"Italic" - brandless luxury goods from manufacturers for Celine, Prada, etc. at no markup

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#16
I'd be really interested in knowing the actual relationship these factories have with both the luxury companies and Italic. A Celine manufacturer could simply make Celines zippers, purchase a leather goods company, so it's now under the same umbrella.

That said, there does seem to be an increase in companies using artisans from smaller suppliers in Europe where they started losing contracts because of the cost to manufacture whereas newer companies can have lower mark-ups (Mansur Gavriel, M. Gemi come to mind). These factories generally do not/cannot mention their previous contracts.
 
#18
I just went to the link and saw the fine print that memberships are normally $125. Why do I foresee a bunch of low-priced items being readily available while the higher priced items are constantly sold out?

Also, to this, umm..."Please be advised that we do not guarantee that any information sent from our Site will be secure during transmission, nor can we guarantee the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to Italic via the Site or the Internet, including, for example, personal information such as your name or address." They're making a mint on selling people's data.
 
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#19
leechiyong said:
I just went to the link and saw the fine print that memberships are normally $125. Why do I foresee a bunch of low-priced items being readily available while the higher priced items are constantly sold out?

Also, to this, umm..."Please be advised that we do not guarantee that any information sent from our Site will be secure during transmission, nor can we guarantee the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to Italic via the Site or the Internet, including, for example, personal information such as your name or address." They're making a mint on selling people's data.
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Which is why I won't touch this with a ten foot pole. Data-mining, anyone?
 
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#20
I came to the forum to post about this. Glad there's already a discussion.

I believe they are trying very hard not to create "copycats" of brand name bags. So because they're trying to avoid lawsuits the designs could be limited by this. But perhaps they can be great too. Maybe their designers are good. I hope.

They only partner with large factories that are established (have run for at least 40+ years and over 30k workers) and produce for many brands, not just one. So these factories already produce for many different brands that compete against each other. So adding one more "rival" is annoying but it's no reason for brands to cut ties. However their factories are in Milan and Shenzhen. Not sure what they're going for with China.

And it says you can only buy two products a month, which seems kind of lame since you're already paying for a membership. But, that being said I'm really interested in the high quality mattress they advertise. My friend has a knockoff from Amazon and its equally as good as the 900+ brand name.
 
#21
I was invited and took a look at the product that they have. It is a concern to see that most of their "designer producer" are in China. Nothing against China but they created this persona that their stuff come from manufacture that making stuff for designer brands. I don't think I have ever seen a Burberry cashmere scarf that made in china. All 12 scarfs that I have are made in Scotland and I bought them between 2012-2018.

Handbag is a big debate on the origin as we know some manufacture will make stuff in china and finish in Italy. But for cashmere, the yarn may came from China/Mongolia but spin, wash and finish is in a diff factory, and that usually dictate the quality of the cashmere product. ( I did my research as I am a cashmere snob. :P).

I am wary of the cashmere from China that also make in China because you can get a Chinese made cashmere, still quality cashmere but not to the Burberry level, at much much lower price than what they are offering on their site.
 
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#22
chaerimk said:
I was invited and took a look at the product that they have. It is a concern to see that most of their "designer producer" are in China. Nothing against China but they created this persona that their stuff come from manufacture that making stuff for designer brands. I don't think I have ever seen a Burberry cashmere scarf that made in china. All 12 scarfs that I have are made in Scotland and I bought them between 2012-2018.
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I wonder if these Shenzhen factories make the “Made for Outlet” version of designer products. I went to the Burberry outlet near me last year out of curiosity, and while they had a very small rack of regular (extremely ugly) Burberry seasonal items on discount, the vast majority of their items were made for outlet and labeled as made in China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, etc.
 
#23
In advance sorry for my English. I highly doubt that their statements are true just because a lot of luxury brands just don’t produce in China at all. Their statements should be more credible with technology for example, not for fashion. This is too good to be true.
 
#24
Anyway I am trying to inform myself better. I joined the waitlist but they say that with an invite by a member I can enter faster. Is there a member that could invite me? Thank you.
 
#25
Interestingly dodgy. Thanks, but no thanks. If I want a discounted LV or Hermès I'd rather check my local consignment store. You can check the quality and authenticity yourself, you support a local shop owner, and you don't have to play games or hand over your valuable data first.
 
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#26
leechiyong said:
I just went to the link and saw the fine print that memberships are normally $125. Why do I foresee a bunch of low-priced items being readily available while the higher priced items are constantly sold out?

Also, to this, umm..."Please be advised that we do not guarantee that any information sent from our Site will be secure during transmission, nor can we guarantee the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to Italic via the Site or the Internet, including, for example, personal information such as your name or address." They're making a mint on selling people's data.
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indiaink said:
Which is why I won't touch this with a ten foot pole. Data-mining, anyone?
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Dang! Thanks for that.. Yipes.
This seems too good to be true, I agree. How do you even know the goods are from high-end manufacturers?
 
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#27
cilucia said:
I wonder if these Shenzhen factories make the “Made for Outlet” version of designer products. I went to the Burberry outlet near me last year out of curiosity, and while they had a very small rack of regular (extremely ugly) Burberry seasonal items on discount, the vast majority of their items were made for outlet and labeled as made in China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, etc.
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Side question: how were you able to identify Burberry's made-for-outlet? Are they marked as mfo?
I wish all luxury brands marked their mfo products like Gucci does (capital G within a circle).
 
#28
doni said:
They call themselves Italic but they source factories in China?

Even if they do what they claim they are doing (and I quite doubt that at least in all cases), i.e., working with the same factories as they are currently producing for the names they name: you would not get the design, nor necessarily the same artisans (who would be naturally reserved for the premium clients, one single factory or atelier can have artisans of very varying experience and skill), not necessarily the same leathers (sourced elsewhere) or dyes, nor, most importantly, the quality control. I mean, even the way they explain it, we are in NY and have a guy in Italy and one in China... who supervises the quality?

Plus, at least for certain brands (I know personally in the case of Gucci) small family operations supplying for them are subject to very detail and stringent legal obligations. They would not dream risking those contracts and long relationships (often going back several generations) by getting involved in a scheme of this sort.
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Some designers, like Gucci, are movimg production back to company owned factories, Putting those long term partnerships in doubt. This gives factories a way to diversify.

I’m curious what kind of products they will have.
 
#30
Well I'm now a member and get a year free. (I signed up for the wait list about a month ago) So far there's not much I'm interested in, and there aren't too many items for sale yet. Can post more info from my desktop Monday.

I'm a little wary of being on the site though at all, based on what previous posters have brought to light.. :-/
 
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