Why Luxury Brands Are A Big Waste Of Money

“Luxury,” Socrates once declared, “is artificial poverty.” I’m not poor, but there’s nothing like an afternoon spent shopping for luxury goods to make me feel that way. On a recent jaunt through some of Midtown Manhattan’s snazzier stores, I began to wonder why this should be the case. When, I asked myself, did it become commonplace to charge several thousand dollars for a mass-produced handbag? How could the flimsy designer sundress I bought on sale — a “steal,” the saleswoman assured me — still wind up costing a whole month’s salary? Why is my favorite brand of lipstick more expensive than a nice bottle of Italian wine? When did these products’ values grow so distorted, and what is the would-be customer to make of it all?

In the midst of my consumerist crisis, the question I should have been asking was: Dana Thomas, where have you been all my life? In “Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster,” Thomas investigates the business of designer and luxury clothing, leather goods and cosmetics, and finds it wanting. Hijacked, over the past two or three decades, by corporate profiteers with a “single-minded focus on profitability,” the luxury industry has “sacrificed its integrity, undermined its products, tarnished its history and hoodwinked its consumers.” Hoodwinked? The truth hurts. After I read “Deluxe,” suddenly my new sundress no longer looked like such a steal. Au contraire, the book’s line of argument suggested, it was I who’d been robbed.

For Thomas, a cultural and fashion writer for Newsweek in Paris and the Paris correspondent for the Australian Harper’s Bazaar, the luxury industry is a sham because its offerings in no way merit the high price tags they command. Yet once upon a time, they most certainly did. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when many of luxury’s founding fathers first set up shop, paying more money meant getting something truly exceptional. Dresses from Christian Dior, luggage from Louis Vuitton, jewelry from Cartier: in the golden period of luxury, these items carried prestige because of their superior craftsmanship and design. True, only the very privileged could afford them, but it was this exclusivity that gave them their cachet. Although they may have “cared about making a profit,” the merchants who served this pampered class aimed chiefly “to produce the finest products possible.” - Financial Times

But all is not lost even in today’s money-driven and fast fashion environment. Thomas shows how luxury still persists in a few brands such as Hermes, Chanel and Louboutin. Most of the book was horrifyingly candid for such a lover of designer goods like me, but I did enjoy the latter parts of the book that allow these wonderful brands to shine and stand against the dizzying avarice of others.

Christian Louboutin explains that “luxury is the possibility to stay close to your customers…about subtlety and details. It’s about service…Luxury is not consumerism. It is educating the eyes to see that special quality.”

Cristiane Saddi, a marketing director in Sao Paolo says that clients who frequent Daslu, a luxury fashion emporium, “don’t need the logo entry-level handbag or to wear labels or logos. We buy from luxury brands, but not ordinary products. You can see what is mass and what is special. Luxury is not how much you can buy. Luxury is the knowledge of how to do it right, how to take the time to understand and choose well. Luxury is buying the right thing.” - Eve Crabapple

#fashion #luxury #lvmh #luxuryfashion

[kuroon]

These luxury brands nowadays are simply glorified fast fashion, but people aren't ready for this conversation yet.

[kutiek]

The biggest scam is turning athletic wear into “luxury” items. $1000 for a hoodie is insane smh lol.

[Hakeem]

The fashion industry basically did the equivalent of switching out diamond jewelry for cubic zirconia while still charging diamond jewelry prices and nobody cared 😂 I’m super glad that I figured this out at a young enough age to not get scammed out of too much money.

[LinaThaaDreadful]

Nowadays it’s a luxury just to afford fresh veggies 😅

[squircled]

Tbh I would rather support smaller high quality brands then old big ones. There is literally no point in supporting them. U can find something similar to these brands in smaller, more focused on quality brands especially for a cheaper price

[s.rogers]

When I started thrifting/reselling I learned a lot about different clothing brands. You can literally feel and see the difference in quality between the vintage fashions vs the newer pieces. The pieces of the past felt good on the skin, they were fitted nicely and there was a sort of weightiness to them that the clothing of today doesn't have.

[haute]

While luxury brands are manufacturing their clothes and accessories in Asia then shipping them to Italy or France where "Made in Italy/France" labels are sewn in, they're also doing other shady things like hiring workers from those same countries, bringing them to Europe, and placing them in sweatshops in cities like Naples to work. The days of the atelier are gone for a lot of these brands. They still get to claim their items are made in their respective country, but leave out who is working on them and the environment in which they're being manufactured.

[mpwwbtq]

Chanel does NO longer make quality bags. They now charge the price of a Birkin for a large flap bag, but Chanel doesn’t unlike Hermes make it by hand.
Chanel no longer gold plate their hardware, the leather is of lesser quality, the stitchings are a joke and on top of charging their clients more for a lesser product, they cut out the commission of their sale associates, some now earning up to -30% less, no wonder their staff is leaving, meaning the service will end like the products, down in the dump.

[ivornoiv]

One thing that really struck me was seeing that those brands DESTROYS their extra production or previous collections for no one to access them on sale or second hand so the value does not go down. There you know, it is not as exclusive in reality as they make it to be, they just make it scarce by eliminating what they don’t sell full price.

[TASconfidential]

Luxury items that are a waste of money:
1.) designer bags that cost in the thousands that are made of CANVAS and NOT leather.
2.) Designer t shirts and hoodies that cost $500 +
3.) Mass produced products
4.) products slathered with Logos but not quality or craftsmanship.
5.) products that will not be wearable 3-5 years from now.

[rhythmicelegance]

“Why would you want a shirt with someone else’s name on it?”
- asked by a family friend when my friend and I asked to order one when we were kids. I never forgot it. Even now, designer monograms would embarrass me if I wore them, even if my initials were the same. The monogram would generally have to be small/subtle, and appear only once on the item.

[Looloowa]

I really appreciate the care and research you brought to this conversation.
I used to buy a ton of luxury brands when I was young so I accumulated a big collection. Then I went off of luxury for a time. I had other priorities. I finally decided to buy an LV bag a few month ago. I thought it was classic with a twist and wore it every day. It is starting to peel on the edges of the bag😢 whereas my large LV cosmetic case which I use for travel and as a clutch sometimes, that I bought 30 years ago, that I throw around like it’s from Zara, is in pristine condition. I also bought a Chanel bag where the chain broke after 3 month yet my mothers Chanel bag that she bought 50 years ago, which I wear religiously is also in pristine condition. I am done. Seriously I am disappointed. Thank you once again you seriously opened my eyes to what I already knew but ignored.

[nameisamine]

I’ll never forget striking up a conversation with a girl on a Eurostar ride back from Paris just after fashion week. She worked in the business and I’ll never forget when she told me, ‘never pay retail, it’s a scam’. If you really want it, go to sample sales. That conversation changed my perspective.

[matthewescamilla]

Japan is a shining beacon of hope for fashion quality. Yohji, Issey Miyake, Visvim, Kapital, Facetasm. The list goes on. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is in a league of its own.

[sararichardson]

An Ethiopian friend of mine told me that the components of Gucci bags were assembled there (Ethiopia) and stitched in Italy to be sold as “made in Italy”. That was 20 years ago. I imagine it is as you say : Frankensteined luxury with no clear provenance of production

[tytolidel]

Interesting how buying into the brand gives you the appearance of living a luxury life but in reality it's keeping you in debt.

[wannabe]

What you say makes sense and has happened in so many industries. I don’t buy luxury goods, but I’ve been buying clothing for nearly 40 years and I’ve seen so many brands that I used to rely on for quality go down the tubes after the original owner/designer died or that brand was sold. Jones New York, Liz Clairborne are a couple of examples. Those brands are still out there, but the clothing they produce now is hot garbage compared to what those brands produced 20 years ago.

[mandarin]

I remember when buying luxury was almost synonymous with quality. It's really not the case anymore. You really need to inspect the items and understand fabrics and seams, tailoring to buy something of a great quality that will last you for years.

[rainieb.]

Another point, clothes back when these fashion houses started, even regular people’s clothes were made to last. I still have some of my great grandmother’s clothes that have been passed down for generations in great condition. The fact that luxury items can’t even do the bare minimum of that now for the price of what they cost is simply laughable and shameless.

[Uniuni]

Thank you for this awesome video. You’ve articulated so well how I’ve felt about luxury brands for a while now. I am that upper middle class 30s woman who use to covet the latest designer goods. Prices keep rising, quality is dropping and we’re now living in a culture so over obsessed with luxury and lifestyle that we are not aware we are sold mass produced stuff to fill whatever voids we have.