Most Overpriced Designer? #3

[Lola701]

No, you would not

Bottega Veneta used to have a home line (not sure about present state) that was a very nice, obviously unbranded, extension of their leather goods--intrecciato furniture and the like. Hermes IMO also has interesting home products. I like the things they make from their leather scraps.

Ahahaha!
It’s like to think that there are people sleeping in Versace sheets. I love Gianni, o loved the campaigns by Avedon but tbh, it would be a nightmare to sleep in those sheets.

I think Hermes is different from all those brands as it is a luxury goods house. They pride themselves in this idea of Artisanat and their range of products is as large and diverse than we could imagine.
I’ve bought some Hermès home stuff for my mother. It looks specific without screaming Hermès.

You don’t need to subscribe to the brand aesthetic to buy their products. And for me, tbh, the RTW and the bags are literally the least exciting part of the brands. I’m fascinated by their home stuff and their horse riding stuff. It’s so decadent in a way that it’s fabulous!

It’s maybe the only brand I can think of where I can go to buy vases, a watch, perfumes, jewelry or travel bags without feeling like brand w****.

Bottega has gone too fashion. I think they discontinued that home line.

I think brands like Faure Le Page, Valextra or even Moynat could pull off the lifestyle stuff.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ Yeah, really disappointed in where Bottega is right now.

 

[Frederic01]

Bottega Veneta is relaunching its furniture line either this year at the Salone del Mobile in September or at a later stage. Personally I am rather excited about it, as I found Tomas Maier's vision of the furniture too ordinary and in some instances a diluted version of B&B Italia. Daniel Lee has a fresh vision and one that I am curious to see translated into the furniture line.

There are examples of Lee's take on the furniture in some of the Bottega stores already, for example in the newly designed Via Condotti store, Omotesando/Tokyo, Waikiki/Hawaii, and Miami.

Interestingly, Dior hasn't committed to producing furniture yet (apart from a hammock and one chair), instead choosing to focus more on the decorative things such as dinner sets, vases, etc. I suspect the cost of producing the furniture is too high and they would rather focus more on items they can easily mark up....

 

[THD96]

Source: louisvuitton.com

€22000

It's already sold out.

 

[helmutnotdead]

we deserve five pandemics simultaneously .

 

[reese06]

They likely didn't produce many of those bicycles to be honest so it's not crazy that it's sold out in the grand scheme. I will say that it's actually cheap and tacky looking compared the bikes I have seen from Gucci and Fendi.

 

[vogue28]

According to Elle's website, the Chanel t-shirt with Lola Nicon on the front is... $5150!

 

[charles01]

According to Elle's website, the Chanel t-shirt with Lola Nicon on the front is... $5150!

This is crazy… Chanel is ridiculously priced nowadays

 

[KoV]

I'm normally pretty unbothered by the concept of unnecessary things being high priced, because people can do what they want with their own money and I assume the people making said items are being paid middle class wages (as opposed to sweatshop labor that enables most inexpensive clothes), but sometimes the prices actually do just seem arbitrarily high. Charging over $5,000 for a t-shirt is borderline offensive.

 

[aracic]

I'm normally pretty unbothered by the concept of unnecessary things being high priced, because people can do what they want with their own money and I assume the people making said items are being paid middle class wages (as opposed to sweatshop labor that enables most inexpensive clothes), but sometimes the prices actually do just seem arbitrarily high. Charging over $5,000 for a t-shirt is borderline offensive.

More than that, it's really just so damn cocky. I must assume that they sold at least some of them and it begs the question - who in their right mind would pay so much money for a t-shirt that looks like merchandise for a vampire YA book? Strip Lola off that pink set, smudge her eyeliner a bit and you've got yourself some real teen angst representation. She's even got the side fringe! Go to the market and you'll get pretty much the same thing for less than $20.
It's just so vain and quite frankly stupid to waste money like that. I get the concept that (some) people work hard to earn their money and naturally, they have the right to spend it on whatever they want however they want, but... why? At least be smart about your purchases. Save that 5k, get a botox, fly to Tahiti I don't know, but don't waste it like that. It's criminal. Eat the rich lmao

 

[Frederic01]

With all due respect, I don't think people understand the concept of why Chanel is priced the way it is. Chanel operates solely around the idea that they are "the ultimate house of luxury" ie. the most prestigious, most expensive, most aspirational, etc. They price their goods accordingly at the very top end of the pricing model. This reinforces ideas of brand value and people buy into that. It's Marketing 101.

The other reason why Chanel prices are so high is that other brands that are "below" on the luxury scale (Gucci, Saint Laurent, Celine, etc) keep raising their prices in order to a) increase their own brand value and b) to offset low sales (don't forget all these other brands are part of groups that have shareholders, so they are constantly under pressure to sell to keep the shareholders happy), and so in order to reinforce the idea that Chanel is at the top, Chanel must constantly adjust their prices to be ahead of everyone else. It's a constant game and the people who buy Chanel seem to accept the ridiculous prices.

 

[susseinmcswanny]

How far are they all gonna go before the bubble pops? I'm not a Chanel customer, but I'm beginning to lose interest in designer clothes altogether for various reasons. I've bscly cut ties with Prada lol. Pretty close to washing my hands of Margiela. Zero interest in paying thousands of dollars for the markup of just a name, with no quality in materials/construction. How long till the pipeline of cash gets cut off from the instagram/twitter idiots buying bucket hats instead of paying rent?

 

[Reggie63]

Speaking of ridiculously priced fashion brands, I've been tracing some publicly traded fashion companies, and the way a lot of equity reports gauge performance exposes how much of a farce all this industry is.

For example, Prada's good stock performance as of late can be attributed to four things. One, Prada increased the prices of mainstay items by 50% since the start of the pandemic, and pushed the pricing of special-release and fashion items to stratospheric levels (2,500€ Prada Sport nylon windbreakers anyone? 1,200€ polo shirts?). Two, TikTok and IG engagement statistics are being actively developed and monitored. These numbers are now a major indicator of share price performance in the luxury business world. Three, about 95% of Prada merchandise is now conspicuously branded. You would be hard-pressed to find anything without any sort of ostentatious or visible branding. Four, the Chinese market's high price insensitivity. They've been proving, quarter after quarter, that they simply just don't care how much anything costs as long as it's a "luxury good".

Transforming the brand into a "luxury" Tiktok clothing label has been proving quite a successful strategy. Financial indicators are improving. Sales across almost all regions increased significantly, specially in Asia and North America. The cheaply-produced yet expensively-priced-for-what-it-is re-issue bags, the holy grail of basic and tacky Zoomers everywhere, is the undisputed rain maker for the company during this time. That's well and good since it is a business and a lot of people rely on the company for salaries, but sorry, as far as i'm concerned, Prada is now just an extremely overpriced Shein.

 

[velvetandsilk]

How far are they all gonna go before the bubble pops? I'm not a Chanel customer, but I'm beginning to lose interest in designer clothes altogether for various reasons. I've bscly cut ties with Prada lol. Pretty close to washing my hands of Margiela. Zero interest in paying thousands of dollars for the markup of just a name, with no quality in materials/construction. How long till the pipeline of cash gets cut off from the instagram/twitter idiots buying bucket hats instead of paying rent?

People which desire quality and good design will starting lost interested high fashion industry.
They sell premium quality as luxury xd and production looks more and more like fast fashion.
I noted a lot of people which buy high fashion (instagram type of customers) set up that quality is good, their knowlage about textile and tailoring do not exist. All brands are very greedy and take advantage of ignorance.

 

[susseinmcswanny]

Just watched a vid of some shoe repair guys restoring their customer's ysl Chelsea boots, and while they were taking them apart, you could see they are extremely cheaply made. A thousand dollars for a fake stacked heel and shoddy construction. I honestly was kind of surprised. I shouldn't be. They must think "hmm since this is so expensive, no one is actually gonna destroy it taking it apart to look if it's really well made". Is there any label that actually makes real deal clothes and shoes anymore? It's like really embarrassing wearing the emperors new clothes!!

I want to know if there is anyone who
-is capable of coming up with fresh and exciting designs
-isn't looking rob people
-has a CLEAR supply chain
-doesn't use slave labor to maximize profit
-has actual integrity to create real quality clothes/shoes

Cannot really think of any

 

[helmutnotdead]

Just watched a vid of some shoe repair guys restoring their customer's ysl Chelsea boots, and while they were taking them apart, you could see they are extremely cheaply made. A thousand dollars for a fake stacked heel and shoddy construction. I honestly was kind of surprised. I shouldn't be. They must think "hmm since this is so expensive, no one is actually gonna destroy it taking it apart to look if it's really well made". Is there any label that actually makes real deal clothes and shoes anymore? It's like really embarrassing wearing the emperors new clothes!!

I want to know if there is anyone who
-is capable of coming up with fresh and exciting designs
-isn't looking rob people
-has a CLEAR supply chain
-doesn't use slave labor to maximize profit
-has actual integrity to create real quality clothes/shoes

Cannot really think of any

I spend a few minutes today looking at Haider collections and I have to say that although he might not be fresh sometimes, his clothes are beautifully designed and very well made. I mean, looking through these clothes I was thinking: damn, that's the kind of clothes that I'd love to have in my wardrobe if I were rich.

 

[YohjiAddict]

I want to know if there is anyone who
-is capable of coming up with fresh and exciting designs
-isn't looking rob people
-has a CLEAR supply chain
-doesn't use slave labor to maximize profit
-has actual integrity to create real quality clothes/shoes

Cannot really think of any

Geoffrey B. Small?

 

[bc collector]

I want to know if there is anyone who
-is capable of coming up with fresh and exciting designs
-isn't looking rob people
-has a CLEAR supply chain
-doesn't use slave labor to maximize profit
-has actual integrity to create real quality clothes/shoes

Cannot really think of any

Two or three years ago I would have said Dries or Rick, to name two who are known outside the fashion circle...today I would have some qualms about naming them for "fresh ideas", as much as I still respect them 100%, even when I do not like some particular collection of theirs.
As for today, apart from a bunch of Japanese, which constitutes a group apart, there are just super niche designers like Geoffrey B Small or Maurizio Altieri or Carol Christian Poell, but again they are so niche I do not even know if they make any difference in the big scheme of things.

 

[Phuel]

Just watched a vid of some shoe repair guys restoring their customer's ysl Chelsea boots, and while they were taking them apart, you could see they are extremely cheaply made. A thousand dollars for a fake stacked heel and shoddy construction. I honestly was kind of surprised. I shouldn't be. They must think "hmm since this is so expensive, no one is actually gonna destroy it taking it apart to look if it's really well made". Is there any label that actually makes real deal clothes and shoes anymore? It's like really embarrassing wearing the emperors new clothes!!

Trenton and Heath.



Not at all surprised that the crap boot has a hollow, plastic heel held together with glue… The even more hilarious revelation was that when contacted about such an expose, the marketing department gave these talented cobblers some typical trendy excuse about "sustainability and pro-environment" nonsense being the reason the heels are hollow plastic with a phoney textured sticker to sucker the buyer into believing that it’s a stacked heel. (Stacked heel isn't anything luxurious-- just the standard, once.)

I take all my boots to my cobbler to have the heels redone the classic artisanal way. And I take older designer pieces bought through resales to my tailor to have them redesigned to my specifications and refitted with genuine luxury hardware exactly the way I want. There is absolutely nothing luxurious let alone artisanal about any of these high-profile corporate brands these days.

 

[susseinmcswanny]

Trenton and Heath.

Yes this video! I saw that comment about like aerospace material and sustainability and was lol.

I agree professional cobblers and tailors are the best. There just aren't many of them right now. I want to meet someone with these skills that's excited about being pushed out of their comfort zones to create new designs. I don't know many that wanna like go there. I wish those talented people in fashion house ateliers and workshops weren't behind the corporate brands that want to jack up prices to the moon.

In the meantime I don't think I'm gonna pay retail for any brand ever again lol