If anyone's interested in the worst behavior the fashion industry has to offer, search for 'rolex authorized dealer' on YT. Then follow that up with 'I can't safely wear my Rolex in public anymore' results from the watchtubers for a laugh.
this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2024
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Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, is now the richest person in the world above Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
It did not happen by accident.
Doesn't surprise me. Even when you pay labor a fair, living wage for high-end apparel and fashion items--which Dior is definitely not doing--the cost of labor is still a pretty small fraction of the final price. The cost of materials and findings on those bags is likely more than the labor costs.
Most of what you're paying for in high-end goods is very careful design, attention to materials and the construction process, and very good QC. Those are largely intangibles.
So why don't they pay workers reasonably then, since it's such a small fraction of the final cost? Because the company has no soul.
A what bag? I thought this was medical stuff before seeing the thumbnail.
Proof that a free market doesn't magically create value.
*Proof that a free market magically create value, because people actually buy them.
Gucci gucci louie louie fendi fendi prada, basic bitches wear that shit so I don’t even botha!
Throw Dior on the pile of overpriced garbage I guess.
Yeah, idiots wear this shit because of the price tag. Not despite it.
Yes, these are Veblen goods. People buy them to signal status. The more expensive they are — and the more conspicuous they look — the stronger the signal they send.
Thanks for putting the answer in the post body, made me chuckle.
I used to work for a luxury brand in one of their "unnamed" locations in Eastern Europe. A pair of shoes would cost around 50€ to produce. We would then ship them to Italy, they would add the insole and laces, label them as "made in Italy" and sell them for 1k€+...
What brand?
LV
Me Shoesy!
thats basically a retail cost to since they are not making it themselves.
Yeah, $57 sounds still quite a lot, the material probaly costs like $2 and the cheap exploited labour cost is also like $2, and shipping some dollars per bag.
Edit: if they are actually made in Italy or France, them the labour cost is quite much higher.
Don't forget about all the costs on the website and storefront end then paying the employees/staff, advertising and so... WAIT JUST A GOT DAMN MINUTE 😂
To give DIOR way fairer a light than it deserves, this is the labour cost, not the material cost. I assume that is substantially higher, but I imagine still not anywhere close to $2000+.
I've never been in the habit of buying name-brand fashion items purely because of the fact that a significant part of what you pay for is the brand's signature - you're not necessarily paying for something better than the rest.
"Italian prosecutors found Dior paid $57 to produce bags retailing for $2,780."
In case someone else comes to the comments to see the important detail.
Thanks for respecting our time and its monetary value!
^ Excluding cost of material
Considering how many "luxury" bags nowadays are "vegan leather", pvc or other plastic byproduct materials... I don't think the material costs that much either.
One of Dior's current "it" bags is literally a beach canvas tote bag retailing for USD$3000k+. And most luxury houses don't even do real gold/platinum or plated hardware anymore. There is no "luxe" in modern luxury anymore tbh, it's really about showing off the name
They’ve been Veblen goods for a while, the price is the flex. Even the marketing has dropped the pretense, any talk of craftsmanship or quality materials has disappeared in favor of lifestyle branding and appeals to the ego.
On the inverse side, there’s MUJI who dont advertise, don’t brand their goods, and purposely design goods that reduce waste.
Muji's quality is kind of crap too, their linens and cottons are thin, of a lower/variable quality weave and not as sustainably acquired as they like to pretend they are. But they ARE natural fabrics/polyester free, so there's that.
Makes me feel better about only paying for a 300% markup on car parts
Only 300% lol
Rock Auto ftw
Post pandemic international shipping rates skyrocketed. Used to be able to order parts from RA and have them shipped to Canada for peanuts. Now the cost savings are eaten by crazy shipping fees, auto parts aren't light
But as with all products production cost is not really saying that much
How much money did the design process take as they surely have some extremely high-paid people doing that? If you then include their deliberate small number of produced goods in order to stay exclusive that design cost is distributed across only a couple of thousand bags. Also what about the designs that didn't become bags at all?
I'm not saying it's worth that price at all as their main drawing point is marketing but just looking at the production cost is a very short-sighted view and a very populist framing, too.
There's a reason why actually rich people don't walk around with the stuff those luxury brands sell in their stores - it's just peacocking to show how much money you can afford to waste and nothing else
I think you're not focusing on the part that they were made in Chinese-owned slave shops in Italy, by slave labor illegally trafficked from China in order to achieve this production cost while being able to label them "Made in Italy"
No that's totally disgusting - I was only complaining that it's not the full "this is how much it costs" equation
🙌
Its like that old example of "A graphic designer has a meeting with a CEO to design a new company logo, in 2 hours they are finished and the designer gives the CEO a bill for $4000. The CEO explodes "I'm not paying $4000 for 2 hours work" the designer responds "You arent, your paying for the decade of experience that allows me to do it in 2 hours."
my favorite is the factory analogy. giant machine the size of a football field breaks, will not run. they call in the engineering expert who spends 2 hours eyeballing the machine, when he takes out a tiny screwdriver and turns a single screw counterclockwise 1 turn. the machine bursts to life.
he hands the factory owner a bill for 10,000$.
the factory owner says 'thats preposterous, im not paying that for one turn of a screw'
the engineer scribbles on the paper;
tuning screw 1.00$ knowing which screw to turn 9,999.00$
I'd heard this as a plumber who knocked a pipe with a spanner.
I had this happen IRL, when my friend was helping do some super tasks in his small apt building to get a reduction in his condo fees. The boiler needed to be reset for some reason I can't remember, so he headed down and pushed the obvious buttons that seemed to be for turning it off and on. About 30 minutes later it seemed like the apartment was getting colder and he got some calls from other people in the building. This was in the middle of a pretty cold winter, so a boiler guy had to be called to come out. It was probably 8 or 9 PM, so I'm sure he was charging some exorbitant rates to be there, and once he arrived he went around the side and pushed a tiny unmarked metal slide in and out once, which fixed the problem.
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