ANSWERS: 20
  • Designer clothes are made of quality fabrics and include designs that need hand finishing (such as hand beading or delicate fabrics) Many designer pieces each season are one of a kind or numbered, and dedicated consumers will line up to be the first (or only) one to have these things. The supply doesn't meet the demand, this increases the price drastically. Another reason is the issue of classes, the richer have always dressed in more expensive clothing than the poor. With things like Louis Vuitton bags and the Burberry plaid so famous nowadays anyone who has MTV can tell someone paid a lot of money to have that bag. Doesn't it feel nice to be richer than others and have them know it? Must be...
  • This could be a never-ending discussion. (And has been for quite a while.) Basically the economic theory of "supply and demand" determines the price for everything. However by branding and marketing products, you can create additional value for a product, that wouldn't necessarily be considered worth buying at the named price without the created extra-value. For example a famous painting by Dali has more value than just any painting, and therefore is more expensive.
  • Because the purchasers are willing to pay the price. Price = whatever you can get away with. Supply and demand - nothing! They can increase the supply and the price would not budge. To Hungry Guy What does this answer have to do with exploitation of the poor???? It happens and I would be the first person to condemn it. My answer addressed the question of how prices are set at the retail level, which is what I interpreted the question to mean.
  • As stated by another poster: they charge what the market will bear. A racket, by and large. After all, who but the purchaser pays for all that expensive advertising? I recall being inside one factory where popular designer jeans were 'made'. The jeans were manufactured cheaply offshore and shipped in without any labels on them. The factory did nothing more than sew fancy labels on standard production-run jeans. Modestly-priced clothing with very expensive labels! The manufacturer supplied the same products to several 'name-brand' suppliers. There are plenty of inexpensive brands and house labels every bit as good as so-called designer clothing. You buy what you want to show off. I do not include well-made, quality clothing in this little rant from the soapbox. In such cases, you do get what you pay for. But a spiffy name-brand from some fancy designer is marketing, not quality. PS: Supply and demand in the fashion industry? The demand is limited and supply can be adjusted quickly in the needle-trade. Supply is frequently tightly controlled to produce artificially high prices - and not just in fashion.
  • Simply because you're paying for the brand name, which everyone of course, knows--real revelation there. It's also because they're being designed by one particular person, or group of people as opposed to something that is more generic that is not designed by one particular person or group of deisgners. Aside from the name, you're also usually paying for quality and the dsigner's expertise. Obviously, you're going to pay more more Girbaud jeans versus Wrangler because Girbaud's target market grouup is an affluent bunch; whereas, Wrangler jeans are aimred at those middle class groups. I hope this helps to answer your questION!
  • Two reasons: One, you are paying for the name. Two, they are usually exclusive designs, and you won't find hundreds of the same style hanging on the clothing racks of discount stores. They are generally of good quality and the finest of material and workmanship. However, many of them are in my opinion, overpriced for the average person. It is possible to purchase designer lookalikes that appear just as authentic as the originals, but at a much reduced price. My theory is, if someone can afford to pay $200 for a pair of shoes, when he or she can purchase a similar style for $50, so be it! As for me, I can look and feel as stylish from J.C. Penney, or on occasion, from Walmart, as I can from Saks Fifth Avenue, and have those extra coins jingling in my pocket as well.
  • it isnt expensive, it's just not everyone has the money to buy it so it seems expensive! I suggest that everyone buys designer clothes!!
  • the corporations are raping all you who buy designer jeans. you are simply buying the brand and you are too stupid to realize it. the clothing is expensive because there are fools out there that will actually work long hours and save up their dollars just to buy a pair of $200 jeans a $900 Chanel bag.
  • the corporations are raping all you who buy designer jeans. you are simply buying the brand and you are too stupid to realize it. the clothing is expensive because there are fools out there that will actually work long hours and save up their dollars just to buy a pair of $200 jeans a $900 Chanel bag.
  • Because they are designer..
  • Its expensive because the maufacturer has to recoupe the cost of designing the item, they generaly use better quality material and the items are desirable so they can charge a premium for them.
  • It's a rip-off for everything except for single-needle tailored garments. You can have a tailor or seamstress construct a garment to your exact measurements, fabric, etc. and have it cost 1/4 the price of a higher-end designer outfit. Cashmere is cashmere - it is a nice fabric, a nice heavy ply is expensive, but no cashmere sweater should cost more than $200. period. Same for other fabrics except for small production brocades or other specialty fabrics. Ridiculous how much this stuff costs! Again, anything geared towards women will cost 10 times what it costs for men and be 1/2 the material.
  • B/c they use more expensive fabric, the clothes take longer to make, the designs are created by more experienced pattern-makers, more unique styles, better fit, more detailing in the clothing (lining, pockets, buckles), more unique buttons, details, details, details, and on and on and on. I always wondered if there was really a difference, until i got into fashion design and started learning how to sew. Although, there are always exceptions to any rule, for the most part there is a big difference between designer clothing and non-designer clothing.
  • erm.. cos if everyone could afford it, everyone would be wearing it and it would fade in to the background. more exclusive, the more people want it.
  • Because status is what you are buying. If such clothes were cheap EVERYone would have them and then there would be no status.
  • Because people are silly enough to pay that. I could never ever justify spending double the rent I pay on a purse. Anyone that shops designer is just a douche who wants everyone to know they have money. When I get a great paying job, I'm still going to keep shopping where I do. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that crap.
  • Because the wearer is paying to call him/herself the designers name when wearing their clothing.
  • Along with exclusivity the quality is better made. Ready to wear designer clothing are produced in factories but are made with high quality fabrics and unique designs. With haute couture you are getting hand made quality. This is a one of a kind design that takes hours to make. Everything is sewn by hand, and designed 100% unique. Though the prices are still outrageous you do pay more because of the label, the hundreds of hours it took to make the garment, and the fabric which can be hand spun and dyed to the exact specifications of the designer, which also makes the item cost more. The more details on the garment mean the more money you will have to pay.
  • While everyone is entitled to their own ideas, scams or whatever the reason prices for designer clothing are higher actually have to do with "production". High fashion designers develop anywhere between four to nine lines a year (yes I said twelve) and normally only one of those lines actually make it to the runway. The rest are what are prototypes. Much like a car goes through several designs before production. Clothing however cannot be made of clay to be reshaped and molded all over again. While, the clothing "prototypes" are cheaper to create, you must look at the cost of production. The labor, hardware, software and costs to show can possibly run upwards of $100,000 for a single line of twelve articles. Once created, these lines are reviewed by the people who know what is hot and what is not. Sometimes, an entire line is trashed at a waste of like I said, a possible $100,000. So, when you see and Gucci bag that is going for $1900.00, think about the fact that it actually cost $10,000 in combined efforts to make it.
  • It is because of what I refer to as the "vanity tax."

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