The real cost of high- end designer fashion
CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO BY BRANDON BAUNACH
Designer fashion pieces are popular, but can lead to purchases worth thousands of dollars and beg the question of how much they’re really worth. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
May 20, 2022
With $36,000, one could choose to buy a two-ton BMW or a two-pound Gucci bag.
Designer pieces can go for thousands of dollars, a price that seems reasonable to some and entirely ridiculous to others. Despite the ongoing debate, designer clothing lines continue to generate billions of dollars in sales according to Statista Market Forecast.
Though not all designer pieces are as expensive as the $36,000 Gucci tote bag, the large price tags on the pieces are highly controversial.
A critic of designer customers, freshman Isabel Santamaria of Spring Lake thinks of purchasing designer pieces as a way of showing off.
“I don’t think it’s necessary,” Santamaria said, claiming people buy designer “just because of the label and just to flaunt their money. Fashion doesn’t have anything to do with a label.”
As a Gucci customer, senior Francesca Santaniello of Tinton Falls holds a different mindset. Having purchased the label’s slides, she understands the motivation behind buying from a designer name.
“You won’t get the Gucci logo on something else,” Santaniello said. “I think it’s not all about the brand. I think if something’s ugly then it’s ugly.”
This viewpoint on logos isn’t held by all, however. Senior Wyatt Lux of Long Branch, an avid collector of designer clothing, believes the worth comes from the quality of the piece rather than the name of the brand.
“I appreciate the way it looks, how it’s made and the fit of it,” Lux said. “I just wear a lot of clothes that look cool and I like to wear and sometimes they’re designer pieces.”
When it comes to brands such as Gucci, however, Lux holds a different view.
“They haven’t really been pushing what their brand actually is, they’ve kind of just been making the same logo on a regular cotton t-shirt,” Lux said.
There are a wide range of reasons for buying from designer brands. Whether that be for the name or the quality of the product, the actual worth of designer pieces remains highly disputed.
“It’s all about what you like and what you think is reasonable for you to buy,” Santaniello said.
