Quince Made My House Smell Like Barf
And not enough people are asking why
The other day I was driving with one of my best friends to lunch for her birthday. It was a gorgeous day and we were both in a great mood after a yoga class. She mentioned she’d gotten a robe from Quince as a birthday gift and asked if I’d ever ordered from them.
I smiled and said “Yup, I have…you’ll have to let me know what you think!” Lately, I'm trying to understand that not every thought needs to come out of my mouth. Especially on someone's birthday, when everyone is in a great mood and someone you love is excited about a new robe.
A couple days later, she texted the group chat.
The group chat was immediately divided. 50% of us had smelly Quince experiences. The others had ordered from them and were perfectly happy. One even sent a picture of her newest Quince sweater to prove it.
So I did exactly what I said I am trying to stop doing. I killed the mood.
I went into how Quince is basically a tech company disguised as a fashion company. I even brought up how Amazon was never really a bookstore (um, yikes). At some point I was referencing this WSJ podcast, this EcoCult investigation into Quince’s greenwashing (cease and desist included), and explaining that “fast fashion” refers to the speed at which a collection is made, not how fast people consume it. Basically, I was a lot and I pushed it too far. I went to bed after apologizing for my Quince shaming.
When I woke up though, I just couldn’t stop thinking about that stink.
My specific stinky Quince experience was with their bedding. I received a large box which looked like it had been dropkicked off a 12 story building and smelled like it had landed in a vat of vomit. I had to get it out of my home because the smell lingered in my hallway for days after. I felt embarrassed taking that stinky box into FedEx when I returned it. Quince sent me another, and the smell was the same. Now I’ve got two FedEx walks of shame under my belt.
I went sniffing around on the Quince website and filtered by lowest reviews. I didn't see much. They have a reputation for negative reviews mysteriously "disappearing." When I googled "my quince order smells,"plenty came up…