Pop quiz: Quality versus Crap
Posted by on Jul 11, 2011 at 4:12 pm / Pop Quiz, Quality / Trackback
I will donate $250 to a not for profit agency if 50 or more percent of you know what quality means. I should qualify that since about 30% of visitors are engineers, scientists or others coming from related disciplines. Specifically, this abjectly crude and completely unscientific survey below is intended for non-technical designer types.
So, for non-technical designer types, which of these two items is higher quality? Your choices are A: the disposable paper gown which costs less than $3 each when purchased by the case (50 count) and B: a “custom couture” silk wedding dress with a base cost of $1,399 not including shipping. You can also select insufficient data and lastly, there’s a check box if you’re an engineer or related professional who is not qualified to vote (so your objections are duly noted).
I also request that kindred refrain from posting spoilers in comments because that will be the subject of my next post. Thanks.
*If poll results show that more than 50% of designers know the difference between quality and crap, I will donate $250 to an as yet undetermined not for profit agency. If you’re interested in purchasing the gown, I found the image here.
16 Responses to “Pop quiz: Quality versus Crap”
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July 11th, 2011
6:09 PM
I know which one I’m going to select and I’m going to enjoy reading the resulting comments.
July 12th, 2011
1:55 AM
I voted the paper gown, but I may be biased from my limited experience in the ‘bridal custom couture’ business, haha.
July 12th, 2011
4:28 AM
It would be helpful to see a larger photo of the paper gown, so we could judge against the dress.
(won’t spoil, won’t spoil!)
July 12th, 2011
6:35 AM
Thanks for this quiz Kathleen, I look forward to your next post.
July 12th, 2011
7:26 AM
Of note: Both are a one-time-use item.
July 12th, 2011
7:41 AM
I wouldn’t want to enter an operating room wearing a gown…
July 12th, 2011
7:50 AM
This IS a trick… :-)
July 12th, 2011
7:55 AM
How is it a trick Sandy? The pop quizzes are nearly always counter intuitive (that’s the point) and so, closer to “tricky” but not tricks. :)
July 12th, 2011
8:20 AM
Good point on the “one-time use” issue. That’s interesting. But overall value for your dollar and quality of product are not the same thing. Plus, there’s an emotional aspect added to a wedding dress that you can’t apply to other garments.
I’m figuring this post wouldn’t exist if the answer weren’t the operating gown, but I do not have the knowledge to understand the reason, so I’ll keep an eye out for your next post.
July 12th, 2011
8:58 AM
Thanks Kathleen for making me challenge some assumptions! Very interested to see the follow-up to this one.
LOL Wyncia — I would not want to get married in the paper gown, my best jeans and Converse will do just fine :)
July 12th, 2011
10:42 AM
The wedding dress is not necessarily a one time use item. It could easily be worn again by a sister, cousin, etc. I had an assignment similar to this where we had to compare the value of the same garment(blouse, dress or pants) at three different price points and state which was the better value and why. This quiz seems to be comparing apples and oranges. “The standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind” from the dictionary. My vote is the quiz is invalid.
July 12th, 2011
12:58 PM
I love the one time use comment… to me it is hilarious. I personally love the quiz because I think it makes people think about the varying types of quality needed for various problems. I will be looking forward to the poll results.
July 12th, 2011
4:34 PM
“Of note: Both are a one-time-use item.” CLF
And as such, I went through one of B and hundreds of A in the last three decades. :)
July 12th, 2011
10:45 PM
Are we supposed to be conflating quality with value from a design standpoint? I’m pretty sure a lot of consumers do. Necessary quality is relative in both cases as people have already pointed out -both are supposed to be single-use garments. No point in hand stitching a paper gown as it adds no value whatsoever, so designing to meet expectations of functional requirements = quality? hmmmn…but that dress has me stumped. I expect more from a wedding dress because its purpose is to impress and celebrate. All of a sudden quality is looking more like a mathematical equation with a whole lot of social variables.
July 13th, 2011
3:07 PM
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September 26th, 2011
1:37 PM
Since I actually do real custom Couture handmade Wedding gowns I’m going to say the $3. scrubby which is designed to last at least one serious Operation. This dress looks cheap to me at first glance and at that price may only have medium quality silk in the shell, synthetics in the interlinings and linings. Custom made via a .com? It’s definite crap then, I’ve seen those with clear plastic thread come here for 11th hour omg fixing.