AKINGS — Local services in New York

Previously rated higher, but now seems more scammy.

Pros: Denim quality is good, Alan developed a signature cut and stuck to it, which has worked out so far.

Cons: If you schedule an appointment, you will likely be pressured into buying something, and Bryan/Alan will sell it at a higher price claiming it is "an exclusive" (in my case over $100 above the price of the website). If this was a sample exclusive, this would be a little more acceptable, but normally samples are kept for archives and production samples are later sold for a lower price. They just flat out sell production samples at a premium, which no other brand I know does. In addition to this, they lie about the exclusivity of the products, claiming they are 1/1 or "limited runs," but there is no manufacturing transparency available.

Communication and customer service is bad. Emails/messages will be ignored if they did anything wrong or have a delayed order, but they are quick to send you emails when they want you to buy something and pretend nothing happened. They will go as far as blocking you on instagram.

Some of the justifications for price/claims to fame are that some famous people wear them and that they have been published about. Regarding publications, it is fairly easy to submit requests for publication or pay for publication. This is why so many websites have the banner "as seen on Forbes / GQ / whatever" even when they are dubious at best (think of any course-selling website).

As for famous people wearing the clothes, I know Alan was trying very hard in 2016 to make popups and collaborate with musicians, which is likely where these stemmed from. Think of it more as people buying out of first or second degree acquaintance-ship rather than anything else. Celebrities wearing something simply means they came across it and there was some interesting quality to it (like I said, the denim is good and well treated), and this should have no bearing on the cost of a product. If Kanye started wearing an H&M sweater without even mentioning it, would you expect H&M to triple its price? What if he wore a t-shirt for $20 from a school's fall festival?

My recommendations:

Stick to denim for now.

Stop selling your products as "exclusive" or "1 of 1" when they're not.

Stop selling your sample pieces at a higher price than the actual product.

Respond to emails/messages even if you're afraid of being called out or listening to complaints.

Justify your cost by the quality of materials, quality of manufacturing, and maybe even customer service if you get better at it, but don't derive your value based on who has worn your clothes or where you've been published. That just sounds like a high schooler saying people should invite them to prom because they went to a cool kid's party. Establish yourself by...

Been a big fan of Akings since I met Alan at Consesnsys and we had an opportunity to discuss emerging fashion and technology trends in Austin together for a few brief moments. Alan was kind enough to send me a super high quality T shirt for christmas. When I needed some shorts for an emergency pool party, Alan had me covered and made time to be in the studio for me to buy a set. When I made an improptu trip to NYC during fashion week, Alan arranged for his business partner to wait for me while I battled the impossible task of finding a parking spot during one of NYC's highest traffic times of the year. I'm a big fan of the clothes. Some of the styling is a little too progressive or out there for what I am trying to pull off. I do like that most the pants come unhemmed with the ability to make adjustments rather affordably if you do not already have a tailor you personally trust. So far I have procured 4 items from Akings over the last 2 years and they all remain comfortable, retaining initial quality, and importantly designs. No fading colors, washed out logos, or any sorts of issues what so ever. All clothes fit...

After careful research to ensure we found a US based company we made a small order of disposable face masks to test the quality before making a much larger order. We ordered masks from Akings company based in NY and received a email on April 18, 2020 stating the masks were shipped. It is now April 30th. The tracking information shows only that a shipping label was created by Akings, but NOT that it was turned over to the Postal Service. I contacted Akings and they are blaming short staffing at USPS. This excuse does not fly as all but two package scans are automatically made by mail processing equipment. We reached out to Akings Customer Service a second time to explain the scans show they did not actually deposit the package into the USPS system. The only response to this was a canned response about tracking numbers. I retired from and worked at the Postal Service for 37 years. Tracking numbers are something I read and understand very well. It is my belief that Akings never actually shipped the order, but they have charged my credit card. Buyer beware!! I do NOT recommend buying from...