Selling Hype pt. 2

Tipping the balance-iaga

When it comes to the world of ostentatious high-end luxury brands, Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton are some of many labels dominating the high fashion industry yet, like most other luxury fashion brands, the quality, practicality and sometimes aesthetics of their products alone aren’t represented by their price tag for a majority of the products’ worth is attributed merely to the association with the brand name.

(Basic Balenciaga T-Shirt)

Take the above t-shirt for reference. One could guess this t-shirt is worth up to $150 US at most- given the popular brand name- in which case they’d be wrong. By more than double double their estimate wrong. For a plain 100% cotton T-shirt lacking any print but a tiny ‘Balenciaga’ logo, this piece is worth $350 US. In relation, one could buy and consume one McDonalds cheeseburger everyday, supplying their body with essential sustenance, for almost a year.

Like Supreme’s shown example in part one, this t-shirt is plain and, realistically, not worth the price that people pay but unlike Supreme, this Balenciaga shirt’s price tag is its retail price. Conversely, provided there was more put into the design of the t-shirt, this hefty sum could potentially be more acceptable to some.

(Kanye West in a Virgil Abloh-designed Louis Vuitton suit.)

Although nobody in our free world should be criticized for their spending predilections, whether that is t-shirts in the price of some people’s annual salary or otherwise, transactions for luxury goods can often be associated with grievous issues of equity in other corners of the world. Supplying the brands with funds to undertake operations may only increase the incidence of these problems, therefore people should instead be informed of a more conscious approach to shopping.

An arm and a leg

It may be known to some that a substantial proportion of the biggest fashion brands conduct operations with unethical and sometimes abusive practices in manufacturing, sourcing of materials and so on. Despite their high revenue, even top luxury brands are not dissimilar.

(Rana Plaza factory collapse, Dhaka, Savar Upaliza, Bangladesh)

The 2013 collapse of the H&M’s Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh, resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives, forced investigators worldwide to scrutinize the procedures of other fashion companies. What was found was a baffling lack of transparency regarding material suppliers, and safety regulations and labour wages in factories of brands that might even be found in your own wardrobe. Moreover, more worrisome, some companies claim no knowledge of some of the facilities involved in the manufacture of their products.

In the case of such an elite brand like Louis Vuitton, its sustainability rating is but underwhelming. Although research shows that Louis Vuitton is an established member of organizations such as Better Cotton initiative, claims to monitor worker health and safety through their code of conduct and advocates reduction of carbon emissions, it has no set emission reduction target covering its supply chain and shows no evidence of limiting textile waste and potent chemical waste.

(Angora wool extraction from an angora rabbit)

Furthermore, the materials of most Louis Vuitton bags, belts and attire are fur, leather, wool, exotic animal skin and hair including angora although it is commonly known that a lot of different products of other kinds exploit animals by default (Like dairy and eggs).

The manufacturing cost for cotton t-shirts can be as low as $2-$3 US. Adding to the cost of printing, dying, graphic design, order fulfillment and other finalization processes, this number could amount to about $12- $14 US. This means that for the plain Balenciaga t-shirt shown, the net profit may be around $330 per shirt which is 2200% of the processing costs. Albeit a very extreme example, you can expect similarities with other high-end products which entitle companies like Louis Vuitton with profit margins of upwards of 30%.

When a Louis Vuitton spokesperson was asked about the exorbitant markups of their brand, they claimed a majority of this profit goes toward funding the research and design of their products. Despite this, some people believe this to be drivel, saying this is purely a “fancy way of saying the company rakes in a ton off of each bag sold”.

Overall, the hype surrounding brands builds desire that often blinds consumers from the misconduct and criminality that endangers the lives of animals and ordinary working people alike. While people in developing countries work in life-threatening, unprincipled conditions for pocket change-wages and poor innocent animals are stripped of freedom to be farmed for their fur, consumers, which may include yourself, spend thousands on fruits of their labour for an impersonal opinion of physical appeal, only fulfilling a temporary sense of desire and benefiting the corporations above all.

Conclusion: Daylight robbery

In retrospective are the details of brands with an attached essence of hype developed by social media that encourage preconceived notions that purchasing the most popular fashion styles worn by the biggest stars and the most lavish luxury goods can earn you the validation for being in the loop about the latest trends, for owning the rarest t-shirt simply because the next person does not or for being able to buy the most expensive garments, albeit there are more just uses for the money, to assert a sense of superiority all the while developing an egoistic, exhibitionist attitude that has become increasingly common.

(Mark Zuckerberg, currently worth $85.4 billion US, in unpretentious attire)

Knowing the aforementioned farcicle company ploys, there is no wonder why photos of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg- brainy billionaires who are most likely aware of associated issues- are rarely of them sporting flashy material goods despite their undeniable ability to do so, with near-boundless resources.

With four-figure, or more, price tags for clothes that cost a fraction of that to produce, large chunks of the profits sometimes run delinquent operations that put lives at risk while boosting the pockets of those who run the major companies. Regardless of if said price tags were preset by retailers or over-inflated by an external market, consumers end up buying into the advertised desirability which is often more costly than the shoe, shirt or bag. In other words, people are inadvertently conditioned to lust over the products and are eventually led to buying the hype- an intangible concept.