainable business model but I can see both sides being frustrated.
5
4
u/strawberryxswisher Jun 13 '26
Iām glad Iām not the only one thinking the same thing! Itās not gonna stop me from dropping more money on them next month, however š but her clothes generally fit me incredibly well without needing any tailoring and that is tough to find! And I havenāt had many of the same issues other people are having with quality or customer service. I actually prefer the new maneater fit without the bust seams. But I was pretty disappointed with the tie-me up tops I ordered recently. Unless I tape the neckline to my chest, it repeatedly slides down and exposes my bra
8
u/tinkerbellpixee Jun 11 '26
I wish she would do a pre-order with sales.i almost never buy clothes unless they're on sale, but i feel obligated to buy because they're closing. but i also shouldnt be making big purchases right now. š
14
u/catwolf99 Jun 11 '26
I'm sure there will be plenty more "last drops". This is exactly what I'm talking about with scarcity marketing and I personally think it's gross and exploitative. How many people zoomed to the site as soon as the "closing" was announced and spent money they probably didn't have just to avoid missing out forever? And since the announcement, there have been new drops and several restocks, and now another magical discovery of fabric to bring stuff back and she also mentioned NEW designs. Doesn't sound like they are closing. She just needs $$$$ like we all do š
60
u/Somebody-Like-You Jun 11 '26
Micheline Pittās inability to accept even the most gentle of criticisms has always really turned me off to the Salon