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My thoughts on bronson and buying from taoboa vs aliexpress

dinomartino1

Well-Known Member
Bronson
Firstly I will say that I have never bought any Bronson product that I did not like and they are very good value for the price.

I have had numerous shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats, they have all been well made the sweatshirts are very heavy duty compared to modern junk. The usn chambray shirts are very good.

1942 chinos, again well made except on these the fly buttons become loose very quickly, a minor issue and easily fixed, I have not had the same issue on any shirts
I have buzz rickson's and compared to them they are pretty good but no felled seams in the legs.

I have just received some bronson jeans and for the money they are also good value.

Vintage Bronson WW2 Simplified Model Men's Jeans 14oz Selvage Denim Blue Rigid
I would describe them as being cut like the ww2 army and navy fatigue dungarees, high waisted, very loose and very wide at bottom of the leg but with selvedge.


Sizing
I have always found it to be pretty close the item description though once I received trousers that had the wrong size in them, they where two inches smaller, a quality control issue not wildly different sizing compared to what they state.
Larger people may find dong and bronson sizing problematic.
If you are buying ask the seller to check the measurements are correct on the item they are sending you, tell them you have got stuff from bronson before that was not the same size as the label. I think the aliexpress sellers will be happy to do that.

Bronson vs dong
I can't comment on that, I have not bought dong as they seem to be more expensive in most cases and they seem to be smaller fitting than bronson in a lot of their stuff.
I know many here have both and I assume the quality is the same.

Problems with bronson jackets
You may find loose thread especially around button holes, not thread coming loose but loose excess thread and excess thread you need to trim and on some items loose buttons but not on the shirts.
My deck jacket and 37J1 do not have loose buttons but my A1 does.
The deck jackets will have a lot of loose excess pile on the lining, I washed mine and went over the lining with a vacuum cleaner and it got rid of most of it but with pile lining you are always going too have fluff no matter who made it.
A problem I find is on the jackets the armpits can be high but that is relative to the size you get.
I can wear Bronson size 38.
My A1 and 37J1 both have the same problem, the collars are too small at the back so they do not sit flat and they tend to stick up in the air. Because I am wearing a trim but not but really tight fit as your move your arms the high armpits and tightness on the chest may make this worse, on jackets that fit bigger it might not be so bad.

Buying from Taoboa
This will cheaper than aliexpress and ebay but Caveat emptor.
To be honest this can be a real pain in the arse, some may find it easy but most will find it difficult.
There are plenty of guides on the net of how to do it, I have used it a bit and every time I have new problems.
Many times dialogue boxes will open that do not translate and sometimes if they do the translation can be gibberish.

You can buy from different sellers and the items will be sent to taobao's shipping partners warehouse where the will be packed together and sent to you by courier at pretty reasonable rates

The problems with taoboa

1. If the seller sends you the wrong item or something faulty because of the above mentioned shipping method you are going to have to pay to send the item back to China [ this has happened to me twice ] to get a refund or exchange, if it's something you really like and you want an exchange you are going to end up paying for three lots of overseas shipping. Some sellers but not many will send directly overseas though it is a lot more expensive than taoboas service.
It takes around a week to receive items in Australia after it has been sent
2. No taoboa english customer service, and when I have had problems I could understand some of the translations in the messages but a lot can be lost in the translation and I have given up in frustration.

Aliexpress vs taoboa
For peace of mind, way way less stress and the ability to return faulty items at the sellers expense most will be probably happier paying the extra and using aliexpress.

Summary
There was a time here when the only response here to any query was to buy buzz rickson's and I would every time if I could afford it. I can understand why buzz is expensive, the attention to detail is brilliant and the cost of making items in Japan is not cheap and the same goes for the higher end leather jackets.
But at the low cost and getting something that still looks really good though with not as much attention to detail I am more than happy with bronson, especially if you compare with the crappy looking overpriced
cockpit offerings.







 
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dinomartino1

Well-Known Member
And to clarify the shipping aspect of taoboa the items you buy are sent to their shipping partner and them forwarded to you through them, you pay that cost as a separate charge.
From the point of view of the seller you have paid to send it to a Chinese address and their responsibility stops there, thats why you have to pay to get anything back to China.
This is the big drawback of buying on taoboa if anything goes wrong from my own experience you just have to write the money off, it's really not worth the cost to return something unless it was really expensive.
 
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Enigma1938

Well-Known Member
I always ordered my Bronson stuff on their own website. They shipped directly to my address without third party. I never had any issues with that.
 
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