Buying American Apparel in Australia is a huge ripoff
I’m not too fussy when it comes to tshirts. Plain colors, no stupid writing and a good fit is all I really look for.
About two years ago now I stumbled across American Apparel’s Fine Jersey Short Sleeve Tshirt in the black. It checked all my boxes and over time their tshirts are pretty much all I wear out (mind you not just in the black).
Most of American Apparel’s clothing look like fashion crimes but their Fine Jersey tshirts are remarkably good and are well priced.
Well, they used to be.
When the time came for me to order more tshirts it boggles my mind that in an increasingly global marketplace, American Apparel think I’m going to pay the ridiculous prices they charge in their online Australian store.
Recently I was looking at buying a 7 pack of their Fine Jersey Short Sleeves in the black. Black goes with any pair of jeans and is pretty versatile.
Last time I ordered clothing from American Apparel online they didn’t even have an Australian store so I was able to take advantage of their US store prices. Currently this no longer seems the case.
On their US store the 7 pack of tshirts is currently priced at US$91 with international shipping being a blanket US$20, this comes to a total of US$111 or AUD$128.
That’s shipped from the US to my doorstep.
Over on American Apparel’s Australian store, the tshirts are priced at AUD$182 – with free shipping (omg bargain!).
The tshirts are made in Los Angeles no matter whether you buy from Australia or the US. The 7-pack of Fine Jersey Short Sleeve tshirts is an online only product and the US store will not ship to Australia, even under international shipping.
You want me to pay an extra $54 just because I live in Australia?!
Blow it out your arse guys.
October 3rd, 2009 at 11:27 pm Yi(Quote)
they’re doing it tough in the states, they need to make money some how.
October 4th, 2009 at 6:45 am kim(Quote)
Simple – buy Australian……………
October 4th, 2009 at 7:31 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Yeah because there’s so many Australian tshirt alternatives that aren’t shit.
All the tshirts made here are designed for fat obese people.
October 4th, 2009 at 9:55 pm Josh Wenham(Quote)
I was on American Apparel today and noticed the same thing, I don’t know why the world needs to rip us off, when that already happens with out them, its a pain because using the main store doesn’t have Australia because it has it’s own, bad idea, everything should be USD to keep prices relevant, bah oh well.
although I came here from “isnack” lol.
October 4th, 2009 at 10:32 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
It’s so crap. Instead of stocking up here before I go overseas it’s actually cheaper to just wait and have the tshirts sent to my overseas address so I can get the US price.
It just seems so pointless on behalf of American Apparel.
October 6th, 2009 at 8:51 pm yorick(Quote)
Hey man you can buy them at wholesale prices on ebay. They’re my favourite shirts as well.
I’ve bought from this seller before
http://myworld.ebay.com/tuffy_mcpuggles/
6 packs for like US$40
October 6th, 2009 at 9:44 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Holy crap if they are legit (the guy has 20,000+ 99.8% feedback) and I think they are, I just dropped US$64.11 on a six pack of the fine jersey tshirts in the black!
$40 for the tshirts and $64.11 shipped winds up being AUD$72.25, that’s under half of the price they want here in Australia for seven tshirts!
The tshirts seem legit, I’ll update when they arrive in the mail. Thankyou so much for the link (I didn’t think to check US ebay).
October 14th, 2009 at 5:56 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Package arrived today. Tshirts feel the same, have identical tags to my other 2 shirts and also have the same fit so they seem legit!
Huge thanks to Tuffy McPuggles for supplying American Apparel to Australia at non-ridiculous prices.
March 29th, 2010 at
[...] to bulk order enough American Apparel tshirts to get me through a week I was majorly disappointed outright pissed off with their regional online marketing [...]
November 13th, 2010 at 3:18 pm PB(Quote)
How insane is this, American Apparel won’t allow you to buy blank t-shirts from anywhere other than their stores. I can buy great printed ones from Threadless, but I want to screen print some of my own.
The ebay guy looks great, but he now has to print something on there so either I pick a design that will match with what I want to print, or I go back to Guildan which are to heavy….
January 14th, 2011 at 8:52 pm laurie(Quote)
urgh. now that guy has stupid pictures printed on his shirts.
is there an american apparel alternative? i just want nice t-shirts and basics.
January 14th, 2011 at 8:54 pm laurie(Quote)
actually I did buy some stuff from uniqlo when I was in japan, the quality was awesome (i’d say possibly better than american apparel?) and the prices were much cheaper… but not sure how to get it here… and not sure how the ethics compare…
April 21st, 2011 at 4:47 pm Annabelle(Quote)
I know their economy is suffering more than ours but it’s a little bit ridiculous. There was a dress I wanted to buy, only US$44 which is only AU$40 at the moment, but to order it you have to change to the Australian store which charges 80 bucks!
For most other countries including NZ you can just buy it in the American pricing and they convert it, so why not here?
April 22nd, 2011 at 1:15 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Double the price and with the current strength of the AUD?!
That’s bloody disgusting!