I first came across this unusual website whilst browsing through a copy of NME, and a funky looking purple catalogue dropped out. Although the catalogue was nothing flash, it looked a bit different to most online shops so I checked it out.
...SO DIFFERENT?
I was impressed by the range of unusual
gifts and clothes, some of which I'd never seen anything like before. My imediate reaction to the price range was it was fair, but maybe a little on the steep side. I'd be prepared to pay that much, so long as I was getting good quality and value for that extra bit of cash I was splashing out.
...SO PURPLE?
The site is easy to navigate and very purple! The open page contains a recent message from 'Joe' and numerous links to sale pages and new collections. It's easy to track what you've added to your basket from a small icon at the top of the page that will take you straight there when clicked on. Once you've ordered with them you can become a member and have an account, there's credit available but I tend not to look into those kinds of things out of the risk of temptation. You can read about the company, learn how to use the site and read customer comments straight from the main page. Overall, the site is very well designed and easy to use, but I'm sure you can find all this stuff out for yourself if you're interested in the important part - the products.
The slogan for
Joe Browns is The Adventure Never Ends... To me this sounds a bit cheesy and something you'd see on a
JEEP ad. It's also a little weird to suggest that they are a
sports clothes supplier when they sell fluffy high heeled flip flops! Some of their clothes are however, practical, but the range seems very mismatched.
...SO TACKY!
Once you click on 'Clothes' from the main page you are taken to a page with various subcategories, each with an option for mens, womens, and unisex. I have clicked on all of these and noticed that many don't have any products in at all! There are: casual tops, a very strange brand known as 'Indystar', footwear, jackets, knitwear, leathers, shirts, skirts and shorts, sweatshirts, trousers and jeans, t-shirts and underwear.
They come across as being a cool, 'surfer dude' type web site, but not all of the products put this across. For example, if you click on footwear, you get a very mixed range of shoes, which seems to me to be a little bit confused. You have the
cheap rip off Converse, associated with a very different subculture to the rip off Timberlands, as sported by
Britney Spears and such like. To me this would make and person looking at this page think, 'Who are they trying to appeal to here?'. It seems as though they themselves are jumping on every fashion trend bandwagon and going along for the ride.
...HMMM SECOND THOUGHTS
Having said this, the casual tops and other general clothes are quite nice, with the occasional mistake. But from the odd peice I can't help but compare it to a market stall with some very cheap looking clothes. However, the first time I visited the page I ordered some things I liked.
I got the funky pink crazy pom-pom hat, which was at the time £13.95. On arrival I was very pleased, it was just what I wanted and was quite warm, but I didn't feel like my head was in an oven.
...THE DREADED CHAIN!
Along with this I also bought Cyndi handbag, which was at the time (about 3 months ago) £24.95. I was attracted to the bag because I hadn't seen one like this before and I try to have things that are still high street prices but I won't see everyone else wearing. It had nice satin straps, although this makes them slip off my shoulder all the time, and metal chain handles. They broke within about 2 days.
I didn't send the bag back because I liked it so much. So I fixed the chain with some pliers and got on with it, not knowing I would have to do so about once a week from then on, everytime it broke. If you're wondering this is the bag which is the icon for the bags page, but it isn't actually stocked anymore. Most of the other hangbags look awful to me, but I'm sure they will appeal to someone's taste. When the range is full os fairly unique pieces not everyone will like them.
...I'M NOT THAT FAT!
My other major complaint was sizing of the clothes, particularly trousers. I bought the fold over pants in cinnamon, at the time they were £27.95, which I thought was fairly reasonable and I was sick of wearing jeans everyday. They look really comfy and baggy on the site. I am usually a size 8-10 and with them looking quite baggy I ordered an 8, assuming they would fit a bit tighter than they looked in the picture. When I tried them on however, I was extremely disappointed. They hung very badly around the bum and the front inner leg folded in an uncomfortable way when I sat down. They were much too big and kept falling off! I really did have to return these as they were way off with the sizing. Whether this was intentional to make larger people pleased that they can fit into smaller sizes, or just an accident I don't know. The fabric was very thin and the fastenings felt shoddy. I was very disappointed. They were more than just bad value for
money, they were completely shoddy.
I also bought the rock chick denim mini, as I loved the zip detail up the whole of the front. This was also a size 8 and fitted perfectly. The denim was reasonable quality and the fit was great. This just goes to show that you never can tell, and I wouldn't buy any of their clothes again just because of the risk of having to return more things, which I really don't have the time to do.
...HURRY UP!
Once I had packed them off and stood in the post office queue during my lunch break for over 45 minutes, I was expecting my money to be refunded into my account within, say, one to two weeks, much like any other
online company I'd returned goods to. It took Joe Browns over three weeks, now fortunately this didn't matter at the time but I can see it being a major draw back for some people.
...NO LOUISE! THEY'RE MINE!
There is one thing that really scared me about my order with this company.
When you pay, you have the option to enter the names and addresses of some friends, in order to receive a free gift of your choice, something like a keyring or some incense sticks. So naturally I did and nominated my sister and a few other of my friends to be hounded by their paper-wasting junk mail. My sister lives at home with me and my parents so she has the same address. When Joe Browns sent out my order, although I had paid with my card and specified that it be sent to me, they somehow got me and my sister mixed up, and sent it to her! At least she lives in the same house! Her name was clearly on the front of the order parcel and this even happened again with the next order I placed, even though I hadn't even written her name once. How this could happen was beyond me, and it could have been a lot worse if it had been one of the other people I had nominated. Though it may serve me right for giving their addresses for a free keyring.
...WHOOPS!
Now, I can't really comment on the men's clothes on the site. Some of them look very immature and cheap, some don't. Whilst some look downright horrific (note Jimmy-Z hawiian disaster).
When I started browsing this website, it was pretty much in my good books, but since then there have been no new products added at all, except a few cheap looking gifts over Christmas. There is however, a new catalogue out in March so there may be something new in there, but every other new catalogue I've received has just been the old collection in a different format.
...ADVENTURE? WHERE?
The 'adventure' section of the site is something I haven't personally used. Although I had a browse and noticed that there's nothing really out of the ordinary except they are a complete rip off. Most gift companies are offering these sorts of gift 'experiences' now and usually for a lot cheaper or including more for your money. Even places like
Argos do them.
...SOME POSITIVE THINGS... FINALLY
I do still rather like the accessories section, some of the jewellery is quite tacky and very overpriced, you'd be better off going to Claire's. Yet some things are so unusual they can't help but appeal to me. I also really like the look of some of the art, yet I haven't bought any so I'm not sure what the quality would be like. Some of the gifts are very cool, like the guitar mug, perfect for hard to buy for rockers and the funky money boxes. They also stock a wide range of humourous cards, but I wouldn't be tempted to fork out on postage costs just for a card unless I was purchasing something else as well. However, yet again the icon for the 'unusual' section looks to be like a Mathmos Aduki or something similar, yet I can't find this item or anything like it on the site?? Very frustrating.
THE FUNDAMENTALS
The packaging was alright, not the best I've seen but it was waterproof and it was clothes anyway so they wouldn't have gotten damaged in transit. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that if you bought a candle or something that they'd take a little more care.
The ordering process is fairly easy and you can track your order on the site after you've paid. Another gripe is that when you go to pay there is a scroll down bar to choose which carriage option you'd like, yet alas, there is only one!
Royal Mail £3.95, without specifying which class. This can be a benefit if you're ordering loads of stuff as it's a fixed price not determined on weight or quantity. Yet if all you want is a keyring it could be quite annoying.
At the checkout there is an option to enter a source code from a catalogue to receive discounts. I did this and it said that discounts would be shown across the site. I searched through all categories and not one product was showing a discount, even when I added it to my basket. You can also order over the phone and some catalogues have a mail slip to order from as well.
My overall opinion of this company is that they have poor quality products hyped up by their image to legitimate the extortionate prices. They copy every trend with cheap rip offs you might as well buy down the market on a Friday. Although, I must give them the credit that some of their products are very unique and would be impressive as gifts. I would still use the site for this reason but I wouldn't buy any of their clothes again. In the competitive e-shopping market I'm surprised that they can be successful if they are like this all of the time, they may have their strong points, I just haven't discovered them yet.
The products do seem popular with other people, as I tried to buy a few of the things I ordered on eBay, and they almost always reached the RRP from the site anyway, occasionally more, which I guess must have been due to availability or cheaper postage or something (or perhaps just the addictive bidding frenzy).
I don't like to
write reviews on things I have negative opinions of as not everything suits everyone, but this was such a bad experience in both of the two times I have ordered with this company that I had to let everyone know about it. If anyone if a fan de Joe then they should write about how good it is, because I can't help but feel I'm being a bit bitchy!
I hope this helps and would appreciate any comments (what a nice long gripe). Laura x
The Adventure Never Ends... Oh Please 
