Chloe Paraty Python Pre-Order

I think there are always going to be clients who can afford the prices, but let's face it, the bulk of designer pieces are marked up a hell of a lot, so even if the bags were slashed to 'fifty' percent discount, designers/companies still make an impressive profit. The prices have always been ridiculous. It's not just now. It may seem ridiculous now, because of worldwide recession, but if designers dipped really low then that would set a precedent that premium designers would never recover from; would more women buy Chanel if they reduced all their 2.55 bags to 70% off the retail price? Yes they would but would they buy them after the economy recovered? I know I wouldn't, because then I'd know how much I'm overpaying just so the premier designer can pay for their advertising campaign. Do people really think that retail prices don't have advertising campaigns and store rental prices factored in to the price of the product? Is say, this bag really worth this much -labor wise? I doubt it. I don't want to seem like a doomsayer, but a lot of the bags out there are made for much less, irrespective of the brand. We're just paying for brands at the end of the day. Example: they make out that Madonna 'suddenly' said yes to appear in the Louis Vuitton campaign. I'll bet that all the products' retail prices had her fee factored in as well.
Would any fashion writer even dare to really be truthful and reveal the real cost price of this three thousand dollar bag? It's probably one hundred dollars. Yes..sounds incredible. But that three thousand dollar retail price isn't about the labor or design. It's about everything else: advertising campaigns around the world (TV maybe, definitely magazines), store rentals (fashion design houses don't own every building they're in).
This article I came across in Sydney confirms that designers are standing their ground on price, and why shouldn't they? Everyday people may not afford three thousand dollar bags (on their credit cards: to me if a person is buying a bag on a credit card, that means they can't afford the bag in the first place; big difference between a credit card and a charge card), but there are plenty of people who keep haute couture and luxury labels in business in the Middle East. If it weren't for them, many French houses, like Chanel wouldn't be open for business.

Almost forgot that article link:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/lifeandstyle/fashion/top-designers-defy-credit-crunch/2009/01/28/1232818514705.html

I dont think its python...the description on the Saks website says "Rich calfskin fools the eye with a python-like texture, crafted into a gracefully tapered shape." Can you confirm? thanks

This is so weird. It says can not ship to California because they don't allow sales of Python

This is python.

Anastasia you are correct most of the price is for the luxury name. A bag can not be exclusive if the price is too reasonable and when one purchases a luxury item that is what one is looking for ultimately. I formerly was employed with one of the top luxury companies (who shall remain nameless) in the finance area. I did all the analysis regarding the cogs (costs of good sold- this includes materials, labor, etc). We did not base our retail price on a simple markup (ie this bag cost us x dollars to produce so we apply a 25% markup). The retail price is based on what a consumer is willing to pay for the bag (this is true across all brands actually even non luxury ones). It is true generally that the luxury companies use top of the line materials as their clients expect it. But the fact is the finest hardware and leather are not significantly more costly to purchase than the average materials(wholesale costs). For instance lets say nice quality calfskin can be purchased for $75 a yard which would easily make 2 average size handbags and the best calfskin is $125 a yard (yes it is $50 more but that doesn't make much impact when the handbag sells for thousands (retail price of course not wholesale) Just take a serious look at some of the top makers (Hermes, Gucci, LV, Chanel etc etc) bags than take a look at an up and coming brand that in comparison is moderately priced (500-800) and you will find that the quality and workmanship is comparable but they just don't have the name. I remember a meeting where we were all challenged to find a handbag that compared in quality to ours and the winner was a $600 bag (even we were amazed that people are willing to pay 3500 for ours because of the luxury factor. Enough said

This is def a typo-this bag is Python, I own it, bought it last year from the Chloe boutique, and its FABULOUS!!!!!

xoxo

This is def a typo-this bag is Python, I own it, bought it last year from the Chloe boutique, and its FABULOUS!!!!!

xoxo

The hottest bag ever.

Yea, def too expensive so dont order it!!!

Calf skin or python hell NO NO NO!

Yeah, the bag is chic! Alas, i can't afford it now.

what a gorgeous bag!

would love love love to have it on my arm but thats just too much!

esp if its not python!

I have two other Chloe python bags and at least three black bags that I love to wear all the time so why on earth would I crave THIS one as I do?

with the economy the way it is when a person is completely no longer use to the expensive bags it's going to be hard for them to adjust they'll go to thinking about how stupid they were when paying bills alone becomes the only factor. they will have nice things but at a more affordable standard. not to say a person who wears gucci when start to wear coach but to say they would not go for the full price of what is now on the market they would look for substitute ways to purchase them like search bargins or go for a bag for each occassion besides only you no how clean you are it's a mind thing let me tell

I agree, Anastasia, the prices have always been high - but they are far, far, higher now, in real terms, than they have ever been (to my knowledge) before; due to the repeated and substantial price hikes in the supposedly 'good' times.

These price hikes have been so frequent and extreme that, having worked out, in 2007, that comparable Chloe bags had increased in price by about 300% in the five years since 2002, I refused to buy another designer bag, on principle (well, assuming I didn't see something I absolutely had to have, of course! LOL! Which I didn't), until the prices had rationalised and now I'm pretty glad I made that decision!

I don't think anyone (sane!) is suggesting that R-T-W designers should slash their prices to the extent that they would risk permanently devaluing their brand (i.e. to compete with non R-T-W designers, for example [although, of course, non R-T-W designers and non-designer producers will presumably also have to reduce their prices, if they haven't already; as, no doubt encouraged by R-T-W designer prices, their prices have often increased considerably, lately, too]), but I think it would make a lot of sense if they returned to using, what used to be, their standard mark-ups before the bubble inflated. That and the dramatic fall in non precious metal commodity prices would mean that their items would become more attractively priced, whilst still leaving them with a more than fair profit margin (assuming enough people will buy at any reasonable price, at the moment, of course!).

Good luck to them if they want to try to, stubbornly, hold firm on their grossly inflated, bubble prices, because this potential depression (yes, I said the D word!) is seriously affecting almost everyone, all over the world; even the super-rich (many of whom, although they can generally still easily afford designer items [minus the Madoff and other scam victims, of course], have still retrenched, as their capital and incomes have fallen dramatically and that, obviously, affects one's confidence levels, however relatively rich one still is).

I think one needs to remember that, just because someone is rich doesn't mean they're stupid, or that they don't have a price ceiling for a certain type of item, or that they don't know, or care, that they're being ripped off and also, that many newly rich people need to not just be, or feel, rich relative to other people, but to also be, or feel, richer than they felt yesterday (if feeling continually richer wasn't so important to them, why would many of them have continued to work so hard, when they were already rich?) and this economy will not just have the affect of making almost everyone poorer, but also (and perhaps even more importantly in the case of the very wealthy), almost every day, they will continue to feel poorer than they did the day before.

Not to mention, IMO legitimate, fears they (and we all) may have over possible super-inflation in the near future, caused by stimulus packages etc..

Also, the more overpriced these items are known to be relative to their actual cost of production (and now the bubble has burst, if the retail prices aren't allowed to fall, even though the commodity prices have already fallen considerably, these items will, obviously, be even more overpriced than they were at the height of the bubble, relative to production costs), the more politically incorrect and insensitive their owners will tend to be viewed as in an economy like this and that may well affect sales, too.

On a purely personal, financial level, as long as I didn't buy any more overpriced items, I know I would almost certainly be better off if the prices didn't fall any time soon, as I would be able to ask higher prices for any items I chose to sell-on, but I am not speaking from a personal point of view, here, when I say that if most of these designers want to thrive, or even survive, I think it's highly likely that the prices will, almost certainly, have to fall, sooner or later (unless the aforementioned super-inflation kicks in and makes them suddenly look reasonable, of course!).

I do appreciate that, in the case of designers who allow their items to go on sale, they may feel they have to allow retailers a sizeable margin to inable them to cut prices substantially at the end of the season and still make a good profit, but I think they (they being designers and retailers) sometimes forget that many customers would be prepared to pay more at the beginning of the season, than they would at the end. Therefore, to grossly overprice just to allow scope for a 75%, or more, discount at the end of the season, may be counterproductive when they could probably get 45%, or so, of so-called retail (I say 'so-called', as if one doesn't actually expect to sell many, or any, items at that price, is it really a true retail price?), at the beginning of the season.

Finally (you'll be relieved to hear!), I have to take slight issue with the anonymous poster - although I know it is a motive for some, my motives for buying designer items have never included exclusivity.

Quality of design, materials and make? Yes. Exclusivity? No.

I admit I quite like it that I have items that were made in very small numbers, so they're rare and therefore, seem more precious (to me, anyway!), but that's rather different, as I also feel that way about unique (or near unique) handmade and/or vintage items, at far lower price points and also, many of these, supposedly, exclusive 'bubble bags' were not made in small numbers, at all and as almost everyone just charged them, I'm not sure how an item made in large numbers and available to anyone with a credit card, can, logically, be viewed as exclusive, anyway?

Seems to me it's just expensive and as I'm sure you'd agree, expensive does not, automatically, equal exclusive.

Personally, I hate the word 'exclusive', anyway - how a word that means not shared came to infer something desirable I dread to think.

I far prefer 'inclusive' and would be far happier if everyone could afford to buy all the designer goods (and anything else) they wanted and would be far more inclined to buy more myself, if that was the case; as the one thing I really don't like about luxury items, is that they can be socially divisive.

this kind of purses looks so beautiful ,
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