G: Quality, Sizing and Word of Mouth

I don't think I'm particularly paranoid or a conspiracy theorist.. I certainly don't think they're doing any more than they've stated they are doing with regards to the stock store and don't think they're conspiring to keep access away from certain people on purpose (the community, on the other hand..). I don't believe the access permissions are assigned through logic and don't think it's too difficult to start with blanket exclusion for everybody and selectively add individuals that meet certain criteria back in.. especially if they're rejection rate is as low as they claim.

I think what we're seeing with the inconsistency is more because it is a clever solution, using existing tools that are partially compatible for what they are intending, and executed somewhat clumsily. I don't have access to the stock store, recently received credit for a return, and don't take it personally.. especially in light of what Cody stated on the feed yesterday.

The fact they are using a selective "stock" filter vs making an "exchange" page shows the amature nature at wacking the mole customer service. This is I guess how "people" are treated with deception and lack of open transparence of the process. If they operated a exchange page that would be account specific store to show you stock items within 2 sizes of your ordered size or show that plus other goods. But if you are not exchanging for a direct replacement aka pants to pants or shirt for shirt, then you get store credit and then wait on public stock store, but shit that would be thinking about it. They are abusing the stock page in my view and some of stuff that is "hidden" to public should be on a separate page with account specific request. Help us out here, Gustin.... Obviously i vote inept, they are filtering the community though i was most likely the first case.


C/S: Probably too late for this season, but more substantial outerwear, like a bomber of some sort. Baseball hats (I think you're working on this). A CPO without so many pockets.

Gustin: What do you like your bomber made out of?

......wow

Late to the party as usual.

I wasn't super active then, or now, but I was on the G comm since the day, and have spent many many hours on it, reading and occasionally posting, as you guys know. And it saddens and confuses me what's happened here more than anything.

When my 1st kid was born Josh sent me a free jacket and a leather coaster, and a hand written note of congratulation, which he mailed express to the UK -- that was when I posted something about it on the community (as you guys probably remember). When my 16ers didn't come out because they ran out of fabric, Cody gave me a full refund plus my choice of a grey silk or blackxaqua, and posted it express, again overseas. I understandably like Cody and Josh as people, for obvious reasons then, and they've always responded to me personally on email very fast, and I felt sincerely.

What I wonder is something that no one's really mentioned: what the G team are going through ... as perhaps there's a lot of anguish on that side as well. I have no idea, but I do agree that whatever's happened here is a Grade A example of the failure of communication. When I wrote to Cody about all this, just mentioning the obvious -- that guys are deserting the G Comm in droves -- and asking if he might just show up there more, he mentioned something like he was doing all he could and his energy was being drained in other areas, but he couldn't say more. What bummed me out though was that Cody didn't feel like he could say whatever it was that was going on. I even wonder if it is something personal -- that's how confusing it is to me that they would just let the G Comm die the way they have and respond like that: with a kind of mysterious, yet I believe sincere, answer. Anyway, it also sucks that, in the Q and A you could tell that Cody feels (maybe justifiably) on the defensive around guys who really pumped up his company and he at some point felt were friends (I believe). It's kind of a schizophrenic experience then: there are the guys I can write emails to and get personal responses, and yet there is this weird silence regarding their community in public... a community which they (for whatever reason) have not only let die out, but have censored or filtered at the least, and not been open about those policies.

That's my ramble at 1AM over here in the UK. Obviously I'm just really divided. I'm not eager to blame Gustin because I feel like I still haven't heard Gustin's side. But maybe you guys are right, maybe that's their fault. It sounds bizarre, and call me an idiot, but I care almost less about the product at this point than the taste in my mouth, which is bitter.

I won't comment on Cody because he's only been good to me, but regarding the forum, as I said last night, they have disallowed all search engines from crawling the community section in their robots.txt file (this, i believe, is a fairly recent development as you used to be able to search the forum via google), which tells me that they don't want the public interwebz to be able to see what is being said about them on their own forum, which I think is incredibly sad.

In addition, they have squeezed who has access to the forum area in general. Combine that with Cody's comments about /r and SF in the Q/A, and it's obvious that the community section is not a part of their future.

Frankly, although I have had some QC issues with G, my real frustration came when the 26s were being delivered, were obviously f'ed up, and long-time fans like Old26, ickes, et al. were being met with radio silence regarding their way-too-small flagship jeans. It was like watching a slow motion train wreck, and it was the moment that I lost confidence in their biz, and I had no skin in the game. I sincerely hope they learned the value of communication and getting out in front of issues, but sadly, I don't think they did, and it's a shame.

I wish them nothing but success going forward, and I honestly hope they are able to get their subcontractors' quality under control.

It's part of the growing pains, and loyal customers will be lost during the growing pains. We know what could have been done to save the community, but clearly they made the decision to let the community go elsewhere. All their products gets fully funded, with or without the community, so I'm guessing it's not a big loss they'll feel. By they, I mean Josh and Stephen. If you can keep replacing older customers with newer ones, then more power to you, and that's exactly why they focus on SF and Reddit.

I also believe that none of this was on Cody. He does his best, and he's probably the main reason why I became a loyal customer. Gustin almost lost me in the beginning, me being the ridiculously difficult customer I am. I had a little spat with their system and with Stephen, but Cody took care of me, and resulted in me spending thousands on Gustin products. And the ones that I kept, which is a lot more than you guys think ya jerks, I love.

Not going to begrudge the loss of the community, but it's a shame. Proboards just doesn't feel the same to be honest. There's still too many people here who comment with a chip on their shoulder in regards to Gustin.

Gustin still makes and provides great products, and it's great for customers like me, who have no idea what they're doing when it comes to customizing their own perfect pair. But I'm pretty much at the end of the road for their products, not because of what happened, but because I just don't need anything since I've backed so much. And I'm guessing this is also another reason for Gustin focusing on new customers at the other forums and letting go the community go down. My 2c's.

I agree with you largely, and I want to apologize for my contribution to this. I took it far more personally than I should have since I really allowed myself to start strongly identifying with Gustin as a brand, what they were doing, and I feel the G-Comm was a large contributor to this, so I reacted emotionally when they seemed to decide it was a blemish on their brand. 

I'm still defending my positions when it comes to Gustin, both the positive and the negative ones, but I'm going to do my best to stop this, because you're right, it's not making us look good as a community, so it's probably best we all just move on. I think we all took it as the last straw when Cody wasn't able to respond to our questions, but then at this point, if I were him, I probably wouldn't want to contribute to this board right now either. 

It might even be worth locking down some of these Gustin threads that have just become havens for disgruntled Gustonites, if everyone else is in agreement.

devastitis; But the thing is, GUSTIN does not continue to make quality products yet they continue to state they do with the whole "these are the same jeans sold in boutiques around the country for 205.00."...etc... I am not bashing, I am just stating a fact, and as a customer who invested highly in G and thoroughly supported G, I have every right to state my opinion and point out any issues with their products. The QC issues are countless but it's not just simply the QC issues that have put a bad taste in my mouth, it's the unwillingness to admit to them, to own up to them, to fix them, and to be completely transparent with the customer and say "what can we do to make this right" by the owners.

Cody is awesome and is probably the reason I stuck around there as long as I did. In the beginning it seemed the quality was there but it rapidly declined...and instead of owning up to it and trying to improve it, it seems they just shut the door, turned their backs, and ran away from that loyal customer base who were voicing their concerns in search of new customers.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still very happy with most of my G products and I've got a closet full of some great jeans and I have no regrets, but the quality just seemed to be steadily declining and nothing was being done. I still have some products in the pipeline so we shall see if the quality is improving. Only time will tell

Speaking of that pair of Italian Blue x Black, , I went ahead and tried them again tonight. I am happy and sort of amazed to say that after approximately one year, these 33 straights that came in at ~32.5 have been put on and buttoned all the way up for the first time since I got them 51 weeks ago, and I can even breathe. The Gustin diet plan is working.

I feel that those of us who have populated the Gustin Community and many who have migrated to this forum are the vocal minority of purchasers in this niche market (case in point: we left, items still get backed, machine keeps rolling). We may not be as extreme as the folks on reddit or SF, but we're still just as impassioned. From a marketing/branding perspective, I understand the thinking behind silencing the community voice (disabling the search functionality, quietly removing access for some) - it's about protecting the brand. During the honeymoon period, we spent hours in the community raving over the quality of the goods, Cody's responsiveness, and being Gustin's unpaid sales force. We even provided them justification after the first BlueXBlack debacle - we assumed it to be an isolated incident and not a trend. Gustin is a smart marketing company - there's no question about that. They needed to protect their brand by controlling the collective voice. It's like any other retailer with the ability to provide a product review - I don't see many 1 out of 5 star reviews on Jcrew.com - they probably don't make it past their watchful eyes. Note: G's product review feature below the pics on a product page also disappeared.

I have invested a lot in Gustin and will potentially back more in the future. I've got 10 pairs and 6 shirts - all with no significant issues. I agree that it does appear that there's a gag order on Cody - and the lack of transparency does hurt given the open door of communication with everyone at LD. There's a happy medium somewhere in between. I think both companies will be better off adapting to a blend of both and creating an effective customer service policy.

wdw mentioned the buzz presently surrounding Lawless. It that amazing honeymoon period again - let's see if we have a repeat of the past when a few folks get frustrated by the fit of their new Lawless goods and immediately grow impatient or don't get the results they're looking for. So far, it's been favorable. I can't speak for the masses who live outside of Phoenix - I know if I have any sizing issues, I'll arrange with the folks at LD to adjust when I'm fitted for my jeans. While it's probably not as simple for those of you outside of the area - I think Roman and the team would be more than happy to make adjustments if items are ill-fitting. My advice - make every effort to identify the issue, provide an alternative solution, or find a solution with LD or even Gustin before we voice our displeasure here. Stating the obvious, but still worth restating.

stinky; I'm pretty sure it's done

i'd say with some certainty that he's not coming back to answer more. 4 random questions answered, possibly just enough that he felt allowed him to say he had participated?

he seemed to take some offense at my question re: qc incidents, which is kind of funny. i half meant that question as tossing him a bone...a way for him to talk up what measures they put in place and how they have improved over time. they publicly made statements months ago about how there had been some slips and they would be doubling down and increasing qc measures. my question was posed to allow him to speak to how those measures impacted the overall operation (if at all). instead it was taken as a slap and got a non-response.