Most likely a Scam
Long Story Short:
- The “TrustPilot” reviews on the homepage are fake and deliberately styled to look like TrustPilot reviews
- The images and text in the reviews on the site are likely AI-generated and intentionally low-quality
- There isn't a single review with a rating lower than 4 stars
- There are no social media accounts except for YouTube, where the most recent video was uploaded 4 years ago. There are only 200 subscribers, and comments on the videos have been intentionally disabled.
- When contacting customer support via the website or directly by email, no one responds even after 2 weeks of sending several emails
- Product listings are clearly generated (either partially or entirely) by AI
- There is VERY little information online about this brand and website (considering the claimed 4000+ reviews for their products)
Full Review:
I was very interested in this store, especially because of the unique haori designs. So much so that I even selected a few items and started looking for the right size. It’s worth noting that the store itself emphasizes that, compared to other brands, they have “Clear measurements and size guidance” for each product. But I couldn’t find them for the items I wanted. Anyway, I decided to use the support form on the website to request the sizes for the items I wanted. After submitting the form, I didn't received a confirmation that the message had been sent. I sent it again. Several business days have passed, and there’s still no response. I emailed them directly. It’s been two weeks with no reply.
I didn’t want to buy items blindly, since their sizing system wasn’t very clear to me, and I simply didn’t want to guess which size I needed. I just waited and kept an eye on the website and its sales at the same time. It’s worth noting that the sales were running nonstop. But over the last few days, I’ve started noticing some oddities that led me to conclude that this site is likely a scam and there’s nothing behind it except the store and the payment system.
What really stands out is that the homepage states the store has 4,000–5,000 reviews on Trustpilot, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5. At the same time, the design of Trustpilot’s star rating system has been deliberately imitated, which leads users to believe the site is backed by real reviews. (But, considering where you’re reading this review, you’ve probably noticed that there aren’t 4,000–5,000 reviews here, and the average rating is far from 4.8/5.)
After skimming through the reviews on the site and using several search engines, I didn’t notice any images that appeared to have been stolen from elsewhere. However, they’re all of fairly low quality, which also makes it hard to make out details that would clearly indicate they were generated by AI, although some seem to give themselves away slightly. I won’t comment on the text of the reviews themselves, but it seems as though they’re all written in the same style.
Next, I decided to look at the product listings, since their quality is, at least, better. And I noticed an important detail. Most of the photos of the model wearing the clothes were taken in a room with tatami mats and paper doors featuring a small cloud pattern at the bottom. And there it is. Everything looks as if the photos from different angles were taken in the same room, and that’s indeed the case, but even to the naked eye, you can see how the background or the door itself changes. At first, the clouds switch places or change shade, or the round handles on the cabinets above the doors appear and disappear. The door itself in the background is sometimes closed, sometimes open with different door frames, and sometimes it changes from paper to wood.
After that, I realized that the entire website is one big scam trying to look like a real store, so I decided not to make a purchase, even though I had already prepared myself to make a payment and then collect screenshots and receipts for PayPal’s buyer protection program just in case.
I’m disappointed that this is most likely a scam. Several items look really interesting, and I can’t find anything similar anywhere else.
UPD: One of the pants listed on the site i found on ebay and amazon with exactly same design. And one identical picture. They have very poor quality and costs three times less