Synthesis Research on Designer Products and the Fashion Industry

SOURCE: HypeBeast

The economic principle I researched was “Because of scarcity people choose. All choices have an opportunity cost.” My overall research question was “How Does Scarcity in the Fashion Industry Affect People’s Choices?” Overall, I found that people will spend large amounts of money on expensive things because of the time and work spent to make them especially if they come in limited quantities. In addition, I found the different trade offs people could make instead of buying expensive clothing. 

To begin with, designer brands are expensive because of the amount of time and effort put into creating them. They are considered art, and luxury designers spend months slaving over the design of a product in order to perfect it. In addition, designer clothes tend to have be made in better quality materials which mean that they are going to last longer. Finally, most designer brands are made in their homeland instead of being mass produced in China so it keeps thing more exclusive and have limited supplies. Moreover, there is a good amount of designer products that are handmade.

Another reason why brands are expensive is because of their exclusivity. Designer brands, especially streetwear designer brands, tend to use the “drop tactic” by announcing a limited release of a certain product at a certain date and time and using social media and other platforms to broadcast the release. In addition, brands would collaborate with other brands in creating limited edition items such as a Louis Vuitton and Supreme hoodie. Ultimately, because there are only a limited amount of each product, the resale value is very high which makes some products cost 5x more than their retail.

There are many alternatives to buying designer clothing. An example is a plain white Gucci and Guess shirt from blog post 4. It is essentially the same shirt but Guess isn’t at the same caliber as Gucci so it cost $420 more. Another example from blog post 4 is the Zara shirt and Amiri shirt that have exactly the same designer and material. The only difference is that Amiri is known as a higher caliber brand.

How are Designer Products Made?

SOURCE: NSS Magazine

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Because of scarcity people choose. All choices have an opportunity cost.”

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How Does Scarcity in the Fashion Industry Affect People’s Choices”

The video published on Youtube titled “Louis Vuitton Men’s Shoemaking Fiesso d’Artico” demonstrates this economic principle by showing how designer shoes are made and why people would choose them over other shoes by other brands.

First, The shoe parts are measured and cut by hand. The parts used are leather and higher quality materials. It takes a long time to measure and cut the parts by hand compared to machines cutting parts in factories from places such as China.

Second, The shoe is then put together through a series of long steps. First it is stitched with a sewing machine. It is then hammered, nailed, and cut. Finally it is stitched by hand and glued. These also take a much longer time compared to being put together in factories from places such as China.

Third, It is polished, laced, and put together into a thicker, higher quality box along with extra laces and a manual explaining how to take care of the shoes in order for it to last long.  Louis Vuitton also offers services such as repairs in order to fix problems that may happen with their products due to age and other things.

Ultimately, people pay for designer brands because of the higher quality materials, services such as repairs, and because of the long history of artisans that produce their goods which cause them to last long.

In my next blog post I will synthesize all of my research.

What Alternatives Can Be Made Instead of Buying Expensive Designer Clothing?

SOURCE: Youtube

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Because of scarcity people choose. All choices have an opportunity cost.”

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How Does Scarcity in the Fashion Industry Affect People’s Choices”

The video published in Youtube titled “Designer Brands vs Cheap Alternatives! My Honest Opinion” demonstrates this economic principle by showing different opportunity costs when it comes to clothing.

First, Harrison talks about two shirts from Gucci and Guess. Both of the shirts are just as soft as each other, and have the same style. The only difference is the logo. You will pay more for the Gucci shirt because of the name while the Guess brand isn’t the same caliber. The Gucci shirt is $450 while Guess is $30. It is a good alternative if you don’t care about brands.

Second, he also talks two very similar shirts that are basically the same. One shirt is from PacSun for $60 while the other is from Fear of God for $395. The Fear of God shirt is branded and has “better quality materials which is why it is more expensive. The shirt is basically the same since the PacSun shirt was made in collaboration with Fear of God. Once again, the cheaper alternative is better if you don’t care about brands.

Third, another example is a shirt from Zara and a shirt from Amiri for $325. Both shirts have the exact same look and almost the exact same quality. Zara is cheaper but the Amiri shirt is expensive solely because of the brand name.

In my next blog post I will research the question:

How are designer products made?

What Makes Designer Brands "Better" and What Determines Their Price?

SOURCE: NSS Magazine

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Because of scarcity people choose. All choices have an opportunity cost.”

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How Does Scarcity in the Fashion Industry Affect People’s Choices”

The article published in Styled titled “Why Designer Clothes Are So Expensive” demonstrates this economic principle by showing what factors such as more time to develop, better materials and where they manufacture leads certain brands to be “higher quality” than other brands.

First, designer brands require more time and energy in order to make it compared to other brands which increases the price. In her article, Westling states that “Luxury designers such as Alber Elbaz spend months slaving over the design of one dress, trying to perfect the design. The difference in designer clothes is that these clothes are more than just clothes, they are art.” This greatly increases the price because more time, labor, and energy is put into these pieces of art than other clothing like Nike which can be mass produced in factories.

Second, compared to other brands, designer brands use better materials to make their clothes. Westling said that “top quality materials cost a lot more money, so of course the clothing is going to have a higher price tag.” In addition, her article stated that “[The] clothing quality is better and it is going to last a long time. Many people love buying designer times because each piece will last them years and be a token item in their closet.” Designer brands use expensive and hard to get materials such as calfskin leather, snake skin, shearling, etc. These materials are much harder to obtain and are greater quality than most mass produced items that are made out of synthetic materials.

Finally, it costs designer brands more to produce their products from their homeland. High end designer brands produce their products in their homeland country instead of getting it mass produced in China in order to keep the product exclusive and quantities low. Moreover, Westling says that “Taxes in France, for instance, where many luxury brands are designed and produced are very high. It takes a lot of money to produce these exclusive clothing pieces and ship them throughout Europe or the United States."

In my next blog post I will research the question: What alternatives can be made instead of buying expensive designer clothing?

What Methods are Used by Brands to Increase Scarcity and How Does it Affect the Price?

SOURCE: Hypebeast

The economic principle I’m exploring is “Because of scarcity people choose. All choices have an opportunity cost.” 

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How Does Scarcity in the Fashion Industry Affect People’s Choices?”

The article published in BBC titled “The hype machine: Streetwear and the business of scarcity” demonstrates this economic principle by showing that companies use tactics like limiting the quantity of products, collaborating with other brands can greatly increase the products’ price.

To begin with, brands use the “drop tactic.” Brands will announce a limited release of a product at a certain date and time which increases the price through exclusivity. They will then use social media to spread the news about their products and amplify the demand. Once the release date comes, the products sells out in minutes due to a higher supply than demand.

Second, brands will collaborate with other well known brands. This adds another factor to the limited exclusivity because a collaboration between two well known brands result in styles that will never come back on top of the limited quantity. According to the article a jacket made by North face and Supreme was retailed for $498 but the market price is around $1250 due to rare collaboration and limited supply.

Finally, the scarcity of products lead to a high resale value price. According to Kyle Maiorano, a first year university student, “The Adidas Yeezy Boost is my bread and butter. I have made $200,000 last year reselling sneakers.” An example of a product with a high resale value is the Semi Frozen Yeezy Boost which sold out in seconds for $220 but can be seen being resold for as high as $1100.

In my next blog post I will research the question: What Makes Certain Brands "Higher Quality" Than Other Brands?

How Does Scarcity in the Fashion Industry Affect People's Choices?

SOURCE: LibaiFoundation.Org

The economic principle I will explore is:

Because of scarcity people choose. All choices have an opportunity cost.



The overall question I will research to help explore the economic principle is:

How does scarcity in the fashion industry affect people’s choices? 



3-4 sub questions that will help me answer my overall research questions are:

How does scarcity affect the product’s price?

How does scarcity affect the product’s quality?

What opportunity costs and trade offs can be made by the consumers and producers?



Links to 3-4 reliable resources that can help answer the research question:

BBC.com

Styled.media

Theluxestrategist.com