Bronson Mfg

o_moldavo said:

Regarding their quality...has someone bought one of their parkas made of cotton satin? How well is it made? Is it so much worse than for example real mccoy cotton sateen? Or not so much? Thanks

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Do you mean their nylon flight jackets? I just got one and am really happy with it for the price. I've never seen a McCoys so can't compare but I really like the Bronsons one.

58panheadfan said:

As I said before, it is everyone's own thing ... for me, a "Made in China" label on a garment is a no go ... no matter where the sources come from. That's my personal view

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Yes indeed and agreed. I have small shop in Czech Republic, sell mainly Pike Brothers gear. I used to sell Bronson , Non Stock and Bob Dong gear in the shop as well. Some of their stuff is reaching the dizzy height of the Toyo Enterprise garments. Certailny they have made a huge leap forward in the quality department plus they make some unusual repros. However I too made the ethical decision to support European made products as well as local producers. So no more chinese stuff in the shop no matter how good and cheap it is. My choice , not forcing it on anyone. Incidentally after all the customs charges, VAT and a small shop marging it wasn't that much cheaper.

daddy-o said:

Yes indeed and agreed. I have small shop in Czech Republic, sell mainly Pike Brothers gear. I used to sell Bronson , Non Stock and Bob Dong gear in the shop as well. Some of their stuff is reaching the dizzy height of the Toyo Enterprise garments. Certailny they have made a huge leap forward in the quality department plus they make some unusual repros. However I too made the ethical decision to support European made products as well as local producers. So no more chinese stuff in the shop no matter how good and cheap it is. My choice , not forcing it on anyone. Incidentally after all the customs charges, VAT and a small shop marging it wasn't that much cheaper.

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Thumps up!

Hello. Could anyone share their experience with Bronson's sizing? Want to buy their MA-1, but unsure if I should go L or XL, don't want it to be short (5'11", ~163 lbs)

Gromit said:

Hello. Could anyone share their experience with Bronson's sizing? Want to buy their MA-1, but unsure if I should go L or XL, don't want it to be short (5'11", ~163 lbs)

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I generally size up for tops. 44 is the largest they offer, and it's a good fit for me, normally I wear a 42. For pants their sizing info seems to be pretty accurate, but ask them about shrinkage, as it will depend on the specific fabric used.

Jeans are size accurate; t-shirts and other tops I size up.
Unsure about the jackets but the vests are true to size in my experience.
I buy regularly and love their products.

Is buying direct from the website the way to go? I believe someone mentioned that the was a better way via aliexpress or taobao

ProteinNerd said:

There is a seller on eBay that sells their stuff and he was great to deal with.

name is: vtgdr_store

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Yes, I would recommend him too. I ordered a Bob Dong cap on ebay from him (after a whole debacle with what turned out to be a bad seller on Aliexpress). Turned out I'd just missed my size: I got a very quick message, apologising, explaining they were out of stock and saying they were cancelling my order as a result, but they'd let me know if and when they got more of that model in. Anyone's ordering system can 'slip' like that, but I was very impressed with how on top of it they were, and it would make me feel comfortable ordering from that seller again.

Gromit said:

Hello. Could anyone share their experience with Bronson's sizing? Want to buy their MA-1, but unsure if I should go L or XL, don't want it to be short (5'11", ~163 lbs)

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I find most stuff that is made primarily for the Chinese market is usually same as UK for trousers (as a rule, I can wear one size smaller in almost any US trouser than I do in UK/EU). For tops, I would almost always go one or two sizes up (one up numerically, one or two if it's L/XL/XXL sizing).

short_lefty said:

Is buying direct from the website the way to go? I believe someone mentioned that the was a better way via aliexpress or taobao

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I've bought a few small items from aliexpress. Primarily novelty stationary of a kind I cannot get in the UK (the wife is a big stationary person; I always pick her up novelty pens and such when I'm in Beijing with work, but not having been able to go there this last two years because of the 'rona, I stumbled over Aliexpress). I'd be wary of buying anything 'big' on it. That said, the Aliexpress system for dispute resolution is impressive. I ordered a Bob Dong cap from a seller on there. First one they sent me was a size too small. I ordered a second one separately from that as I knew the model was selling out fast; they sent me a completely different, unbranded cap of a much cheaper manufacture and style, not in any way an acceptable alternative. Sort of thing I could have bought on a market locally for a tenner, and in no way a substitute. So, two complaints into Aliexpress. The first one (right cap, too small) they refunded me fully and said I didn't have to return it. The second - because it did at least fit - they offered me either a 30% discount if I kept it, or all my money back if I returned it. The return wasn't exactly cheap - it had to be fast postage as they needed it within eight days - but they held up their end, even when the seller claimed they had never received it (on the basis that I had provided a tracking number). The 'too small' one is the one I have up for sale as a reduced price in the classifieds purely to recover my postage cost.

All done and said, I'm out a lot less than I have been in the past with items I've received on eBay where it was much cheaper simply to sell them on or donate them than go through the returns process. Aliexpress's interface is a little less intuitive than eBay, but manageable. I would be wary of what you buy on there obviously, but I have been impressed with the buyer support with the one seller with whom I had problems. And to be fair that seller's feedback reviews.... if I'd taken the time to read those, I'd have avoided them at all costs, as it seems they have done the bait and switch before too.

I ordered one of their B-15C jackets from the Bronson site 12 days ago. As of today, the tracking hasn't been updated in a week, but then it was still in China. Their site claims that most international shipping takes around 20 days... but with the whole supply chain mishogas, who knows?

And of course, there's a chance that it's not going fit me well (the critical measurements APPEAR right, but you know!), and I will end up returning it. But I hope it works out, I need another nylon jacket; I recently divested an old Alpha MA-1 that was always big on me, but had become just absurdly HUGE after I dropped some weight.

I think I might order one of their N1 deck jackets soon. The trimmer fit is appealing and the price can’t be beat. Unfortunately, the dark brown liner looks to be out in 38, so I may look into some of the resellers who might still have it in stock.

Bronson's web site says they don't have a representative on ebay...I bought a ma1 on ebay in olive, after getting caught in the rain in this jacket, it can be taken to the trash...it's all streaked and stained. I don't think I bought a fake Bronson on ebay.........

FYI, it took three and a half weeks for my Bronson jacket to arrive from China via free shipping at Bronson's site. The tracking ended when the package was handed over to the USPS - I'd expected it to continue being trackable, but it wasn't. It took about another six days to get across the country to NY.

I like this B-15C MOD a lot, it seems worth its modest price. It's definitely nicer than my old Alpha B-15 (their old standard version with the removable faux fur collar), and it seems to be well made of good materials. It is very warm. Unfortunately, it only just barely fits me, and is too tight for layering over a sweater or sweatshirt. It's a 42, a 44 would be perfect... but alas, they didn't offer one in this style, so I took a shot that the shoulder/chest measurements were accurate. It fits... tightly.

Doctor Strange said:

FYI, it took three and a half weeks for my Bronson jacket to arrive from China via free shipping at Bronson's site. The tracking ended when the package was handed over to the USPS - I'd expected it to continue being trackable, but it wasn't. It took about another six days to get across the country to NY.

I like this B-15C MOD a lot, it seems worth its modest price. It's definitely nicer than my old Alpha B-15 (their old standard version with the removable faux fur collar), and it seems to be well made of good materials. It is very warm. Unfortunately, it only just barely fits me, and is too tight for layering over a sweater or sweatshirt. It's a 42, a 44 would be perfect... but alas, they didn't offer one in this style, so I took a shot that the shoulder/chest measurements were accurate. It fits... tightly.

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That's where I'm at with most of their stuff - it seems I'd need always one or two sizes above where their range stops. Sucks, but hopefully as they get more demand in the West (especially as the Japanese brands' prices soar ever further out of reach), they'll realise there's a market for larger sizes).

Hi everyone,

my experience with Bronson was great until recently. I purchased 4 Henleys from them on 2020 and they were perfect, i wear them daily and they have been in the washing machine quite some times now. On my last purchase on their site, i wanted to save on the shipping cost so i ordered a couple of henleys just to make sure i never run out but the product i received has not much in common with my 2020 order. The quality has significantly decreased, there is a loss of 50 grams on each henley, at each wash, they shrinked a lot while the first 4 i bought have retained their original size. They seem to have added some elasticity to the garment while the tag still says 100% cotton which i seriously doubt. A little detail may be but they also stopped adding an extra button to the tag which is a clear indication that they try to cut the manufacturing cost at customer’s expenses. I have written a full review of the product giving it a 1 star and it was never published on their page. I then wrote another short review basically saying that they only published good reviews and mentioning the decrease in quality on the product but giving it 5 stars and this one was published which makes me think they are filtering the reviews based on the number of stars rather than actually reading the reviews. That’s quite disappointing from a brand i’ve spent hundreds of $ on. I own 2 jackets, 3 vests, 1 trousers, 2 tshirts and 6 Henleys from them but i will think twice before purchasing again from them.

That's strange. I just got two new henley's from them myself in different colors and they look, feel, and fit exactly as my first batch did. Post wash (ambient temp, we have no cold water here), line dry, and they do shrink up a bit, but they shrink up to exactly where I like them actually and loosen up a bit upon wearing them the first few minutes.

As to added elasticity in the fabric, I absolutely do not believe they have any, but I can't speak to Dr. Macabre's experience, only my own.

I plan to order some more henley's shortly.

marker2037 said:

That's strange. I just got two new henley's from them myself in different colors and they look, feel, and fit exactly as my first batch did. Post wash (ambient temp, we have no cold water here), line dry, and they do shrink up a bit, but they shrink up to exactly where I like them actually and loosen up a bit upon wearing them the first few minutes.

As to added elasticity in the fabric, I absolutely do not believe they have any, but I can't speak to Dr. Macabre's experience, only my own.

I plan to order some more henley's shortly.

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You are absolutely right, i wrote to Bronson to discuss this and they pointed me to my mistake, i ordered one size smaller on my last order… what an f**** idiot

DrMacabre said:

You are absolutely right, i wrote to Bronson to discuss this and they pointed me to my mistake, i ordered one size smaller on my last order… what an f**** idiot

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Doh! Sorry to hear that. I ordered about 6 more henleys just this past week or so as I really do find them to be the best out there for both craftsmanship and fit requirements.

Ordered a wabash shirt. Only $30 bucks. Going to be hard to be disappointed. Shipping is rather slow.

I own the wabash. It's really nice.

I think Bronson is the best as the cheapest option vs. quality and look. They do a great job for inexpensive vintage style. I have ordered from their website 5 times and have not had any issues. Items ship directly from China with tracking until they are handed off to USPS. Buying direct from China can be hit or miss but as long as one knows there is a bit of a risk, it may be worth it. Customer service seems to be limited. The drawback seems to be a return policy which (unless there is a product defect) is on your time and I am assuming its shipping back to China which makes it hardly worth it! Gotta take your best shot at sizes. I guess I might not be willing to buy something expensive from them with this possible return issue but so far so good: a few shirts, 4 jackets. Their website and ease of ordering continue to improve. With all this said, I could totally see how their could be issues as they are a work in progress.