I’ve had a Roxy dress form for almost 10 years, but sadly it was damaged in my last move. Now that I’m actively sewing again, I decided it was time for a new dress form. It’s been awhile since I purchased one so I had to do all new research. Of course Roxy was where I looked first, but prices have gone up- A LOT! After shopping around, I decided to go with The Shop Company dress form. I’ve had her for about 4 months now, and I’d love to help others who are dress form shopping out with a review.
Overall, I’m happy with my purchase and I would recommend it with some caveats. You can jump right to those caveats if you like.
Ordering
The website is not that easy to navigate but I found the dress form product page I needed with Google. There are quite a few options on the product page to shift through and I ordered the traditional Half Body with Collapsible Shoulders in size 12. Their dress form comes with 2 arms which is nice. I don’t really use arms, but they’re nice to have. I also ordered the Fabulous Fit Padding System which I will review separately. The product page clearly displays the measurements which appear to be standard and in line with the other dress form companies. There’s also a lot of detail, photos, and FAQ’s about the dress form. The product page is a little busy but all the information it gives you is very helpful.
The website has an email popup for $10 off. I signed up, but never received my email coupon 😒. I didn’t contact the company about it and I just went ahead and ordered.
The company has a 30 Return Policy less S&H. They shipped my order via UPS Ground and it arrived in about a week after ordering. I was sent all the standard order and shipping emails to keep me updated with my order.
Pricing
I’m only going to go over the pricing that was relevant to my purchase. For the most part, The Shop Company is cheaper due to their free shipping. If arms are important to you, then it works out even better because you get two arms. Of course this is all dependent on which size you’re ordering. When I placed my order shipping was around $120, but I recently checked the Roxy website and it’s been lowered so it’s definitely worth doing your own price comparison when you’re ready to buy.
Customer Service
I was sent the wrong cover for my Fab Fit system so I did have to reach out to customer service. There is a number, but I couldn’t get to a person so I had to email. It took two emails to have the correct cover sent. In the first email, I was told it would be sent. I never received a tracking email so I followed up, and was told the same thing, but this time they did actually send it. It was sent USPS Priority Mail and arrived fairly quickly. I was a little disappointed by this. I’ve owned a business before and I’ve worked customer service. If you send someone the wrong thing, you should take care of it immediately and ship quickly. But in the end, I received the correct cover.
Dress Form
Once my order arrived, everything was well packed and protected. The assembly was super easy. It was easier than my previous dress form, but that could just be because I’ve assembled one before. It came with an instruction sheet that was very clear and easy to follow.
Overall I’m happy with my dress form. It appears to be decent quality and it has all the reference points you need if you’re going to be draping. I can pin through it and the shape and measurements are consistent with what I’m used to with dress forms. I really don’t have any complaints about actually using it, and I’m so happy to have a dress form again.
The Shop Company dress form comes with two arms. I don’t really use them, but they’re nice to have just in case.
Issues
1- The internal pole is crooked. I’m not sure if I’m describing the problem properly, but that’s the best way I can. The pole slides inside the dress form, but whatever pole “casing” inside is crooked. When I first put it together this is what it looked like:
I basically shook the dress form to try to straighten it and it’s a little straighter, but still slightly crooked. Here’s the full photo of the dress form and you can see the pole is crooked.
I measured the dress cage edge to the floor and somehow it’s level, so I don’t really understand what’s going on. When I look at the form itself it looks straight, so it appears to be just the pole that’s crooked. So I don’t know. It bothers me, but it doesn’t seem to be a big issue. Maybe I got a slightly off one. I debated calling the company about it but I figured it would be too much of a hassle to return or exchange it. I am not packing a dress form up and carrying it to the post office unless it’s something major.
2- After I had it over a month, the collapsible shoulders got stuck for a second and wouldn’t release. It finally did release after a few tries. I’m concerned about this, but it only happened once so far. I’ll update the review if it does become a problem.
Summary
I hope The Shop Company dress form review has been helpful. This is the review I would’ve liked to have when I was making my purchase decision. A dress form is a bigger ticket item that should be good quality and last you for years, so it’s good to have all the info you can get.
There are some issues, but overall I’m happy with my purchase and would definitely recommend it if price is a concern and The Shop Company remains the cheaper option. If the prices were the same, I’d probably go with Roxy again just because I had such a good experience when I previously ordered in 2011 and I know that the dress form will last. It’s unfortunate that mine was damaged. But I’m pretty happy with my new dress form which, at the end of the day, is the most important thing.
I’d love to hear your experience dress form shopping! Have you tried The Shop Company or do you have a dress form that you highly recommend?