Recently we were sent a t-shirt from this self-proclaimed “Luxury Fashion” label, called CASSIDA, from Austria. Now to be fair i have to head up this review with the fact that i personally don’t wear high fashion items, and i usually think they are overpriced and overrated. And i still believe that after reviewing Cassida, BUT i must say their stuff is extremely nice.
First of all the Shirt came in a custom box, with a very nice letter on custom stationery hand-signed by the CEO and highly elegant gloss printed catalog. This alone made a statement of quality, care and love for the product. I was impressed right away.
First thing that i was interested in though was the actual shirt.
The garment feels very soft, the printing is extremely precise and i don’t even know how many colors and shadings were employed. The attention to detail and color in printing, including beautiful gold flake ink, was truly stunning. In addition this shirt had sewn in metal parts and the stitching was custom all around. Really a high quality product i must say. Upon inspecting the box and browsing through the catalog, this attention to details is applied everywhere: whether it’s the photography, the design or the coloring, it’s sharp, precise and clean.
My first impression of the actual shirt design was “what is this ?”. I didn’t quite like it, and i’m still not quite sold, it’s a bit too over the top in my opinion. I don’t quite get the concept, Cassida being the latin term for a roman soldier helmet. I get the strife for elegance and maybe nobility, in the choice of colors (the dark red was a sign of nobility in ancient Rome and Gold, well gold is gold) and in adding rhinestones and other physical items to the shirt but all in all it’s missing that certain freshness. That almost undefinable quality that merges regular street clothes with elegance and in your face (or even subtle) “hotness”. It’s hard to describe, what i’m trying to get at is that the impact itself was not as strong as the quality of the shirt.
Also it runs a bit small, not every man can rock this, and to be honest it’s quite metrosexual, almost feminine. Some guys can pull that off, but i personally couldn’t nor would i ever want to wear a shirt in that style. To each their own, but the rest of the collection is quite similar. No man’s man shirt in sight (not that that’s what i am, but sometimes i prefer dressing that way!). I guess the gay pride flag in the t-shirt design should have given me a heads up, and combined with the whole gladiator theme, it seems that this might be their target market, i am not sure. The other designs do not hint at that. Oh well, this is in the realm of speculation at this point so back to the review.
I reviewed their website (http://www.cassidashop.com) which is easily navigable, simple, clean and looks good. BUT then i got to the shop and looked at the prices. Shirts range from 85-120 euros…for a t-shirt. That is definitely excessive, but i can see where the money goes on the shirt. So much quality in the manufacturing has to come at a price, but yeah, still overpriced in my opinion. The brand is not quite strong enough to support that kind of pricing.
Also i was disappointed that there were merely 6 t-shirts for men and 3 for women. That is definitely not enough to be a CLOTHING brand, more a fancy t-shirt company. I would like to see some denim, and more tops, maybe some nicely stitched blazers could round it out. But yeah, definitely not enough.
All in all, if you are into the designs and have the money to spend, you will get a fantastically manufactured product, that is for sure! It’s really a matter of taste, style and pocketbook. Not for me, but the interested customer will get a slightly overpriced, but carefully crafted shirt.
Will keep my eye on them, this could still develop into a great streetwear brand, it definitely needs some time, we shall see.
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