Churchill Gowns | GownTown Review & Comparison (2023 UPDATE)

Background

GownTown appears to have closed it's operations in Australia. The statement on it's website reads "We are putting a pause on taking new orders for the foreseeable future. All orders that have been placed will still be fulfilled." They are also no longer accepting orders on their website.

History

Both companies were started in 2012 within 1 month of each other, and have since served tens of thousands of customers. As the two original and biggest online suppliers of graduation gowns in Australia, there's a lot to like about both these companies - let's take a look at what makes them different!

Price

CG (Hire)
CG (Purchase)
Gowntown
Full Set Price:
$59
$99
$99
Bulk Discount Price:
$59
$73
$77
Charitable Donations:
10%
10%
5%

Summary: Similar purchase prices and similar discounts. However, Churchill Gowns also offers a hire option, and dedicates twice as much to funding charities and social enterprises as well as offsetting our carbon emissions.

Graduation Products

CG (Hire)
CG (Purchase)
Gowntown
Brand New?
✘
✔
✔
High quality?
✔
✔
✔
70% Recycled Gowns?
✔
✔
✘
Carbon neutral?
✔
✔
✘
Flexi-fit mortarboards?
✔
✔
✘
Accurate colours?
✔
✔
Sometimes
Framing & extras?
✔
✔
✔

Summary: Very similar quality bachelor and master's graduation gowns and mortarboards. However, the colours used by GownTown can sometimes be different to the University's official colours, as seen below.

university wholesale regalia

Official MACQ Hood

school wholesale regalia

CG MACQ Hood

legal and clerical attire

GownTown MACQ Hood

Churchill Gowns also only sells graduation gowns made from a unique blend of recycled polyester and viscose with is both better for the environment and has a nicer hand-feel, crease resistance and drape than traditional gowns that are made from wool, cotton or polyester. Our flexible-fit graduation hats (mortarboards) with a soft foam cup are another innovation that is unique to Churchill Gowns. These trencher caps look more similar to the stiff cup mortarboards of old but are much lighter and more comfortable thanks to the elastic insert at the back. Churchill Gowns also offsets it's carbon emissions and is committed to donating 10% of profits to ethical, sustainable and social causes.

Customer Service

CG (Hire)
CG (Purchase)
Gowntown
5+ Years Experience?
✔
✔
✔
Email Support?
✔
✔
✔
100+ Customer Reviews?
✔
✔
✘

Summary: Both companies have a lot of experience serving tens of thousands of students. However, GownTown does not have any published reviews on its website or facebook page.

Churchill Gowns is also more focused on environmental sustainability - we offset our carbon emissions, only use gowns that contain recycled polyester and donate twice as much to charity - and we have a better track record of matching the official university hood colours. At the end of the day, it comes down to what you value more - we'll leave that up to you!

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