Gustin Anmeldelser 146

I was first introduced to Gustin several years ago, and have since ordered numerous items ranging from jeans to belts to socks to t-shirts. Over that time I’ve had the opportunity to form some opinions on the garments and customer experience, and felt compelled to share here for others’ benefit.

First, it should be noted that Gustin’s business model and wide selection of fabrics and fits is quite impressive. I actively seek made-in-North America garments and am not afraid to pay more or wait a little longer for high quality, domestically-sourced things. Unfortunately Gustin fall short on delivering their promise of “value” since nearly all of my experiences have been plagued by wild variations in sizing and color, manufacturing flaws, excessive delays in shipment, and a model that places all financial burden on the consumer.

I’ll admit there are Gustin items I really like, such as their heathered t-shirts and socks (which are just private label Anonymousism). Same goes for my #151 jeans that have no flaws and fit just right after a few warm soaks. Sadly, of the dozen or so shirts that I own, I’d say only about 5 fit as expected and match the color shown on the site. Two pairs of jeans have also been way off the mark in published/actual sizing, and prematurely relegated to the hand-me-down bin.

The beginning of the end was my recent order for #382 charcoal dye jeans, set to ship “December/January” per Gustin’s site. After giving them the benefit of the doubt for delays in early 2021 due to Covid issues, my patience began to wear thin by late March. I reached out to the CSR and politely asked for an update, to which he replied they were in the home stretch and shipping in April. Four weeks later… no jeans. So I reached out again, and he said they were at the fulfillment center and shipment was imminent. Days later, I received an email out of the blue stating I was being refunded the entire $200 plus getting $40 store credit for my troubles. I emailed once again seeking clarification, and was told my jeans didn’t pass QC and would not be shipped. Never a mention of a contingency plan or availability of other fits in the same fabric. Essentially Gustin got an interest free $200 loan for six months, then reneged on my order.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was what happened in the days that followed. I was perusing the “stock” store, looking for another pair of raws to make up for my canceled order, and happened upon a pair of #74 on sale and in my size. Sweet! When the jeans arrived I quickly discovered the leg openings were .25” different on left/right, the chainstitching was crooked, the right front pocket had been folded over and sewn onto itself, and there were other imperfections in the overall construction. What had been listed as a “sale” item was more like a “factory second”. The irony of receiving a pair of jeans this bad after having waited patiently for six months only to have my order cancelled due to QC issues was stunning.

Gustin: if you’re reading this, please heed the feedback written by me and others to make your business better. I’m empathetic to the challenges of managing a large vendor base—it’s what I did for a living in the aerospace industry for years, and I recognize at times it can be a real grind. What I’ve learned, however, is that transparency, humility and willingness to learn from your mistakes and improve upon them are what set good companies apart from the bad ones. An honest mistake is one thing—but a business model that fails to take action on known, repeated workmanship defects and missed commitment dates is inexcusable, especially at the prices you charge. Take the advice I was given early in my career: “under-promise and over-deliver”. The other way around is a surefire recipe for losing customers.

TL;DR – I do not recommend Gustin to anyone seeking a truly high-quality, high-value garment unless you enjoy gambling with your hard earned money. The appeal of rare fabrics and made in USA manufacturing is undeniable, but the inconsistent production quality and constant schedule delays have convinced me to take my business elsewhere. There are lots of great options at a similar price point available from retailers who post honest sizing data, have full size runs in stock, and offer more reasonable exchange/credit policies.

This is to summarize my experience with Gustin. The main advantage is amazing abundance of various fabrics. This is truly a Fabric Feast and a reason to keep your eye on Gustin. The main drawback is inconsistency. According to Gustin's Fit Guide I am exactly 33 Straight. But I was "taught" to order size 34 because the actual waist is always one inch smaller than promised by Fit Guide. But when you go from 33 to 34 you also get bigger thighs, cuffs and inseam. This also affects your belt. So I get more baggy look only because they are unable to stick to their Fit Guide. That's a shame. Now some trifles. Waiting time is not a problem for me, finally every order arrives. But from Oct'20 my shipments are untrackable (some USPS changes, they say) and that's kinda annoying. Overall building quality is good but not great. Maybe after months of waiting and special-for-you air I just expect not to find loose threads everywhere. Unfortunately I am not tall enough for their shirts so no experience here. So, Gustin, please stick to your Fit Guide and don't forget about Quality Control.

Ordered Oct 2020
Jeans was schedule to be delivered before Christmas,
We are in Feb 2021 and the Gustin Rep told me "will ship over the next three weeks"

But every day they try to sell me other items - Maybe if Gustin invested 1% of marketing budget in manufacturing I would get my Jeans :-(((((
You can order a jeans for your Kid, he might get it when he is in collage!!

I'm

I really like the idea behind Gustin but my first order was a bit of a rough patch.

I bought the 8 pack of t shirts. It took longer than I was expecting, but this year has been chaotic.

My biggest issue is that I’ve only had the shirts for 2 months and they are already getting holes in them.

Absurd sizing. How can you be “fanatical about fit” when a 32 waist is actually a 29? And no returns. No response to email. Denim looks pretty good, but never again with this nonsense.

Waste of money. Ordered the Cone 101 workshirt in classic fit large. Weirdest fit ever. More like a slim fit, super tight (which would have been fine had I ordered the slim fit), and the sleeves from shoulder to end of cuff are 27.5", way longer than any other shirt in my closet. First and last experience.

Firstly, I want to qualify myself. I spent 15 years as a professional in the garment industry, working with tailored, and ready-to-wear clothing, both domestically-made and imported. I have spec'd literally thousands of garments for sizing and manufacturing details.
Cone 101 work-shirt received almost 5 months after it was ordered. Ordered a classic fit, size XXL, taking into account their "vanity sizing" and the inherent shrinkage with selvedge fabrics. Shirt fits like a slim-fit XL, and just barely. Given that the selvedge fabric will shrink, the shirt may not even be wearable down the road, unless I drop another 10 pounds. Gustin needs to own up to the fact that their "no vanity sizing" is just a way to reduce their textile costs, and nothing else.
Textile quality is as expected, however there is no identification that it came from Cone Mills anywhere on the shirt. Sorry, but this is suspicious, since the site touts its fabric sourcing so highly in their marketing.
To sum it up:
Wait times are absolutely ridiculous
Pricing is fair
Construction is good
Textiles are not vetted to the consumer with labeling
Sizing is way, way, way off
An anti-climactic experience

After a Heddel's (strongly endorse this site) write up, I made a purchase of multiple items from Gustin. Several months later, I can say that I am quite disappointed. In short, the service is very poor and slow. Every item took months to arrive. The last straw was a 3-item t-shirt pack. Their regular updates on process continued for months. Then, after five months a commitment to ship shortly, was followed by a cancellation and refund. They held my money for five months. I held off on alternatives better options for five months. I have done my last business with Gustin. I would recommend you stay away also.

Do not trust this company. They have no problem taking your money up front then delaying what is an already unacceptable wait time. If you like to gamble this company and process is for you. I still haven't received 2 t-shirts 2 1/2 months from when they charged me. From their response hey have no idea when they will be delivered. Give me a break, it's a t-shirt, any factory can knock those out in a week. They are doing something fishy with your $$ with that kind of float time. I won't be a repeat customer.

I can share my review of 1 pair cone denim jeans. 3 Classic workshirts size XL and 1 dress shirt.
The Jeans are made of better material than my 501xx jeans that I own. Not to discount the 501s as they are awesome as well. The denim in the Gustins is superior and the stitching seems up to par with durability.
The workshirts are the coolest ice ever seen. Made of superior thick denim and the pattern is vintage. I won't be wearing to work that often but could certainly do so. They definitely stand out from anything available commercially or from other USA Brands. The only other workshirts I've seen like these are from Ciano Farmer and cost 250 dollars each.
The dress shirt is very nice too. Heavy ticking stripe. Fits more contoured than the work shirts.
I got size XL Classic in the workshirts and XL in the Dress shirt. 5-10 180lb man. I wear a Large in similar Carhartt/ Wrangler Flannel and Work shirts. definitely size up like I did as Gustin runs more true to vintage sizing that is smaller than typical American workwear. All their models are thin and not taller than 6' from what I can tell. If your big and tall this brand may not be for you.

These bad reviews are insane. I don't know what folks are doing to their clothing but I have had so few quality issues and zero sizing issues. I order the same size every time and everything fits the way I expect. I have had some bad stitching on the pockets of one hoodie. They offered to replace it or have us get it repaired and send them the bill. I own two shirts, a hoodie, 7 pairs of jeans, canvas work pants, a sweatshirt and a field jacket. The field jacket I had tailored and the tailor couldn't stop remarking on the quality. I work in theater and one costumer after another has remarked on the extraordinary quality of the craftsmanship. They are all shocked by the low price for the quality of materials and workmanship.

I guess the number of bad reviews is just probably equal to the number of folks with bad experiences.The clothing is exceptional.

I like the concept behind Gustin. However, after supporting the brand for several years and purchased over 20 pairs of their jeans, I have come to the conclusion that the products are substandard. I will no longer support the brand. There have been on going issues with quality control of their jeans: loose rivets, unreliable and erratic sizing to jeans with drastically different sizes between the left and right legs. To be fair, the customer service has been fine. New rivets were sent, defective or poorly sized jeans were returned with refunds or credits. Nevertheless, the process has been a hassle and there are no signs that Gustin is placing more emphasis on Quality Control. A customer paying hundreds of hard earned dollars for a pair of jeans should not have to deal with these issues. I would have stopped buying from a regular company with this type of quality track record long ago.

While there has been no progress in terms of quality over the years, Gustin is quite facile with the excuses though. I was told recently that Gustin has an official size tolerance between left and right leg of up to 1/2”. What?!?!?! I have been wearing cheap GAP jeans for 25 years and I have never encountered any issues with different leg sizes on a pair of jeans, or loose rivets. Gustin should be embarrassed. I would be.

GUSTIN, try this: get better at quality control instead of being creative with the excuses for poor craftsmanship. Look carefully at each step of your production line and fix the problems. This should be achievable since your production is local! Understand this, Quality is expected when you charge $80-$200+ for a pair of jeans! And, Jeans is your bread and butter so get this right before veering off on silly sneakers and t-shirts, etc.

This would have been a one star review. I am giving a second star for decent customer service.

I have purchased many pairs of Gustin jeans, chinos and shirts. The jeans/chinos all have fit well, being properly sewed and durable. I am very tough on clothes and the Gustin product holds up well. All of their pants are button fly. When I wear non-Gustin pants, I am a bit thrown as I am now so used to button fly. Very high quality materials and the fits have been consistent so far. I had one issue with a rivet popping off during the wash, but was sent a bag of rivets with instructions on how to re-rivet the pants. They offered to do it for me, but repairing the rivet seemed easy, so I agreed to attempt the fix myself. It was indeed an easy repair. Their shirts tend to fit a but tight. Normally I ordered Medium, but am a Large in all of Gustin's shirts. My favorite thing about the brand is that they are all made in the USA and I know where the fabrics are sourced, so if you are sensitive to sweat shop labor and human rights issues, this may be the brand for you.

Bought some jeans from Gustin. Great materials and manufacturing, but the sizing is inconsistent. I have three pairs in the same size and style, and they’re all very different. One is just right, one is roomier, and the third is just too loose and baggy.

Quality of materials and manufacture means nothing if the sizing is all wrong, which puts me off buying any more from them.

I will only review the items I have owned from Gustin.
Jeans -- I have owned lots of their jeans and they all seem to fail miserably to the point of comedy. From busted seams (on non-stressed areas like the lower calf area), buttons/rivets falling off, screwy sizing, they have covered all the shortcomings you could imagine.
Shirts -- poorly sewn seams that came apart, a tall-sized shirt with short arms, buttons that fall off (I had to sew 6+ buttons back on one shirt before I finally gave up and Goodwill'ed it), to screwy sizing.
CPO jacket -- I actually sort of liked it except for one thing: the snap buttons constantly jangled. Like to the point of irritation. I sold it.
Beautiful fabrics that promise so much but just poor execution. It could be so good but they never seem to have it together. Never again!

Their craftsmanship is crapshoot, with many of the items I've purchased from Gustin falling apart within a couple months of purchase, and some arriving with blown seams, missing buttons, etc. in the first place. The first pair of jeans I ordered from them fit well, but subsequent orders fit in idiosyncratic ways, completely different from the first and each other - extremely unpredictable. Bizarre.

They truly are the Wal-Mart of selvedge - you get what you pay for.

Despite their spotty craftsmanship, and recognition of the problem, their customer service is really the worst of any brand I've ever experienced. I've interacted with Matt Kong and Ren Sanchez on multiple occasions, and both should be fired. Not sure about the third person whose name appears in their email signature. worst. ever.

I am a customer that has bought many Gustin products so this is an informed, detailed review. Here's my serial report product by product:

- Jeans - good, well made, good value (talk about being led on)
- Jeans (heavyweight) - two rivets fell off. Gustin refused to replace, nor repair, sent rivets to me suggesting I fix them
- Sweatshirt - a product of awful quality...given to charity after 3 washes
- 3 pack white Ts; never delivered, refunded after 5 months
- Baseball shirts - never delivered (I don't think they ever made them) but they did charge for them. Refunded after several months
- Card holder - good
- Denim apron - good, excellent in fact
- Ultra heavyweight jeans - laughable sizing bearing no relation to their size guide nor their "order one size larger" instructions- returned (at my cost). No refund. Gustin doesn't give refunds. So I asked, repeatedly that they send the replacement product marked clearly as replacements so that I wouldn't have to pay customs charges...for a second time. They demurred then said they'd look at it. So I have had to pay 3x courier charges and 2x customs charges (now running at over $100) all because of their mistakes.
Re the replacement products:
- Shirt - Poor manufacture standard, poor design, poor fit
- Jeans - still not here.

I think their jeans could be great value. But...their quality isn't nearly as good as they portray. Their other products have (cardholder aside) been universally poor.

But the biggest issue is their service. Its awful. They aren't a trustworthy company and once you have paid their sole aim is to retain the revenue, not delight, not to satisfy.

It is genuinely better to pay a bit more and go with a company that you can trust.

Their size chart are awful, and they dont refund the products
3 months waiting and 120 dollars for this poor jean

I've bought a handful of jeans from Gustin over the past five or so years. I can't comment on any of their other offerings besides their denim jeans, but I've had a very good overall experience with them. While there is the caveat of a Kickstarter-like prepayment that requires you to wait a few months for delivery, the finished product is very well-made, and worth the price.

All of their various denims are priced very appropriately, based on their characteristics and source -- nuanced, heavyweight Japanese denim barely breaks $100, while staples from North Carolina's Cone Mills can be had for less. Construction is also solid; certain high-end details such as hidden back pocket rivets and 100% cotton thread are absent, but the hems are chainstitched, the fly is selvage, and the jeans hold up to heavy wear as well as any other. Definitely a step above department store brands, and on par with well-known Italian and French brands.

Highly recommended for fans of raw denim or the newly-interested. The jeans are a great value.

I am only giving them 2 stars instead on 1 because I have had okay experiences with ordering from stock. The team at Gustin seems incapable of meeting their published timelines on items that require funding. The first item I ordered in this manner was delayed by a month, which required me to update the delivery location several time as it was during the holiday season and I was traveling. The second item was supposed to ship in the May/June timeframe (which I interpret to mean late May or early June). It is currently mid-Sept. and the item still has not shipped. When I contacted them, the response was basically "we had some issues, tough luck". They offered to cancel my order and issue a refund, but I have waited this long, so what the heck. My other big issue with the company is that, although they are heavily focused on jeans, they do not offer an option to have jeans/pants either made with different lengths or hemmed before shipping. I get it for jeans that are unsanforized as customers could underestimate the shrinkage and get upset when their jeans turned into knickers after the first wash; however, most of their jeans are sanforized, which means shrinkage is minimal/nonexistant, so I do not understand why this would be an issue. If the jeans/pants are being made to order (liberal use of the term), why can't they accommodate different lengths?!?!? This to me is the biggest flaw in their business model. I understand it for stock orders, but if you are backing something and are willing to wait several months for it to be made and ship, they should be willing/able to provide different lengths or an optional service to have them hemmed prior to shipping. Since they don't, and since chainstitch hemming services are not commonplace, you end up spending an additional ~$30 to ship your jeans, have them hemmed, and shipped back. This also adds another few weeks to the timeline of ordering to actually being able to wear your jeans. SIDE NOTE: I realize that cuffing jeans is an option, but it is not something that I am a fan of.