I always buy one t-shirt on each trip...except my trip in October. I literally couldn't find a t-shirt that was unique and worth the ridiculous cost (even the "cheap" t-shirts in WDW, the ones that were always $16, are now a minimum of $19...most t-shirts are around $26).
I was disgusted recently when I saw PoTC merch in World Showcase...the list of "infractions" regarding theming and junk merchandise could go on and on.
I have a sweatshirt from January 2001, it's a 100 Years of Magic sweatshirt (black). I broke the zipper, but other than being a little faded (and I wear this thing all the time), the entire shirt is intact (ie no pilling, wearing, or tears). I also have a Stitch sweatshirt from MK that I purchased in 2004 that I, again, wear all the time (at least 1 day every two weeks....it's cold here, and I'm always throwing on a sweatshirt
). It looks brand new (really).
I purchased a similar sweatshirt in Disneyland in 2005 (Dec. 31, 2005, to be exact). I remember I bought it at night, because it was freezing. By the end of the night (about 4 hours later) the armpits and sides of the sweatshirt were completing pilling.
Within a few month of coming home, it had a slight hole in it from the wear....a few
months. So between 2004 and 2005, they had to have changed their vendor for sweatshirts. If I held both up to the light, the DL one would have huge holes and be completely see through. The Stitch or 100 yrs ones would look great. I'm hoping that perhaps this new Hanes deal will make a difference in quality.
I've written so much, I don't have time to go into the lack of unique merchandise in stores across WDW. It has gotten terribly worse in the past 2 years (especially the last year) though, based on my purchasing habits and what I've noticed in 10 trips to WDW (and 2 to DL) in the past two years.
