We have all questioned about why some clothes reach unreasonable prices.
Besides, why would you pay thousands of dollars for outfits, when you can still get good quality and fashionable garments for a much lower price?
Clothes are one of the essential things in our modern societies, so how can one of life’s essentials reach such expensive prices?
One thing for sure is, we don’t need to pay for our outfits if we don’t care about how we look and are not obsessed with fashion, but most of us can’t help but keep up with every trend out there, and guilty we are when it comes to this.
We’ve all wondered about this issue whether we’re into fashion or not, but it’s interesting when you see a piece that you like with an unreasonable price that makes you leave the store.
However, it gets more intriguing when you find the same attire without the logo or with minor differences from another company with a much lower price!
Arguably one of the most famous high-street brands today is Supreme,
a brand that focused mainly on skateboarding goods, it remained authentic since the day of its foundation in 1994 with its simple, eye-catching logo and style.
However, ‘supreme’s limited editions and attitude, pop culture references were the big reason for its success.
Most importantly, their limited edition pieces, which means it’s tough to get their original threads. (people pay for others to contact supreme for details on when and where they should wait in line for the next merch).
this brings us to the first reason behind the staggering price tag:
LIMITED PRODUCTION
One of the best marketing techniques that brands use, as shown above, is creating exclusivity with their clothing and, for this reason, they’ll produce 100 garments instead of 1000. Not only does this drive up the cost of the dress, as everyone is looking to get their hands on something that’s “limited edition” but printing small runs of T-Shirts is more expensive than if you were to bulk print the T-Shirts in higher quantities.
Have you ever stopped at a clothes store, checked out a pair of pants that caught your eyes, only for you to realize it’s way over your budget which leads to you leaving the store?
Quality & Talent
Of course, we are paying handsomely for the designer’s time and ‘brilliance.’ Aside from that, we need to factor in the cost of licensing it. Next, are the materials and labor prices. A shirt made in Asia will be cheaper than one made in Europe. Also, the better the quality, the pricier the garment gets.
In an interview with Glamour magazine, Alber Elbaz linked the high prices to a laborious design process: “I took all the bones out, and I stitch, and to get there, you know, it took me forever. It took me six or seven dresses to make one. So it’s time, and it’s money, and we are not doing it in foreign countries — we pay 65% taxes in France! It is tons of work. Doing a collection for me is almost like creating a vaccine. Once you create the one vaccine, then you can duplicate for nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. However, see if you can create it for nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, and the answer is no.”
Have you seen a runway show? If not you’ve probably heard of it or glanced the robust outfits they showcase in the lineup.
These outfits are not for daily wear, but the company’s marketing techniques.
Marketing
The problem with this is that fashion shows tend to be very expensive to host. Brands initially design these events so that buyers could attend the ceremonies and take a look at the latest creations and then order them for their respective retailers.
Nevertheless, Brands spend millions on celebrity and social media endorsements as well, photographers, models, ads, and ad placement in all the right magazines. So, most of the money that what we pay for clothes goes to the department that convinces us that we need those items in the first place.
The Brand
The most obvious answer is the Brand when you build a brand with its focus mainly on selling the name, your numbers are likely to go up so you can keep up with your competitors. As long as people are willing to pay high prices for clothing, the cost of clothing will continue to increase – unfortunately; it’s just as simple as that. Because some people want to be seen wearing high-end clothes just like they want to be seen driving that expensive sports car.
4000$ 
260$
You can see above two air Jordans that look almost te same, the only difference is that the one on the left is a collaboration with off white.
I personally don’t think these clothes are worth the price, unless you’re a millionaire with so much money that you don’t know how to spend or a clothes seller, buying them isn’t a good choice since you can find right clothes at fast selling shops like Zara which follow the trends and almost look like the high-end style. Although some of the garments might be looking fresh, sometimes your options should be restrained according to your budget.
References
1- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-high-end-fashion-brands-so-expensive-chris-rheeston
2- https://www.glamour.com/story/ever-wonder-why-designer-cloth
3-
4-
Retroveens 