Clothier comes under fire

A local resident has filed a complaint with the city's consumer rights authority after a high-end Italian clothing store sold him 90,000 yuan ($14,535) in tailored clothing that didn't fit, local media reported Wednesday.

The resident, surnamed Wu, bought two suits and one other piece of clothing last September at the CANALI store in the Peninsula Hotel Shanghai, according to a report in the Metro Express.

When Wu retuned 55 days later to pick up the tailored items, he found that all three of the suits were two sizes too big. "I wanted to return them for a refund, but the store refused. They told me I could have them altered so they fit, but I would have to pay extra," he told the Global Times Wednesday.

The company said Wu's arched shoulders were to blame for the size problem, the report said.

Wu left the suits in the store and filed a complaint in February with the Shanghai Consumer Council.

The council entrusted the State Supervision and Inspection Center for Garment Quality (Shanghai) to inspect the garments and it reported that the clothing didn't fit well.

However, the company didn't respond to the report, according to Wu and local media reports.

The Shanghai store's manager, surnamed Zhao, said he informed the company's regional headquarters in Hong Kong about the matter.  "As a store manager, I don't have the right to decide the issue," he told the Global Times.

A CANALI representative in Hong Kong in charge of the Asia-Pacific region refused to comment.

CANALI is an Italian menswear company based in Italy. In 2007, it was ranked fifth among menswear brands such as Armani by the US-based Luxury Institute.

Wu said he will sue the company if it refuses to give him a refund or come up with another way to settle the matter.

"My suits are still at the store and I am waiting for a solution," he said.