I use to love Barbie while growing up. But now that I'm an adult I have noticed something that I don't think is my imagination. The quality of the doll or should of say her clothes are not a good as they use to be. It just seems as if the clothes aren't up to the standards that Mattel use to have. The irony is, that the doll as well as the clothes have gone up in price over the years. I still love Barbie, even as an adult I love this doll. I guess its because she is a fashion doll and I love fashion. I have even created my own clothes for her that I have sold in the past on eBay. Not to gloat about myself but I tend to think my clothing quality for her was better then what is being sold in the store these days. At least I take the time to make sure they fit her properly, not something that can be said about some of the clothes sold in stores.
I think I had at least 50 Barbie's as a kid. It was my favorite for a really long time. I know they are still in good condition. I have almost all of them saved for my daughter. I've thought the same thing about the quality of the new ones. I'm so glad I saved my old ones. I think most toy quality has gone down. Everything breaks so easy.
i think quality of everything, overall, has gone down. It's a real shame. Barbie is just one of the toys that are made so much worse now. And you're right, we're paying more money for something that won't last very long. I had Barbies, and they were great! I did save them for my daughter, but she's long since gotten rid of them. Because things are made so poorly, there is a huge niche for handmade stuff-- so I'm sure your Barbie clothes are a hit!
Yes, now that you mention it they were a hit out there on ebay. However, I got away from doing the auctions due the fact that at the time ebay was starting to charge more and more fees. There was also all the hassle of shipping the clothes out. In the end I just decided it wasn't worth the trouble to continue especially because I was dealing with a whole lot of personal turmoil at the time as well. That's not to say that in the future I won't go back to making Barbie clothes. As I said before I have always loved this fashion doll and I have loved sewing as well as fashion design, so I'm sure the day will come when I will want to incorporate the two once more.
I think that's the case with barbie and a lot of other toys as well; the overall quality has gone down quite a bit. It's a shame because you'd think a name has been around for so long would want to be synonymous with quality but apparently their greed got the best of them.
You're not imagining it. The quality has definitely gone downhill. I still have all the Barbies from when I was a kid and side-by-side with recent purchases, it's clear that the materials are different and not in a good way at all. The price is absolutely ridiculous now, too.
I only have one Barbie that was given to me as a gift as a kid, so I can't really compare it with today's edition of Barbie. But if that's the case then I'm not surprised, because some manufacturers tend to scrimp on materials and they hike up the prices to be able to have more profit.
I agree the quality of this doll has gone down while the price has gone up the prices on these dolls are starting to get crazy
It depends on the edition of Barbie you buy. The regular Barbies that are sold for kids to play with have gone down in quality but the Pink Label, Silver Label, Gold Label and Platinum Label Barbies that start at $40 and go up to $200 have exquisite quality. My Pink Label Hello Kitty edition Barbie has pierced ears with hoop earrings, 3 bracelets on her arm, a necklace with a pendant, a belt with a hip chain, rivets on her jeans, no detail was overlooked. So I would definitely not call her low quality. Even the zipper pull on her handbag is a metal Hello Kitty charm. I agree that the quality of the children's Barbie dolls has gone downhill, but the collector's edition Barbies are top notch.
Okay, you're right. The collectors' edition ones are usually a higher quality and have way more detail. I don't think that having more details/accessories necessarily means 'quality', though, either. The belt buckle is cute, but is it going to fall apart if you open the package?
