If you found your way to this review, you probably saw one of these super cool ads from Mensclo on Instagram or another social media platform:
I personally was hooked in by the kimonos that were being advertised. When I saw this ad, I had just gotten done dealing with a very hot summer. I was living in an apartment that was basically made of floor to ceiling windows.
Why am I telling you about this? Well, 2 weeks after our 30 hour road trip to move across the country, our new town experienced one of its hottest summers in history. Several days of very, very high temperatures. We also did not have central AC at the time.
In the midst of sweating my balls off in our new greenhouse-style apartment with a window that hinged open only 4 inches, I saw that ad for the Mensclo kimono and thought, “This is exactly what I need!”
The kimono looked like it was made of a thinner, delicate material that would be perfect for wearing around the new studio in this hot weather. I was a little skeptical, as I am with most companies I see ads for online (I used to be one of those guys who drop-shipped really low quality products from China to the USA with insane markups…yep).
Despite the worry, I figured I’d pull the trigger and dropped the $40 on a Kimono and shorts set. What you’re about to read is my honest, detailed Mensclo review. To save you some time, I’ll answer the burning question you came here for:
Is Mensclo worth it? Would you buy from Mensclo again? Short answer…NO.
Here’s My Honest Mensclo Review from Purchase to Delivery
Thanks for letting me give some backstory on why I decided to purchase from Mensclo. I want to explain why I wouldn’t purchase from this company again in detail by walking you through the entire purchase process.
Maybe you’ve already purchased some clothing from Mensclo and are wondering where the hell your products are…maybe you have yet to commit and actually buy. Either way, we want you to be able to know what to expect when after a purchase from this company.
Phase 1 – Order and Shipping
The website for Mensclo is easy to navigate and well-designed. I had a little creeping feeling that the company was a dropshipping scheme. Usually I would do research by reverse searching the product images to see if they were on AliExpress, but I had checked some reviews from Reddit users for the company and people said that yes, Mensclo is legit, but there were lots of back and forth on the quality.
Because of the mixed feedback, I decided to shell out the $40 for a kimono and shorts. They looked really cool and worst case, I’m out $40.
After placing my order, the red flags started popping up.
The biggest problem I had with the entire process was the tracking number Mensclo provided. It was what I believe to either be a fake tracking code from Mensclo, or it was a tracking code that had a different format not used in the United States.
My order’s tracking code gave me this message when used from the point I ordered to the point it was surprisingly and unexpectedly delivered in my mailbox by USPS (many weeks after purchase):
The weird part of all this was they gave me a FedEx tracking link, but the delivery came from the USPS. I’m not sure what shipping partners Mensclo used, nor am I sure they even know, since it seems to be a dropshipping operation.
Keep reading to learn about my investigation on whether or not Mensclo is a dropshipping company – I’ll share my findings after going over the purchase experience and product quality.
Because weeks went by without having my tracking info actually populate any information, I decided it was time to reach out to Mensclo customer support. Which brings us to the next phase of the purchasing cycle with this company:
Phase 2 – Customer Service
If you have done any amount of online shopping in the past couple of years, you may have heard about or installed the “Shop” app. It’s an ecommerce app powered by Shopify that pulls all your tracking codes for shipments in and lets you explore shops you’ve shopped before and recommends products from other stores you may love.
The reason I’m mentioning Shop is that when a few weeks had gone by without receiving my tracking information, I decided to reach out to Mensclo customer service. I couldn’t find any info on their website, so I used the contact info they provided that populates in the shop app.
Here’s what happened when I emailed Mensclo’s customer service, being very blunt about asking whether they sent me a fake tracking number:
Their customer service email doesn’t even work!
At this point, I started to get concerned. So I scoured Reddit once more, hoping to see if anyone else ran into this issue. I even chatted with individuals on Instagram that commented on Mensclo’s posts with complaints about the same issue I was having.
Some folk told me they ran into the exact same issue and never got their clothing, while others let me know if took several weeks, but the clothes did in fact come in. They let me know the tracking code issue and customer service issue was the same for them as it was for me.
What’s even better – customers comment on Mensclo’s Instagram posts with these complaints, and the response from Mensclo is laughable. They use a template for handling negative comments, but the template is poorly constructed:
No matter what I did, I just couldn’t get ahold of anyone from the Mensclo team. I left an Instagram comment, to which I had the typical templated response and no real resolution. The email listed in the image above was nowhere to be found when I ordered and was waiting for my delivery.
Even logging into my Mensclo “account” on their website to view shipping details didn’t provide any information other that they had received and fulfilled my order. That was the extent of the information provided.
For the entire process from purchase to delivery, I was left completely in the dark, as are many other customers who purchase from Mensclo.
Phase 4 – Mensclo Delivery
I’ll consider delivery a phase of its own. After this I’ll get into the product itself, what I think of it, and then breakdown whether or not Mensclo is a dropshipping setup.
There was absolutely ZERO notification of my package delivery. None.
Wholly expecting FedEx to deliver my package (as that’s the link that Mensclo provided fake tracking information to), I spent many days checking my front door and checking the lobby receptionist at our loft to see if a package had been left.
Finally, when checking the USPS mailbox at our apartment, I had a weird package! Immediately, I recognized the beat up and worn look of the packaging, as I had previously shipped items from AliExpress to people in the USA when I was beginning my first foray into online business fulfillment as a teenager about a decade prior.
Mensclo Kimono Review – An Honest, Raw Assessment
After a few weeks of enduring the incredibly scam-like ordering and shipping process outlined above, I was finally able to enjoy this rockin’ kimono!
The first thing I did was lay out the kimono on the floor, to take a picture for this post. Here’s how Mensclo kimonos actually look in real life:
The Material
Immediately upon touching the material, I knew this was a very cheaply produced product. I didn’t expect much, honestly, but I had hoped for something a little better. The material is a very coarse polyester, entirely synthetic.
Despite the cheapness to the material, it still looks cool. However, once you put it on you’ll quickly notice that despite the material being light and summer-friendly, the Mensclo kimono produces a ton of static electricity if you do anything but stand in one place while wearing it.
Anytime I sat in a chair and stood up, I’d have my back electrically charged up from the material. It’s not even like I was rooting around, it just kind of built up a charge while sitting statically…get it – statically.
Even briefly laying in bed for 5 minutes and getting up results in the material clinging to my skin and causing a build up of static electricity, which is just not comfortable nor luxurious.
The Durability
Is this a durable kimono set? Hard to say.
I bought it about 6 months ago and to this day, I’ve only worn it a handful of times. Primarily because it’s just not thin or soft enough to justify casually wearing as a proverbial masculine sundress.
Based purely on my handling of the kimono from Mensclo as well as the fact that out of the bag there were issues with the seams not being tied off entirely, I’d say this product just isn’t highly durable. At the end of the day, it’s a cheap product being dropshipped from an AliExpress or Alibaba partner.
Definitely don’t let the kimono get anywhere near high levels of heat (so don’t open the oven while the sleeves dangle down), otherwise it could very well melt!
The Aesthetic
When it comes down to it, this kimono set from Mensclo is actually pretty cool looking! It has a great aesthetic and the cut on both the shorts and robe piece are fantastic.
The main problems really come down to it being a cheap material that doesn’t flow well with your body. It feels stiff and can sometimes look stiff as a result.
All in all, my gripes with Mensclo and their kimono line has nothing to do with the aesthetic or stylistic design – it all boils down to the quality and function, which is severely lacking for both.
Is Mensclo a Dropshipping Company?
Finally, I want to take a look at whether Mensclo is a dropshipping company. There are a few signs that point to them being a dropshipping company, with some nuance.
Let’s first look at the nuances that would differentiate them from a typical AliExpress dropshipping company:
Nuance 1 – Packaging
The first nuance that differentiates Mensclo from a standard dropshipping scheme is that when I popped open the packaging, the clothing was inside a bag that was branded with the Mensclo logo.
Does this mean Mensclo isn’t a dropshipping company? Not necessarily.
Some manufacturers will work with dropshippers on “private labeling” their products or packaging when purchased. So, you could go and order a shirt and then the company you ordered through would go to the manufacturer and order the clothing for cheaper, asking the manufacturer to slap their logo onto the bag before it goes out.
It’s a common setup.
On the other hand, it’s possible that Mensclo purchases their clothing sets in bulk from a service such as Alibaba and then place them inside branded packaging in-house before shipping. This is common with Amazon vendors and larger online stores that use dropshipping as a product fulfillment method.
It’s hard to say just by the packaging whether Mensclo is dropshipping directly from manufacturer to consumer, or if Mensclo is purchasing in bulk and private labeling in-house.
Nuance 2 – Bogus Tracking Info
One thing I found particularly strange is that the tracking info provided by Mensclo never worked. When dropshipping a product from AliExpress or Alibaba, you get tracking info from the manufacturer that actually works!
For some reason, the Mensclo tracking number provided was not real, and I’m not the only one who had this experience.
This makes me think that either Mensclo is intentionally masking the real tracking number so nobody “notices” that they’re shipping the product through another company, OR Mensclo purchases the product in bulk and has not yet figured out how to send out tracking numbers to customers.
It could be as simple as a bug in their system, but it’s hard to tell.
Next, I want to go over some of the red flags that tell me Mensclo is a dropshipping company:
Sign 1 – The Product is Available on AliExpress
So, first and foremost, I did find the exact same products on the Mensclo website on AliExpress.
Here’s one of the products listed on the Mensclo website:
Here’s the same product on AliExpress:
There are 2 possible reasons that the same product could be on both storefronts:
- Mensclo sources their product from AliExpress
- The AliExpress manufacturer produces a knock off
I would hope that the fact of the matter is the AliExpress product is a knockoff product, but the material quality of what I received from Mensclo was so poor that it’s hard to think you could make anything much cheaper than Mensclo has.
For that reason, as well as extremely long shipping times, and bogus tracking info, I think Mensclo is dropshipping or at the least sourcing their product from AliExpress.
There’s nothing wrong with this and it’s a fair business model, but in the open market it’s your right as a consumer to know you can get the exact same product, elsewhere, for cheaper.
Sign 2 – Shipping Time
Another sign that this was a dropshipping scheme was the general turnaround from order to delivery. This order took around 3-4 weeks to land in my mailbox, the entirety of which was untraceable due to the bad tracking number I was given.
Usually AliExpress or overseas shipments into the U.S. take around 3-4 weeks, sometimes longer if there’s a hang up at customs.
It is my belief that the shipping time was due to it coming from an overseas warehouse.
Sign 3 – No Real Customer Service
The third sign was the lack of real customer service or point of contact.
I have run dropshipping operations in the past – the last thing I wanted was someone asking me about the shitty products I was mailing. It was not easy to get ahold of me. I’m so glad I stopped that and started operating ethically and creating my own products for my current eCommerce businesses.
Businesses that have their own product they develop, market, and mail care a lot more about their perception. Dropshippers can shut down tonight and be operating again by the morning in a blink.
Custom made, unique products have a reputation tied to them – so you can get ahold of those producers and companies, usually.
The lack of customer service or any real email was a huge sign this was a money pumping dropshipping site.
Is Mensclo a Scam or is it Legit? Is Mensclo Worth it?
Hopefully this long-winded, honest Mensclo review was worth your time. I don’t regret spending the $40 on my men’s kimono, however I wouldn’t make a repeat purchase.
Some customers have even said they never received their products or that they were double charged.
Because of these reasons, as well as the general lack of quality, and the fact that you can find Mensclo products elsewhere for much cheaper, we don’t recommend these products, specifically the men’s kimono.
So is Mensclo a scam? My experience tells me that the company isn’t a scam. My experience also tells me the company is not worth doing business with, as it’s likely a dropshipping scheme that lacks appropriate customer service and gives bad tracking numbers.