Cassandra K.

When my son showed me the Kyoto Village website my gut instinct sensed a scam. All the clothing was described as being made of "premium material" without any details of what the fabric actually was. The slashed prices seemed to good to be true (and they were). However to my 18 year old son the site looked legit and he was excited at the idea of being able to purchase the Wanshi Gekyu Men's Sweatshirt for $29.99 reduced from $274 for his birthday. I should have been firmer because I was right!

The "sweat shirt" is aptly named because despite being described as light and breathable it was heavy, shiny, thick and so plastic feeling that it makes polyester seem eco-friendly & drowning in your own sweat is a distinct possibility. I'm sure I could fry an egg on it! I do not believe anyone could actually wear this shirt.; aside from the fact it is simply the most ugly garment I have ever seen; its plastic heaviness in an Australian climate would kill you even in the winter. You would over heat in seconds

Not only that but I am certain that the garment is so combustible that it wouldn't even be safe to wear it near a heater or anyone smoking! It isn't worth any money. I have NEVER seen any fabric like this ever... I wouldn't even donate it to a charity shop because of the serious health and safety issues.

The shirt is clearly different from the one pictured which is black inside (this is white)and has a visible label (when the garment received has no label). The Numasaja Men's Watch also similarly reduced in price from $239.98 to $24.99 (weirdly on special today for slightly more at $34.25), was absolute rubbish with no working cogs and none of the described "high quality metals" and actually had a bit of tape holding the insides together at the back. The bukawagasi-mens-shirt reduced from $123.00 to $34.00 had an image that was slightly blurred and was also made made of hideous fake plasticky fabric despite being described as being made of the best quality fabric and precision tailoring!

This is a rip-off of the worst kind because teenagers and young adults are more likely to be influenced by the fake price slashing and edgy "street-cred" marketing! These clothes aren't wearable and therefore will just create more junk & waste to end up in landfill, polluting our precious planet.

If you have read my previous review you will know I have a huge issue with Redbubbles Tote bags (To be fair their other products are great) but bags are my thing. I had hoped Redbubble would sort out their production issues but they havent. I have a loud and clear message to give Redbubble:-SOMEONE WITH HIGH STANDARDS AND A CONCEPT OF QUALITY CONTROL NEEDS TO CHECK EVERY BAG BEFORE THEY ARE SENT OUT!... In my opinion if Redbubble cant sort out the sizing on their borders ensuring they are symmetrical and even then they need to remove that option from the ordering process.

On the 16th of September 2016 Redbubble emailed me and claimed (direct quote) "99.9% of the time, people are satisfied with what they receive. But there are rare occasions when errors may occur, and in those situations we do our best to resolve the situation. I must say that in this case, it looks like we might have a bigger issue on our hands. Rest assured, we are looking into what the cause may be, and I'll be sure to notify you as soon as we have updates from the production partner "

I think it is important for Redbubble to consider that my experience indicates that a lot of shoddy bags must be being sent out unless they know that the entire production team is deliberately going:- " ah ha ha! That Kavanagh woman has ordered again! Let us all don our blindfolds, tie up our hands and make her bags with our teeth! "; a scenario that seems unlikely... In the situation where bag is ordered directly from Redbubble as a gift and purchased by the sender BUT not the receiver Redbubble will not be alerted or asked for a refund because many people will be too polite. They will just think why did my Nan/Pop/brother/ friend/ sister/mum/ dad/ aunty / uncle/mum/secret admirer; send me such an awful bag? They will politely put it in a draw never to be seen again because they don't want to appear rude to the gift giver!

In the end it is Redbubble that will suffer because word will spread and why not? This is why I do NOT have the confidence to have an online store. The stitching and craftsmanship has often been so shoddy it would be hard to provide a reasonable explanation even if it was a child sewing!

On September 27 Redbubble emailed and said (direct quote):- "It sounds like the issue should be resolved within the next couple of weeks. While I can't give you an exact date, I'd say you should feel confident with ordering new tote bags by the start of November."... On October 15 some replacement bags arrived and these were perfect however I decided not to order again till November as advised. Interestingly in a period Redbubble knew they had very serious issues with the production of their tote bags they continued to sell them. If they needed to advise me that I shouldn't order bags until November they should have (in my opinion) pulled the whole product until the issues had been resolved!

On the 21st of November I decided to Order 2 bags which I received last week. One bag was o. K. and the other was rubbish. I chose a wide black border around my cat design and was startled to find the cat way off center and the border not just reduced but on the sides of the bag along the seam, the border was only a tiny 1/2 a cm wide in one place and 2 cm wide in others when it should have been an even 4cm on BOTH sides! It looked very unprofessional! This was a custom designed order and the customer was not impressed and didn't want it, not even for free!

If I sell a bag to a customer I want them to be 100 % happy and I want the bag to look great. If I give a gift of a bag with my art work on it I want it to look as I designed it! I want it to look fantastic because I want the receiver of the bag to love it but most of all I want them to feel special and meaningful and lets be real here, giving someone a shonky bag with uneven stitching does not convey that message! As an artist I want ANYTHING with my art on it to look great because I need to be seen as professional! I hoped to sell the bags I buy from redbubble at the local craft market at a small profit but I consistently can't do this because the quality control at their end lets me down time and time again!

Redbubble NEVER gave me an explanation as to why the workman ship was so bad. They never answered my questions about whether the bags were checked before they were sent out but these are questions that need answering... unless of course the unlikely scenario I proposed earlier is actually true and when I order bags the production team is donning blindfolds, tying up their hands and making my bags with their teeth!... In which case any bags YOU order will be fine!