Designer prices go sky-high

[zionforsell]

Couture fashion is entitled to highprices since they are mostly handmade and custommade. But the price you have to pay these days for ready-to-wear designer brands are ridiculous! It is understandable that they had to be a bit more xpensive than normal brandname, but sometimes a simply plastic ring is tagged as 60$???? It doesn't matter about quality of the clothes anymore. It's all about the brand! People nowaday buy clothes to show off their wealth and status then to appreciate fashion. Usually only snobs can shead out 10,000$ for a trenchcoat! Seriously, an Italian cashmere scarf can easily priced as 900$!!! Umm I am not an heiress and I have to work my butt of just to stay comfortably so I'll pass!

 

[travis_nw8]

even in a fashion spread from the london evening standard there were bottega veneta gowns priced over £10k ....haute couture never seemed so reasonably priced...

 

[tott]

Fashion is in fashion, so to speak... If people are willing to spend, why not jack up the prices...?

But it's a dangerous road to travel, because when prices get too high people with resources might actually turn to couture: they offer a much better service, and if it doesn't cost that much more, why not? People who can't afford the jacked up prices obviously won't shop as much from these designers, or not at all. These prices could alienate a lot of customers...

But otoh, maybe they're simply counting on the t-shirt sales to boost their coffers?

 

[tricotineacetat]

I think at the end they are hurting the retailers by cutting out a middle-class consumer, which I think constitutes a much bigger share of designer market than most designers seem to think. So, yea, they are digging their own grave in a way... This goes not only for the most obvious designers mentioned in this article. A cotton blazer by Ann Demeulemeester costs $1,550 this season. There is no rhyme or reason for that kind of pricing...

Bravo, this is just very well said, Faust...

Working in high fashion retail myself, I find it pretty difficult working with this ongoing trend of designer fashion becoming increasingly expensive. I experienced myself that middle class customers are buying much less than before, they are nowadays seen shopping at stores as Zara or H&Ms, especially for the Karl Lagerfeld or Stella McCartney collections, I barely ever saw a young girl buying or wearing the clothes, it was mainly middle-class, adult women.

The problem is that once people are starting to buy designers only at the end of season or off from ebay, it will become increasingly difficult keeping up the shops and boutiques that are stocking the collections. In case of Ann Demeulemeester, we have had particular problems fulfilling the minimum orders and quantities, given the fact that the prices were indeed very high - for example, if you have a boot that retails for 790 €, out of 10 pieces that you will have to buy - how many would you be able to sell at full retail price - 2 or 3, maximum 4? It just doesn´t work if you end up throwing them out at 50% off at the end of the season, given the fact that you have to pay for rent, transport, shop assistants and everything.

It just doesn´t seem serious anymore if that is the reality of fashion retail... which is why I am always open to see interesting diffusion collections - h.chalayan or raf by raf simons are a good example, Martin Margiela 6 had once been as well, blending interesting cuts and directional design at much lower price points, without looking like a cheap rip-off from the mainline collections.