Most Overpriced Designer? #1

[Salvatore]

Your comment is tactful beyond belief Go ahead and send this to Guiness--nothing nicer is going to be said about this bag I do love croc, but no crocodile should have to die so that monstrosity could exist. Things this ugly should certainly be made of something else ...

There are many New Age travelers ... is there a single one who'd carry that?

As for irony ... love it, but I can get a perfectly nice copy of Jane Austen for $20, and it looks better on my shelf.

I'm nice when it's late .

I just noticed those cords on it . Are those just decoration or for something ?

 

[helmut.newton]

If I was going to buy a Louis Vuitton ironic bag, I certainly wouldn't buy that backpack. It's made out of canvas, with only a little croc-trim for godsakes! Take away that fox-tail, and that bag is worthless!

I'd rather the Louis Vuitton Tribute Patchwork Bag; as after seeing the Marc Jacobs documentary, you know how much work went into making it. It is hand-stitched! I can't even imagine how many hours went into making it!

It costed US$45,352 and was a limited edition.

luxist.com/

 

[Spike413]

Louis Vuitton prices their Pret-A-Porter in accordance with exclusivity rather than quality or craftsmanship.

Their logo is so ubiquitous (bags, shoes, luggage, etc) and it is so accessible that to control their image as the ultimate in luxury goods, they price their Pret-A-Porter accordingly. It is about maintaining a certain degree of exclusivity in the face of the globalized world where there is a Louis Vuitton store in almost every major city.

I actually disagree with that.

In my experience LV's ready to wear is extremely well made, and for the last few years especially, beautifully detailed. Photos really don't do the clothes justice. IMO the RTW is the only LV product line that isn't priced based solely on the name that's on the label.

That $24K dress posted on the last page, though overpriced, is incredibly detailed. Those colored panels that look like ruching are actually made of little horizontal tubes of fabric. Yeah the mark-up is a bit insane, and I can't honestly recall ever seeing an LV garment with that high a price tag, but there's quality workmanship in that dress.

 

[fashionista-ta]

I'm nice when it's late .

I just noticed those cords on it . Are those just decoration or for something ?

Hard to imagine a useful purpose for that many cords Beam me up, perhaps? I assume they are 'decorative,' in the loosest possible sense ...

As for the foxtails, removing them would add value for me ...

 

[Squizree]

What exactly is a "new age" traveller? And Im sure no traveler would want to spend that much for a bag that could barely fit anything.

 

[sonyagirl]

Louis Vuitton ready to wear is so expensive, way too expensive! Maybe it is true that it is beautifully detailed, but I am not convinced it should cost that much.

 

[sonyagirl]

The LV space traveler bag is horrible!

 

[mikeijames]

i understand that vuitton's considered a status brand, but i'm honestly at a loss for where a woman with those type of means would wear a monstrosity like that....at least, a balmain jacket can be worn for YEARS. this bag would look foolish almost anywhere.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I'm dying to know the exception that made you write 'almost' ...

 

[mikeijames]

^ I'm dying to know the exception that made you write 'almost' ...

glamping....

http://goglamping.net/

 

[dorien]

Augusta, their footwear.....DAMN!

they've only been around for a few years.
at least from what i know.
insane prices.

 

[turnofflights]

^ ohh but the quality baby the quality!! i recently bought a pair of boots and they feel like butterrr

 

[cologne_rocks]

A pair of leggins from Balmain for $ 4.442,22.

mytheresa

tshirt for $ 2.205,24, also Balmain.

mytheresa

How is actually the quality of Balmain garments? Can anyone talk from experience?

 

[chloehandbags]

^ can't comment on cars, but I guess if you're rich enough, nothing can be truly 'overpriced'.

Even if I suddenly had all the money in the world (God forbid!), I would never feel that way, personally.

I have always calculated the fairness of designer prices via the old rule that a R-T-W designer item (depending on brand) should cost, in the region of, 3 to 5 times that of its non-designer equivalent.

The purpose of allowing this multiple is, obviously, to comfortably cover all the added expenses associated with running a successful R-T-W house (shows, advertising, schmoozing celebs, prime real estate, highly paid head designer etc.).

On that basis, to be fairly priced at $2,205, the leopard print Balmain T-Shirt, above, would have had to have retailed at, at least, $441 had it been a non-designer item; which would seem pretty unlikely, to me, even if it had been handmade in France, or Italy...?

Please correct me if I'm wrong but it seems, to me, that it would have been far more likely to have been priced at about a 10th of that and therefore, as a R-T-W designer item, should retail for between about $132 and $220?

Many designers are breaking all the long-accepted pricing rules, these days - I'm not sure why they're doing it, but I can only assume that (in addition to being allowed to get away with it, by people who are, clearly, not aware of the old rules!) it often has to do with being able to appear to deep discount, at the end of the season (for those who do), whilst still taking as much, or more, than they would have, had they priced more reasonably at the beginning?

I find it all very off-putting.

Although I like a true bargain, of course (who doesn't?!), most of these bargains aren't true, so if I really like something I'd, generally, rather pay a fair amount for it at the beginning of the season, than the same amount, or very slightly less (or more!), at the end.

Having said all that, Balmain could be worse - they could be LV!

At least Balmain does finally go on sale - whereas, don't LV destroy, at least some of, their unsold items?

That's just one of the many reasons I can't imagine ever buying anything LV.

 

[cologne_rocks]

Actually, the problem for upscale fashion houses is that they cannot increase their productivity, which is quite understandable as they don't want to turn into company that produces for the mainstream. The management level does have to push the productivity on a low level but on the one hand run the company to a profit, not easy! So, everything must be getting regulated by the retail prices and not directly by poducing more and more items.... it works very very well for Balmain at the moment,at least (well we know that in such times, say when a label is 'hot', clever entrepreneurs try everything to make as much profit as possible in order to prepare for bad times (see what happened to Ed Hary okay, bottom level).

As for the discounts: There is not any fashion house in this world which does not include (cash) discouts into their prices before they actually grant it to their customers.
The retail price of any garment is being calculated this way:

Production costs (fixed + variable charges) ---> 200€
+ (anticipated) profit
+ profit (20%) ----> 40€
+ 1. discount (20%) ----> 40€
+ 2. discount (5%) ---->10€
______________
suggested retail price of ---------------------> 290€ (per item)

As the fashion houses do not only earn from the 20% of calculated profit they do aslo make money with the discounts they calculated but didn't grant to their custormers until the grand sales begin

This rule of thumb like designer items being 3-5 times more expensive than non-designer item sounds really cool and fair, I'd love it tbh, but it's finally miscalculation and kind of 1980.
BTW I wonder if anybody would still buy Balmain if they'd calculate their prices according to this rule mentioned by chloe handbags !

 

[GivenchyHomme]

I love Prada very much, but I thought this top was a bit expensive.

It retails for US $4,185.00

 

[Zenobie]

I always wondered are people impressed by these crazy displays of wealth? If you saw someone with an item of clothing you know cost a lot of money are you impressed? Personally I look at the styling first but I know a lot of people do swoon over labels. You only have to look at the popularity of certain blogs out there to see that.

 

[Dkammern]

funny i was watching the Marc Jacobs documentary for the 876356346th time yesterday and the women who participated in the making of the "patchwork" tote was just praying that nobody ordered any of the 28 copies that they were planning to make, because the bag was such a nightmare to produce

i personally kind of like both this and the backpack.
it sounds absolutely stupid, but the only thing that bothers me about the backpack is the monogram and the fox tails. would that be a different fabric and i'd be ready to splurge on it

 

[Sybarite]

Ridiculous prices (when paying too much is really too much)

I don't mind spending a lot of money to get real quality or edgy design but sometimes I just don't see the link between some clothes and their price tag.
Look at this:

http://www.luisaviaroma.com/index.a...group=&style=&ScrollTop=1272&ListOfProdPage=1

Who on earth would be stupid enough to pay that price for that junk?

Can somebody explain me?

Feel free to post other examples.

 

[Crying Diamonds]

Balmain is an absolute gyp.