I am going to be very blunt in the fact that I utterly detest the site Wish.com. Yes, there is a certain allure of being able to buy tons to craft supplies, socks, or even reenactment jewelry for mere dollars! But the reality is that these items are sweatshop labor. They sometimes even buy an item from a legitimate artisan, and recast it more cheaply, and then sell it. They go further to even swipe the very photos the original artisan professionally took to market their second rate crap. Sometimes they are even stupid enough to leave the original logos on the marketing images.
This is unethical. There is no way around it.
And even worse is the corporation for Wish itself. They simply do not care. These same goods can show up on Amazon, but there is at least some recourse there to report that type of vendor. This is far beyond unethical.
And you know what else? Merchants there can have multiple storefronts with the same crap. If they do get one banned, it doesnt matter because they just keep going with the others.
Why would they get banned? Well, some of these vendors don't actually sell ANYTHING. They take your money, move on, and leave you with nothing.
And why am I posting this here? Because one of the things they have been selling like crazy are viking brooches. Some of them are even quite beautiful. Some are based on extant pieces. Most of them are very low quality junk (even though they are indeed pretty).
Understand that if you order these items that the oval brooches usually have the pin aligned in wrong direction. They cannot hold the straps of your dress that way. That is actually good, because the pin is thin, similar to a brooch your grandmother would wear to church, not the sturdy hardware requisite of brooch meant to hold a garment, beads and bling. The same friend who has this oval brooch depicted below also had a trefoil, the pin broke off (and it was under no strain at the time ass it was not holding a dress up).
Unfortunately, some of these items are also now being sold by vendors at events. I think they might make lovely accessories (assuming the pins don't pop off) with modern garments, but they likely will not hold up to use in the SCA or reenactment. They might even be a decent decoration for a newcomer who wants to feel pretty. But be warned that you get what you pay for. There are so many amazing artisans out there who do the work and research and put together incredible items that we can use. I highly recommend tracking some of them down!
If you already own these brooches, my recommendation is to sew the straps of your aprondress down to the garment on both ends and just pin the brooch on the strap as a decoration. It will likely flop around oddly but you wont risk it breaking and your dress drooping!
This is unethical. There is no way around it.
And even worse is the corporation for Wish itself. They simply do not care. These same goods can show up on Amazon, but there is at least some recourse there to report that type of vendor. This is far beyond unethical.
And you know what else? Merchants there can have multiple storefronts with the same crap. If they do get one banned, it doesnt matter because they just keep going with the others.
Why would they get banned? Well, some of these vendors don't actually sell ANYTHING. They take your money, move on, and leave you with nothing.
And why am I posting this here? Because one of the things they have been selling like crazy are viking brooches. Some of them are even quite beautiful. Some are based on extant pieces. Most of them are very low quality junk (even though they are indeed pretty).
Understand that if you order these items that the oval brooches usually have the pin aligned in wrong direction. They cannot hold the straps of your dress that way. That is actually good, because the pin is thin, similar to a brooch your grandmother would wear to church, not the sturdy hardware requisite of brooch meant to hold a garment, beads and bling. The same friend who has this oval brooch depicted below also had a trefoil, the pin broke off (and it was under no strain at the time ass it was not holding a dress up).
Unfortunately, some of these items are also now being sold by vendors at events. I think they might make lovely accessories (assuming the pins don't pop off) with modern garments, but they likely will not hold up to use in the SCA or reenactment. They might even be a decent decoration for a newcomer who wants to feel pretty. But be warned that you get what you pay for. There are so many amazing artisans out there who do the work and research and put together incredible items that we can use. I highly recommend tracking some of them down!
If you already own these brooches, my recommendation is to sew the straps of your aprondress down to the garment on both ends and just pin the brooch on the strap as a decoration. It will likely flop around oddly but you wont risk it breaking and your dress drooping!
"it's like a cheaply made nightmare" - quote from the friend who bought these pins, lol
And example of Wish's assortment of cheap Viking items.
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