Big Fat Review: eShakti
In case you’re not familiar with eShakti, they have an amazing concept. They will customize their garments to your exact specifications. You break out the measuring tape, you tell them exactly what to do so their clothes will fit your body, and they will do it. It’s like magic, especially if you are hard to fit!
They recently offered to partner with BFD and let me pick out a dress. I now wish I’d gotten this dress, which is super adorable, but in fact, I got this one. In order to test out their modifications, I asked for sleeves! I seem to not have gotten the belt. Hmm. That’s weird. But anyway, if you click through the picture, you can see all my notes on Flickr about the dress I got.
Our own Jenfu had this to say in an email, about eShakti’s fabric:
The heavy satin cotton worked really well for the very tailored dress I bought–it had a tailored bodice and waist and then was a floofy skirt, and the print on it (goldfish! which were gold!) was gorgeous and rich-looking, and i would have kept the dress and loved it always if I had measured myself correctly and it hadn’t been 2 sizes too large.
I think anything fitted, you have to make sure the fabric has stretch. Anything tailored, the cotton satin is good (but heavy, so it’s not good for a floaty dress). Is your dress just plain cotton? It seems like it might be a flimsy cotton. I would probably only buy structured things from them, especially after your experience with the Charlie Brown sack.
She meant “Charlie Brown sack” lovingly; I know this because she also told me I was cute. In all caps. “You are CUTE” she said. Also, I may have called it a Charlie Brown sack first. If you have any experiences with eShakti, good or bad—or any tips on how to measure yourself accurately—feel free to add them in the comments!
And if you’d like to try eShakti for yourself, I’ve been given an affiliate code: piegirl123. This code will be good through the end of July (so a few more days now) and you’ll get 10% off. Just note Jenfu’s advice on fabric! And whatever advice the comments give you…
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Advertising, Fashion, Personal, Review
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I have loved everything I’ve gotten from eshakti although this one dress that I was expecting to wear all summer ended up having the thickest heaviest fabric ever, so I have to save it for winter.
http://www.eshakti.com/clothpdpage.asp?catalog=Clothes&cate=day+dresses&productid=CL0018788&pcat=
They also aren’t great about communication. I have sent questions and never gotten answers and I don’t receive order confirmations like I’m supposed to. I check my junk box for them but they aren’t there either.
Gorgeous dresses though!
Also you are cute :)
This is so timely. I was up late looking for clothes for an event I’ve got to go to … and I can’t seem to find a think. Thank you for the coupon code, too. If I buy anything, I’ll report back.
And, you do look CUTE (in caps) in your Charlie Brown sack. LOL!
eShakti requires the custom. Because I bought two dresses from them last year (adorable, wonderful dresses) and neither fit me, like, at ALL. I am about a 2x in pretty much every other brand of dress I’ve worn that goes by the “x” system of sizing, so I ordered the 2x thinking it would be fine. It was not…at ALL. I couldn’t even get the zippers to remotely shut despite the fact that the sleeves and bust area both actually felt a little too big. I should have gotten custom sizes, for sure.
The worst part is that I’m a hugely forgetful person who loses things left and right, and I lost all the return info and receipt, so I never even returned them. If anyone thinks they want to buy a couple of never-worn, kick-ass eShakti dresses please let me know and I’ll send pics! Haha.
Alright, just ordered this gorgeous blouse (http://www.eshakti.com/clothpdpage.asp?catalog=Clothes&cate=blouses&productid=CL0020112&pcat=tops).
Added 3/4 sleeves and added to the length. Your coupon code saved me $5! Thanks again.
I’m hoping this shirt will arrive in time for a party I’ve got to go to next week. *crossing fingers*
I bought from eShakti back in the day when they sold salwar kameez suits at a very reasonable price, and I could get them in 100% cotton (polyester is not good for my skin, at all). They don’t sell anything like they used to any more, and subsequently lost my business.
I have two lovely tops in very lightweight silk, with gorgeous details like pintucking and pleating. having said that, i have also returned numerous dresses that didn’t fit or looked weird, and there was one shipment i never got, and it was a pain trying to get reimbursed for it (but i finally did).
Since we’re talking clothes (love!) Harper Greer is having a summer sale and has some (for them) good deals. Check out http://www.harpergreer.com/
I’m going Friday.
I bought the pleated cotton dress recently, and one other that doesn’t seem to be offered anymore. I didn’t go custom because I’m just about dead on for their regular size 2X according to the size chart.
My one issue with the pleated dress is that the band that goes under the bust was too high and actually crossed the bust about about an inch and a half from the bottom of my bust-line. Luckily, it wasn’t solidly sewn down. It was loose except where it was attached at the side seams. I was able to pick the side seams apart and re-sew the whole deal with the underbust band pointing down, not up. I also took out the side zipper at the same time because it was unnecessarily stiff and not really needed. Now the dress looks right, but I wonder what someone who doesn’t have sewing skills could do other than send it back (or pay someone, I guess).
http://www.eshakti.com/clothpdpage.asp?catalog=Clothes&cate=solid+dresses&productid=CL0019625&pcat=#
Such an interesting business model for a clothing company … does anyone know any other companies that work from people’s measurements?
Alas they do not ship beyond Canada and the US so us denizens of the rest of the world cannot try them out. They had a massively lovely jacket about 6 months ago that I so would have bought had they shipped to Australia. Hint to eshakti: we have a postal service down under.
This is so weird, i just found this site a few days ago and was planning to order a dress tomorrow. I’m looking to get http://www.eshakti.com/clothpdpage.asp?catalog=Clothes&cate=day+dresses&productid=CL0019553&pcat=
but i want cap sleeves or short sleeves. Does anyone else have experience with sleeve changes for eshaki dresses?
Stay away! I had a terrible experience for my one and only attempt at ordering from eShakti. Sent custom measurements and ordered 2 dresses. They took nearly 5 months to arrive, and when they did the sewing was unfinished and both dresses were too small despite furnishing the custom measurements. Neither dress was hemmed and the sleeves I had paid to add had been cut out and tacked onto the dresses with about 3 stitches each and left with raw edges. The bodice seams were not sewn together on either dress. The material was of such poor quality that a dressmaker I use locally refused to attempt to finish the dresses for me. To add insult to injury, they charged me $76 in customs fees above and beyond what was quoted for postage and handling. Numerous emails concerning their return policy went unanswered, and I was not about to send the items back without some assurance I would get a refund and knowing in advance whether I would again be charged customs fees along with return postage. I gave up after 3 months and made the world’s most expensive throw pillows out of the embroidered parts of the fabric. They continue to bombard me with email spam advertising their wares and special offers — ha! NEVER AGAIN.
dress came today and i totally love it :D
Customized the sleeves and everything went fine.
Nicole, I’m glad you had a good experience! Sounds like it’s a little hit and miss; thanks for sharing your story, Carmen.
I had been eyeing several items on eShakti for a while after I saw some of the adorable items they offer. I am picky when it comes to clothes and tend to stick to specific styles which flatter my figure and are sometimes difficult to find depending on the season. I ordered a really gorgeous mint colored chemise and had it tailored to my measurements, but the product I got was poorly constructed. The only way I can describe it without pictures is to say there were “wings” of fabric extending from the side seam on the chemise which went nowhere–very, very odd. I thought about taking it in to a tailor here and having them removed so the top would be wearable, but decided I’d rather not spend any more money on them than I already had. I had a problem with the second shirt I ordered from that same batch of clothing too–there were seams which had apparently just not been sewn. My impression of them was that their idea is brilliant, the clothes they offer are gorgeous, but the construction of the garments is really, really horrible. $100 for two custom shirts I can’t wear just doesn’t work for me. So disappointing.
Des, the “wings” you describe were most likely extra fabric, in case you want to have sleeves added on. I have seen these on all of my sleeveless salwars and dress. They are usually sewn on very loosely, so you shouldn’t need a tailor to take them off. Just locate the stitches and snip them off!