There is a new European brand on the scene that is making what looks to be a very good alternative to the high-end (read expensive) smart casual scene that we have seen conquered by Brunello Cucinelli and the other well know Italian Brands. Their name is Aurelien (very nice name by the way). Their whole marketing strategy is interesting to me. They have a coined term called ‘Smart Luxury’ which they claim is “Exceptional quality. Made in the same factories as the most well-known designer brands. Half the price. Smart Luxury.” It sounds good. But it makes me wonder why they never list the where the shoes are actually made. Is it Italy? Is it Spain, Portugal? Or could it be China?? Who knows. But it goes in line with the whole ‘no middlemen’ type of pricing structure. Either way, they look good. And in reality is the quality is there, where they are made really and truly makes no difference at all.
So, my thing is that the products look great. And at €245, I think that they would be worth trying out as I don’t feel that for a good quality product that is an unreasonable price to pay. And they damn sure look the part. I would be curious to know if anyone reading has real feedback to leave on them. Personally, I think that it is a great company and idea. I thought that paying €800 for a Brunello version is the height of craziness especially when I know the true cost price. I think that this company will do well if their brand presence grows. The offering all around is top-notch, from very cool belts to elegant suede jackets, these loafers, knitwear and a women’s line on top, they really have a complete package for smart, casual-wear.
What really impresses me and what I love to see in brands, is the sheer number of options they have for this one model. All too often you see the same colors, time after time but here you have nearly every ‘practical’ color that you can think of. The ones that catch my eyes the most are the Petrol and the Sienna suedes. Two stunningly unique colors that I find will easily accelerate one’s wardrobe from blah to cool!
I have a bad feeling that this company is going to be taking a lot of my money soon!
They claim to make the shoes in Italy
I think they are copying Loro piana
Im very happy with my brand new loafers.
Its worth trying
Thanks for sharing Paul!
Hi,
Just receive a pair of beautiful loafers and they are made in Portugal.
They are in did very well done!
Regards,
There quality and customer service is awful, stay away do not buy from them
I could not agree more, Tom. Thank you for your own Post. I wish I had read your Post before I made the terrible mistake of ordering a gift for my brother from this very inefficient shop, Aurelian. This is my own Post, which I posted today. I should have added that I had tried seveal times to telephone the company on the telephone number provided by Aurelain when I left items in their online shopping basked and the company wanted me to process my order:-
I ordered a sweater and driving shoes for my brother on 21 May 2021. Delivery claimed to be Express. It is now the 1st June 2021. I am still waiting for Aurelian’s “Express” Delivery, and have been unable to offer my brother his gift.
Moreover, I received a text on Sunday 30 May 2021, asking for payment of £2.99 GBP for shipping. I understand from Ben at DHL Express that this is likely to be a fraudster’s request. I have also received a request by email for customs payment of £51.17 GBP.
This is the email I received from DHL on Monday 31 May 2021:-
Dear 34 HANS ROAD,
You have recently placed an overseas order from AURLIEN which has been shipped with DHL Parcel UK Ltd.
In order to release your shipment from Customs we kindly ask you to pay the incurred import charges to HM Revenue & Customs.
Payment References: PIN = 628044 / Mawb = TGE-05140480
Re: Package ID number: JVGL0585776821066644123
Payments should be remitted to Trans Global Freight Management Ltd., authorised clearance agent of DHL Parcel UK Ltd. in the UK.
Trans Global Freight Management Ltd. is acting as approved and authorised agent to collect import taxes due on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs. Once the charges have been paid, your order will be delivered to you within 2-3 working days.
Charges due (GBP)
Import VAT: £45.67
Import Duty: *£0
Admin Fees: £5.5
Total due: £51.17
Please be very careful when ordering from this company. I am concerned that I have been defrauded by so-called “Aurelian”. Their Express shipping is non-existant.. The mobile text demand for shipping payment of £2.99 GBP is most likely to be a scam, according to DHL (Express). Their so-called DHL Shipping bill number does not exist, either with DHL Express or with DHL parcel (the latter, DHL Express advised this morning is a “nightmare” service, if this is the longer delivery service Aurelian has used.
All extremely worrying. I will update this post with the overall outcome. But, for now, I am contacting Aurelian to CANCEL my order and will advise my bank that Aurelain provided me with a DHL Express shipping number that does not actually exist in order to recover my payment to the company.
Thank you for sharing T.Butler. While charges for Duties I presume are normal after Brexit, the shipping charge was a bit strange.
I have communicated with Aurelien in the past (prior to the Pandemic) and they seemed normal to me. But yes, please do reach out to them and keep up posted here as it is important for me to know how companies are treating the consumers.
Thank you
Same experience !
Worst costumer service! They send me the wrong shoe. To contact them you’ll have to write an email and wait 3-4 days for a reply. I had to pay the return and I’am still waiting for them to pay me back. Worst experience ever!
I am sorry to hear this Timothy, thank you for sharing. 3-4 days reply is not the worse though, especially if over a weekend
I have ordered from Aurélien regularly. Pre-Brexit and post-Brexit. Pre-Brexit was of course smoother with DHL. I still feel we should never have left the EU (this being another matter). However, post-Brexit I was asked to pay duty by TransGlobal as well on one occasion. I reached out to them and they immediately refunded this amount to me.
Their quality and service has always been great. The mobile text demand that T.Butler is referring to seems to me as completely unrelated to Aurélien and another issue. I am missing the update on the overall outcome of his situation. However, based on my experience as a long-time customer of the brand I am sure that the matter has been resolved. Personally, I do not like these types of reviews. I am always looking for new high quality brands and I am very happy to have run into Aurélien. As T.Butler has now also not updated his review, his reviews is certainly doing more harm than good as it sells Aurélien short. It is a great brand and I regularly recommend it to people.
I will certainly make more purchases in the future!
PS: Thank you J. Fitzpatrick for the interesting content. Keep up the good work!
Cheers
Lawrence
Thank you for sharing Lawrence, your feedback was helpful and I thought it might be the case that the previous poster was not doing something right as I also have a very quick and easy experience with Aurelien. I also appreciate your kind words and support
Products are ok but the customer service is atrocious. Some of the worst of any company out there. I sent items in for exchange two months ago (you have to pay for returns and exchanges). No product exchange, no refund, no communication. Emails and chats with customer service end in “we are so sorry and will sort it out immediately” -> nothing happens again for several weeks (3 iterations now).
Thank you for sharing AO
I have got a very negative experience with Aurelien and would not recommend purchasing from them at all. Bought a pair of pull on sneakers for my husband at £350 and the elastic on them snapped within 10 minutes ( on the way to train station which is about 200 meters walk) . I have contacted customer services immediately and was asked to send them back – once they received them, they were going to send replacement. Frankly, I would have preferred refund at that point as not overly confident in the quality at the time but husband really liked the style so have agreed with replacement. After more than 3 weeks of these being sent back ( with me constantly chasing) , I just had reply that as the shoes were worn, they cannot send replacement , they have sent them to be repaired only. Clearly, I don’t want repaired pair – not at that price if meant to be super quality and brand new. Customer service is very poor , so is the quality and after reading reviews on Trust pilot, I am in huge doubts about what sort of company it is and how comes they are even allowed to trade. If the shoes don’t last tiny bit of walking and look worn after 10 minutes, then clearly there is something not right with the product.
Thank you for sharing Martina and I am really sorry for your experience with them. I am wondering if they changed ownership as i recall the people that I dealt with originally were very nice. But yes, I have since reached out on Instagram as I could not find the original email thread and didn’t even get a reply. I hope that you manage to sort it all out in a favorable way. Take care
Aurelien is a good quality product from shirts to trousers and of course shoes.
If everything arrives as ordered all well and good.
HOWEVER if there’s any type of problem their customer service is absolutely non existent.
I won’t be buying from them again and strongly advise against it.
Refunds can take 5 or 6 months.
Non delivery they blame the delivery company.
A faulty shoe you’re told to take them to your local shoe repairer. Trust Pilot receives many 1 star ratings due to abysmal customer support.
Thank you for sharing Malcolm and sorry to hear it. I presume the original owners must have been bought out. I remember when they first started and contacted me. They were nice and responsive. Now, if I write to them, I get nothing back either so imagine they have become some soulless corp
Terrible experience. Wasted more than $150 on shipping for returning shoes from Aurelien. Worst customer service possible. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. You will put your self into major trouble. Run for your life. Cannot emphasize this enough!
Thank you for sharing Stefanos and sorry to hear of your poor experience