Yohji Files For Bankruptcy Protection, Finds Investor

[Caffeine]

His prices were just wrong. Period.

 

[helmut.newton]

I agree with what everyone is saying in terms of inconsiderate pricing. Yohji is a genius and his collections are visionary, but the price points of some of the pieces is utterly ridiculous.

But that being said, I don't understand why he is bankrupt if he has such a cult following? Azzedine Alaia designs for a niche market and his prices are insanity, but he still manages to break even.

I'm not too familiar with Yamamoto; is his company large? What does he make most of his money from?

 

[Deleted member 7575]

His prices were just wrong. Period.

THANK YOU

Certainly Yohji's customer is mature and has been sorely missing the "cool" quality that Comme never has lost. But even if someone wanted to by into Yohji because they loved pieces, the prices are so prohibitive. If I could I would shop quite a bit from his lines but something like pant being over $800... just not possible.

 

[Scott]

^and that's twice the amount somebody like carol christian poell asks for most of his. and we know what a workman he is. that's just appalling even for the highest of quality pieces.

 

[lucy92]

Yohji is one of a few designers that never appealed to me at all. i am not surprised by this. i agree with the asessment that his clothes were too granny.

even his collaboration with doc martens cost in the range of 600-900$.

 

[runner]

I agree with what everyone is saying in terms of inconsiderate pricing. Yohji is a genius and his collections are visionary, but the price points of some of the pieces is utterly ridiculous.

But that being said, I don't understand why he is bankrupt if he has such a cult following? Azzedine Alaia designs for a niche market and his prices are insanity, but he still manages to break even.

I'm not too familiar with Yamamoto; is his company large? What does he make most of his money from?

this article might partly help.
http://forums.thefashionspot.com/showpost.php?p=3513024&postcount=1


the cult following is not enough in order to keep his company going on.
he needs those people who happen to see his clothes on the mannequin around the entrance of his corner stores in department stores and be attracted and buy the clothes. but those people don't have as much financial stamina as they used to.
also there was a drastic change of the stage-setting of the young mentality.
they are walking around concentrating their attention on the cellphone without seeing fashion in the city and noticing something that they might think was cool otherwise.
and the department stores for the younger generations like marui have to be healthy. most of Y's corner stores used to be there (some of them still are). but this year marui had to invite ragtag who is a big consignment store. an survival operation.

 

[softgrey]

the rumour that i had heard was that adidas was going to buy the company...
which seemed to make sense based on his relationship with them already...

this is a surprise...but i am glad he's going to keep going..
thanks for that translation runner...
hearing his own words was comforting....

i can only assume that launching and supporting the limi label was also costly to the company to a certain extent...

i don't know why everyone is saying the prices are so high...
they are certainly lower than sacai and some of comme and lots of YSL, and definitley less than lanvin...etc...
and don't get me started on balenciaga......and givenchy...and mcqueen...
and rick owens?!?!...

it's just a matter of what moves you and what you consider to be worth spending the money on...
i know that the yohji store in soho is one of the few places that i go and pay retail for a garment just because i love it so much and even though the pieces are expensive, i never feel as though they are TOO expensive...
it's always worth it to me...
and i wear the heck out of every item...


i have more of an issue with the fact that you have to be really TALL to wear some of the pieces because of the lines and the volume...i would wear more of it if i could...but i am too petite...
that's more of a problem in my opinion...

but you know...
about 5 or 6 years ago my very first post on tFS was asking the question as to how companies like this stay in business when they don't have a HUGE following...
i guess it's just not easy...

 

[Caffeine]

the rumour that i had heard was that adidas was going to buy the company...
which seemed to make sense based on his relationship with them already...

this is a surprise...but i am glad he's going to keep going..
thanks for that translation runner...
hearing his own words was comforting....

i can only assume that launching and supporting the limi label was also costly to the company to a certain extent...

i don't know why everyone is saying the prices are so high...
they are certainly lower than sacai and some of comme and lots of YSL, and definitley less than lanvin...etc...
and don't get me started on balenciaga......and givenchy...and mcqueen...
and rick owens?!?!...

it's just a matter of what moves you and what you consider to be worth spending the money on...
i know that the yohji store in soho is one of the few places that i go and pay retail for a garment just because i love it so much and even though the pieces are expensive, i never feel as though they are TOO expensive...
it's always worth it to me...
and i wear the heck out of every item...


i have more of an issue with the fact that you have to be really TALL to wear some of the pieces because of the lines and the volume...i would wear more of it if i could...but i am too petite...
that's more of a problem in my opinion...

but you know...
about 5 or 6 years ago my very first post on tFS was asking the question as to how companies like this stay in business when they don't have a HUGE following...
i guess it's just not easy...

I hear you, soft. At the same time, people are willing to pay more for special occasion clothes, such as Lanvin or Balenciaga dresses. Yohji doesn't seem to provide many options there. Lanvin and Balenciaga (esp. Balenciaga) also have clothes that fit people who are petite. So they are popular in Asia as well. McQueen is very smart in that it provides lots of basics for the everyday corporate outfits. Givenchy...I'm not sure. But they do have evening clothes and their bags are popular. Every label seems to have one thing or two to support the brand financially, but Yohji has none.

 

[Leeroi]

I hear you, soft. At the same time, people are willing to pay more for special occasion clothes, such as Lanvin or Balenciaga dresses. Yohji doesn't seem to provide many options there. Lanvin and Balenciaga (esp. Balenciaga) also have clothes that fit people who are petite. So they are popular in Asia as well. McQueen is very smart in that it provides lots of basics for the everyday corporate outfits. Givenchy...I'm not sure. But they do have evening clothes and their bags are popular. Every label seems to have one thing or two to support the brand financially, but Yohji has none.

Well, it's rather confusing to mention Balenciaga here because even the simplest of dresses that isn't even "couture" can cost more than $10,000 for Balenciaga. I don't see Yohji's price points that high, and if you're saying thousands of women are paying that price for "special occasions" then maybe they're going to thousands of those occasions.

I think his Y-3 is awfully more successful than his mainline. It's evident when I talk to many of the Japanese foreign exchange students in my city and when they hear Yohji Yamamoto, they only think of Y-3 and how "cheap" it is.

 

[jgyn]

I love Yohji, but have noticed that the price points're relatively high. There was a jacket from last season that I coveted, but the price was $2-3K, which meant that even on double mark down sale, it was still like $1K (and it was too big to boot.)

 

[runner]

tokyo star bank decided to furnish the company with one billion yen. they will get it by the end of the year.
http://www.tokyostarbank.co.jp/profile/pdf/091208.pdf

 

[dancorpse]

Good news! Hopefully Yohji will get over the hard time soon.