QuirkyCool said:
I have also on occasion been unimpressed with See by Chloe.
I was gonna say See By Chloe too - the quality can be really awful - I'm sure there was even an article in the UK trade press about it. It's pretty much mass production - it's a license held by an Italian factory so probably isn't even designed by Chloe - I get the impression that Chloe really don't spend much time overseeing it.
Sadly a lot of young new designers can fall victim to shoddy manufacturing becasue they simply don't have access to good manufacturing due to lack of reputation and experience - it really isn't their fault and due to lack of back ing they often have to demand ridiculous prices as well.
Also a lot of affordable luxury bags are pretty much mass produced nowadays - an embroidered Lulu Guiness Bag will be pretty much the same quality as an Accessorize beaded bag yet five times more expensive.
I don't rate Earl Jean either - I don't think their denim is that great quality - I bought two pairs and was very disappointed. Infact a lot of luxury denim brands - I've a friend who designs jeanswear and she pointed out to me that the likes of Diesel and Miss Sixty are far more technically adept when making jeans compared to some of the luxury brands.
Finally another freind of mine who worked in the bag trade was very bitchy about LV - the canvas monogram according to him was ''made in some sh*tty factory in Spain'' - I've no idea how true this is, but I don't think I'd spend that much money on coated canvas either.
Just because something is made in Italy doesn't necessarily mean it won't fall to bits. You can have the best factory in the world but if you don't have a technologist to advise the factory on potential faults, then stuff might fall to bits.
You just have to remember that in the case of designer goods, there is often a lot of new innovation and use of brand new fabrics, tanning techniques and new construction techniques - no one developing on /working on these products is really going to know if they will last /drop to bits until they are launched - it's all a bit of an experiment really. Lots of designer stuff is really fragile too - the high street spends more money on testing and would never consider making fragile delicate, goods as they know if they don't they will end up with customers returning everything. I don't know about anyone else here but I reckon people who buy designer tend to be more careful with their purchases.
Finally, I saw a friend in Milan at a show recently - she told me that D & G and Marc are moving a lot of production to China, now, doesn't necessarliy mean bad qualty though - the Chinese are becoming brilliant at making garments and footwear, some of the quality I saw on my last trip out there was almost up to Italian standards. The factories I work in are full of European experts, who have moved out there to work and to pass on their skills to the Chinese.
i think it's called the king kong
