The Wall Street Journal Finds Out Why Jeans cost $375
A cool interactive feature accompanying the story shows a tally sheet of all the little details that add up to the retail price, including the selvage fabric, custom buttons, tags and cutting and sewing labor costs. photo via WSJ.com
The Wall Street Journal answers the question that many of us in the apparel industry already know the answer to: “It is an enduring mystery to anyone reared on $50 Levi's: How can a pair of jeans cost as much as the Phantom, the new look from True Religion that will be priced as high as $375?”
The author doesn’t judge, just presents the evidence (lots of it leaning in the Pro-domestic production side). A spokewoman for Cone Denim says most of the weavers have had at least 20 years of experience and one superstar employee has been there 55 years. And then Jeff Rudes says that manufacturing in the U.S. means he can crank them out faster. He wanted hot pink and emerald jeans and then 5 days later, the first small run was shipped to Barneys.
After seeing the balance sheet, is the reaction backlash or understanding?
Lets review the Comments!
Many people were not happy.
They called the buyers of $300 jeans “fools” “sheep” “sucker” “mo-ron.” Others said it was “capitalism” and who are you to tell us how we can spend our money thank you very much. In the online poll of 3,453 votes, 40.3% said they would spend under $50, tapering down to 10.1 % would spend up to $250 and 1.7% would spend more than $400.
Here’s a random sampling of what the hoi polloi had to say about premium denim:
“Perhaps it made of diamond or gold pieces.”
“Are you WSJ readers hippies or what? It is just as hard to justify $300 for a pair of jeans as it is to justify $60k or $80k or $100k for a car.”
“If someone wants to pay $300 for a pair of jeans; fine. Just don’t try to tell me, they need adjustments to their mortgage; or can’t afford their health insurance.”
“Jeans can cost $300 because (and when) free consumers want to pay $300 of their own money to buy those jeans.”
“I'm happy with $12 jeans from COSTCO...”
“Such vitriol for an American entrepreneur, manufacturing a product in America to a niche market, using American fabric.”
“So I guess the question becomes: is it better to be a shallow loser in $300 jeans, or a judgmental loser in $40 jeans? Why do you care so much about what people wear?”
“My hot cheerleader girlfriend wanted me to wear $300 designer jeans....so I went out and bought a few pairs. End of Story.
more fashion math according to the Wall Street Journal
