Everything I sent to Gentex came back destroyed. I sent 3 samples to them, the fabric content was hemp and wool. I called them before to ask if they could do indigo dye. First they answered yes, then no when realizing that indigo is a special dye. That should have been my first red flag that they didn't know that, but I was on a tight deadline and too much on my plate. I told Johnny who is either the owner or the manager, at least 3 times that there was wool in the fabric. I didn't think I would have to tell an experienced dye house person that you cannot treat wool at high heat and/or distress. The surface of the wool fibers will felt if they are rubbed together as happens in high-speed spinning or tumbling.
Getting the items delivered from LA to Portland was problematic because they don't carry any shipping labels around, not for UPS, not for FedEx and not for USPS. That's highly unusual for any business. I had to arrange for shipping myself and I paid $100 to ship the items from Portland OR to Gentex LA and back. They charged me $110, a price that I would actually have been really happy with had they not destroyed my garments that were worth $800 retail. The day the items were being picked up, they closed 15 minutes earlier than they had previously said. The company that was supposed to pick up was behind schedule, and this was a typical LA traffic disaster. I called an Uber and paid extra to have it delivered to a friend in the valley who was on her way to my city the day after but it was way more expensive than the original plan. When the Uber arrived he lady in the front was helpful, but generally, I don't think its good to close early like that. I should mention the rush was because of a photoshoot the following weekend which I needed these for.
When I received the garments they were 6 inches shorter, a child's size and seams had ripped and hardware bent. It was obvious they were dyed at high heat and with distress. I got in touch a couple days later and asked for a refund of the dyeing, in hopes to recover 11% of my losses. The amount makes a little bit of difference to me, a small designer launching my first collection. But for a business with several employees, it shouldn't make much difference. Unless all their clients are calling for a refund. Johnny answered back that I should prove to him that there is such a thing as cold-dye and then he would consider refunding me. I thought of sending him my long list of research, but then I thought why should I share my hard work and sources with him? It's his profession and he should be doing his own research. I did send him an explanation of Indigo dye methods and one dye house in the US which does cold dyes (I wish I had found them before this happened). But I haven't heard a peep and no refund.
Most importantly, the garments I had sent before had been dyed with indigo, in cold water. The process was slow and the color wasnt deep enough yet (it takes several dips) and I was trying to find a facility that would do the same method better and faster by having larger tubs. All of this was something I tried to explain to the manager. The shrinkage was less than 3% with the previous indigo treatment, but with Gentex LA it was 20+%.
To sum it up, here's my experience with Gentex LA:
Answer any question with a yes, and without listening to the customer's needs and concerns.
Take the project knowing that it will most likely fail or be damaged, anything for a few bucks. Sometimes you should decline a project if you cant get it right.
Does not accept responsibility
Does not do research, expects the customer to provide him with the knowledge he should already have (lmgtfy). read more