EL
With generosity
With generosity, two stars. I have ordered somewhere around 10 items from Universal Standard (US) over a 3-year period, including workwear, casual, and loungewear. Two of those items are great, and I wear them frequently. Everything else... not so much. I have a mid-size body and the cuts of the clothing are just not flattering. I can see how on a larger body, the 'universal standard' of the cuts is comfortable, but on me, everything just looks baggy and awkward. Plus many of the fabrics are so prone to wrinkling, that even the pieces that look nice end up quickly looking messy and disheveled. But I've kept ordering because I believe in the brand's mission. My most recent order, however, has been a nightmare, and I will never order from them again. My first package was lost by UPS, which is of course not the fault of US, however, I was told by UPS to report the lost package to US. US told me to wait for the order to arrive, despite UPS already reporting the package lost. I had to insist that the package be resent. I spent $400 on three clothing items, I wasn't willing to just wait and see if they ever showed up. The items were eventually resent and arrived today - one item is completely soaking wet on the inside of the sealed packaging. In addition, all the pieces are too big (which is my fault for ordering the wrong size). I thought, I'm frustrated, I'm over it, let's just return these for a refund and be done. Well, turns out you can't just process a simple return on their website, you are only given the option to process a size-related exchange. Meaning despite the options for 'I didn't like it', or 'I want something else' the only actual function you can perform is an exchange for a size up or down. I thought briefly about emailing their customer service and requesting a return w/refund, but as I purchased these items using Affirm, I know I would then need to contact Affirm to ensure the refund is appropriately applied (I don't trust the US systems to properly report at this point). Having worked in DTC retail eCommerce for 7 years, I can without a doubt say this is one of the most frustrating customer experiences I've ever had. There is a lot of work to be done on customer experience with this brand and clothing quality (specific to cut and material) leaves something much to be desired. For the price of the products, one would expect a more premium experience, but at best it's giving Amazon storefront (which is in some ways easier because I at least trust internal systems at Amazon).