I Tried Buying from China for a Year and Here’s the Honest Truth I’ll never forget the day I ripped open that first package. It was a chilly November afternoon in my tiny apartment in Portland, Oregon. I had ordered a silk slip dress from a vendor on AliExpress after reading a Reddit thread that claimed Chinese factories were stealing the show from mainstream fashion houses. The dress cost $31, including shipping. And when I held it up, the fabric felt soft, the seams were straight, and the color matched the product photo exactly. I nearly cried. Not because of the dress itself, but because I realized how much I…