Am fine with your remark but why such crazy prices.
Recent brands like Delage/Fauré L etc... have at least as high quality standards and reasonable prices.
Let's Talk About the Price of Bags Across the Board, Are they Crazy or am I?
- Thread starter papertiger
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
Recent brands like Delage/Fauré L etc... have at least as high quality standards and reasonable prices.
Most people equate high cost with quality and exclusivity so it's basically a marketing ploy of established companies. When companies set the price-point it's a marketing decision (who's our target market?) rather than a material cost + labour and overheads. They also position their goods in order of who their most likely competitors are (therefore when LV goes up in price so does Gucci).
When companies are less known or new they have to entice customers with good value as an initial/next step so their pricing is based on (base and overhead) cost highlighting value + quality of the product within the market + price market national/global positioning (among competitors).
I agree with everything you wrote here. Except maybe that I don't buy up and coming bag brands. I keep to my favourites from the few luxury brands I love. And buy pre-owned when I have to because they just don't make bags in the colours they used to, like Balenciaga. I do feel a fool of sorts though for being willing to pay these ridiculous prices, so I don't overindulge.
I didn't realize how much the price of bags went up until I started watching videos and reading articles on the Speedy. The Speedy 30 was around 700 USD at the beginning of the decade and now it's over 1000 USD. The Speedy B 30 was around 1100 USD was when it was introduced in 2011 but it's over 1400 USD now. I get inflation causing prices to go up but the price increases are way beyond the cost of inflation. I got my Speedy B 30 new because the preloved prices aren't much lower than the new prices. However, I think in the future I might just get my luxury items pre-loved if possible. I get that the craftsmanship is great on luxury bags but I still have to wonder if a Chanel bag is really worth $5,000 or if canvas Louis Vuitton bags should start at $1,000.
I know. The new prices are really tough to swallow. I do have a couple of premier brand bags on my wishlist, but I am trying to be really careful about what I buy. I now know what fits my lifestyle, what it still missing from my collection etc. I don’t think Chanel is worth $5,000.
I am stumbling in here without reading all the posts.
To me the most overpriced bag is the Goyard St Louis. It is so delicate that it is almost disposable. I have read posts about how sturdy it is, but I just do not see that it is.
To me the most overpriced bag is the Goyard St Louis. It is so delicate that it is almost disposable. I have read posts about how sturdy it is, but I just do not see that it is.
shocked to find that small city chevre metal edge that i bought at aud 2500 is now aud 3400 in my country (not australia, but just for the comparison.). i thought it was because our tax has incresed, but apparently the price itself is higher as well.
it is a very sturdy bag, but i dont think the price increase is logical
it is a very sturdy bag, but i dont think the price increase is logical
You're seeing a very small segment of the Millennial demographic. There will always be celebrities, trust fund babies, people on the Thirty Under Thirty, and those who go into debt for status symbols. However Millennials are reportedly "killing everything" (see link below) because collectively they are radically different consumers than every generation gone before. If the luxury handbag market is relying on American Millennials to survive then...hahaha.
Note: you would be surprised at how many people on IG are Insta "influencers" and get sent product for free just to show it off to their followers. Even some luxury brands do this discreetly.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/millennials-are-killing-list-2017-8
EDIT: At 35 you might qualify for "elder Millennial" (funny comedy special on Netflix titled that too btw) but you may relate more to GenX. The last Millennial birth year is around 1997. After that it's Gen Z or Post Millennial or whatever name "they" settle on.
Last edited:
The younger generations (except a small parcel) are a little status symbol blind or anti-status. Social media has helped this. Kim K posts her bling on Insta and millions of people comment calling her a bourgeoisie whore. She's robbed at gunpoint and the theme is you brought it on yourself for waving around your jewellery. The story shows up on the morning talk radio and the two older hosts are sad for her, but the two younger hosts saying you shouldn't flaunt and no one feels sorry for her.
Millennials have issues like every generation but they're surprisingly egalitarian and into sustainable products and microloans and giving up straws to save the whales etc. Very minimalist on the whole. At least in the USA. Luxury bags won't survive if that's the core market after the older collectors die out. But it looks like the luxury market is moving to Asia which is now experiencing an 80s/90s consumerism boom.
Wouldn't be surprised if eventually LV was only in China while the US elites are toting their sustainably farmed and fairly traded burlap boho bags. Virtue is becoming the new status symbol along with tech. Would venture that most people under 30 consider their smartphone a better symbol than a handbag. Anyway, in a demographic that likes #makeupfreemondays and diva cups and Apple Pay/Google Pay, what are you gonna carry around in your hefty Birkin bag?
Some of the more ethical influencers now use Insta's label feature which will add a "Paid sponsorship with ____________" row above the post.
From the company's perspective, it's a goldmine. They don't have to pay someone 2 mill for a commercial. Or convince fickle top celebs to do a paid collab. They give a bag to a 19 year old up and coming actress on the CW and of her 30 million followers someone is going to have money and want to be just like her. It's very efficient advertising both in high reach and low production cost. All it cost was the base price of the bag and the $10/hr social media intern to make the outreach.
The Insta models who are still trying to make it (get free product) will buy stuff, do a photoshoot with their also trying to make it photographer friend, and return the stuff. It won't get you a Birkin but as long as they change cities and purchasers periodically it's basically a free rental service.
There were Birkin and Kelly bags sold online at Saks Off Fifth. Vintage offerings but still. The secondhand market is flooded with supply.
I wonder how much longer anyone will care about Hermes. See this article written by the younger set. Doesn't sound like someone who's going to evolve into a Hermes buyer when they have money.
https://jezebel.com/5962485/have-an-extra-60k-this-thanksgiving-why-not-buy-some-dumb-purse
Exciting Thanksgiving news for all you exceedingly wealthy sociopaths out there. Gilt Groupe, the online provider of designer sales, has a very special, one of a kind deal for you this holiday weekend and is offering up a small selection of rare and vintage Birkin bags for a cool $59,850. Would you like to pay with a card or is Nazi gold more convenient?
https://fashionista.com/2017/07/discount-hermes-birkin-bag-price-sale
There are definitely interesting things happening with bag brands across the board at the moment! Both from the point of view of new brands entering the market and established ones trying to keep their position and grow, creating interesting dynamics between one another.
There are a couple of young brands that sell in the low hundreds price range that seem to be an incredibly good deal. Their wholesale markups (prices at which they sell their goods to the stores) are kept nearly non-existent, in order to grow the brand as fast as possible. Needless to say this is not sustainable for the brands in the long run and sooner or later something's got to give. Once they reach brand 'critical mass', i expect either the prices will rise significantly or the quality will drop and the hope is that customers will keep buying because of hype, habit or loyalty.
On the other hand you have the established luxury brands which are often part of some or other publicly traded group. Their goal above all else is business growth - which is achieved either by selling more bags, charging more for the bags, or lowering the costs (and quality!) of the bag. Take your pick! And of course these targets are renewed and pushed further each and every year, otherwise the CEO's are not doing their job for the shareholders of the company.
It seems that in both cases a different kind of price 'extremism' is applied.
Personally, if I am struggling to make up my mind about something, I've made it a rule for myself to judge it by the size of the company behind it. Smaller = better. I feel that the global obsession with growth nearly always has a negative effect on the end result and turns the product into a commodity. Isn't there approx. 500k Neverfulls sold each year?
The label doesn't seem to mean anything - somehow, the organic carrots from my local greengrocer always taste better than the organic carrots from the supermarket. Go figure!
There are a couple of young brands that sell in the low hundreds price range that seem to be an incredibly good deal. Their wholesale markups (prices at which they sell their goods to the stores) are kept nearly non-existent, in order to grow the brand as fast as possible. Needless to say this is not sustainable for the brands in the long run and sooner or later something's got to give. Once they reach brand 'critical mass', i expect either the prices will rise significantly or the quality will drop and the hope is that customers will keep buying because of hype, habit or loyalty.
On the other hand you have the established luxury brands which are often part of some or other publicly traded group. Their goal above all else is business growth - which is achieved either by selling more bags, charging more for the bags, or lowering the costs (and quality!) of the bag. Take your pick! And of course these targets are renewed and pushed further each and every year, otherwise the CEO's are not doing their job for the shareholders of the company.
It seems that in both cases a different kind of price 'extremism' is applied.
Personally, if I am struggling to make up my mind about something, I've made it a rule for myself to judge it by the size of the company behind it. Smaller = better. I feel that the global obsession with growth nearly always has a negative effect on the end result and turns the product into a commodity. Isn't there approx. 500k Neverfulls sold each year?
The label doesn't seem to mean anything - somehow, the organic carrots from my local greengrocer always taste better than the organic carrots from the supermarket. Go figure!
Speaking of Millenials - They are still at a young age where bags like Hermes isn't exactly relevant for their age. I mean, I didn't appreciate Hermes until I turned 40. Although I am not a Millennial, I can't help but walk around my city and see Louis Vuitton and Chanel boutiques flooded with young girls. The Milennnials I know would love to carry a luxury bag and drive an expensive car and wear designer bags - they just haven't achieved that status yet where they can do so. What I do see is their justification of quality over quantity/ sustainable items/ some environmental advantage.
I do think the retail market is flooded but if you look, a lot of the bags for sale are less desirable bags - larger bags, seasonal colours. I don't blame Saks off Fifth for selling vintage H bags, they saw an opportunity and went for it. I think the biggest question is how will the reselling of our designer goods affect the luxury market itself. I happen to know that the Hermes in my city have made it very difficult to send a handbag for spa service without a receipt. This is why I choose not to purchase a bag off the resale market if it's Hermes. I did that once, and then sold it because I didn't want the hassle at the H boutique if something happened to it and I needed it serviced. I buy directly from the boutique.
Years ago there was the concern of selling fake handbags and how that affected the luxury brand maket, and the market fought back and now illegal bags can be confiscated and destroyed. I wonder if they can do anything to fight agains the resale market. But I doubt it, and I think everyone has the right to purchase / sell their bags. Time will tell how it affects the luxury market.
Anyways, I am digressing ...
I do think the retail market is flooded but if you look, a lot of the bags for sale are less desirable bags - larger bags, seasonal colours. I don't blame Saks off Fifth for selling vintage H bags, they saw an opportunity and went for it. I think the biggest question is how will the reselling of our designer goods affect the luxury market itself. I happen to know that the Hermes in my city have made it very difficult to send a handbag for spa service without a receipt. This is why I choose not to purchase a bag off the resale market if it's Hermes. I did that once, and then sold it because I didn't want the hassle at the H boutique if something happened to it and I needed it serviced. I buy directly from the boutique.
Years ago there was the concern of selling fake handbags and how that affected the luxury brand maket, and the market fought back and now illegal bags can be confiscated and destroyed. I wonder if they can do anything to fight agains the resale market. But I doubt it, and I think everyone has the right to purchase / sell their bags. Time will tell how it affects the luxury market.
Anyways, I am digressing ...
I actually feel like everything is inflating in price. From bags, houses, education (college tuition), pianos. Literally everything except my salary :*(