Here’s an email from a reader:
Is Combat Gent gone?
Their store in LA is no longer open during posted business hours. Doors are locked.
Their phones have been disconnected.
The live chat option on their website is disabled.
Their last several hundred mentions on Twitter are all complaints from people who can’t get in touch and have shipments that have missed commit dates. Most are wedding orders.
GQ ran an article in July about their problems. So did CNBC.
You don’t say. Look, that stinks for guys who bought into them. There’s a lot of noise out there, and who among us hasn’t fallen for a too-good-to-be-true commercial transaction?
But there’s a reason why we haven’t covered them since we first took their lying butts for a spin in 2013. They claimed they were selling Super 120s – 140s half-canvas suits for $160. But upon arrival they were anything but. Wool/poly blends with plastic buttons. And there were odd labels, still attached no less, of junk suit sellers easily found on eBay. After our post went live, Combatant Gentleman changed their site to reflect the details of our observations… and behind the scenes we refused to do any further reviews.
One of their early suits. Super 120s eh?
Look, I’m not trying to rub this in. Please believe that. But I can hear a few of you right now shouting that we should have been more aggressive with our condemnation. Yet the facts were there. At the time they were decent suits for $160, but there was something obviously amiss. Puffery and exaggeration flowed like shit from a septic tank (at one point they were seriously claiming to own flocks of sheep, and thus, could save on raw materials cost).
If you really want us to start throwing bombs and aggressively pointing fingers (instead of focusing on the brands and retailers offering good value) then I have one request…
Talk to a lawyer and see how much it costs to defend yourself, even if you are in the right. Because I’ve written those checks. And they’re steep.
For now, if Combat Gent has any of your money, I sincerely hope you can get it back.