Replies

[lozinabox]

fashion is one of the most annoying thing about today's society. at the start of the year it was those head scarves, then it was quifs and stomach belts.. now its those crappy plastic headbands!! theyre everywhere!! conformatism to the max...... when will they have the innititive to realise that theyre not the latest fashion, they have been around forever AND the fact that THEY ARE NOT COOL!

also.. shoot the people at supre.. they look like walking errotic (and extremely thin) trendie dolls

[kiki]

ok that's a misconception. lets just get to the basics, when we're talking clothes there are physical differences and thats often reflected in the price. when you see a plain white tee in target, and plain white tee in edge. in target the price is $10, in edge the price is $60. automatically, because they look the same, edge is a rip off. there are a number of things wrong with that... firstly, look at what the material is. a lot of materials look the same, but measure the polyester to cotton content of the shirt, as well as nylon etc. they all effect the price, quality and life of the product. then you need to consider where they were made. for instance, the plain white tee from target was made in thailand, while the tee from edge was made in china. the most significant difference is, china has lax workplace laws but the standard wage rate is a lot higher than in thailand.

then look at the companies in general, target is a retail giant. edge is a retail little guy, that has community and environmental focus in the corporate mind - which costs money surprisingly enough, look at westpac and what they sacrifice in the name of the environment. target doesn't have that, except for token save the trees bullcrap that all giants jump onto. and also due to type of companies target can actually afford to have only a 5% markup because its going to sell a lot more on any given day than edge, their costs are higher admittedly but its not exactly relative, the profits are hugely different. thus, places like edge will have markups of 150% and even above. sometimes, the store clerks days wages comes from one item of clothing...but then again, that might be the only thing they sell that day.

and also someone said something about the power of a brand in regards to ipods. the point is brand has power. target is not a recognised clothing brand per se... it is a clothing brand, but few people say they wear it because its target. it doesnt have a strong brand name behind it, the exclusiveness etc. and people think this is ridiculous when you buy the same things. as i said earlier i brought a pair of $300 jeans. i could have gone to yd and got a pair for 100, could have gone to jeans west and got a pair for 50, or could have gone to big w and got a pair for 30. these jeans were guess jeans. why did i buy them? because ive never seen a pair like them. im yet to see that particular wash anywhere, im also yet to see a pair of jeans that has lasted me more then 6 months to a year. they've lasted me 3 years.

and then theres those products that are just so high to make it so exclusive, that by having them, people like yourselves make it an object of despise and incredible like. that's called marketing people. and its working. you know those sacks girls are wearing. and you know how much they go for. people are cynical against it, are there off season trade. statistically, it's what happens. people who idolise it, are the people they profit off unjustly.

but either way, you cannot criticise the price of a product simply because something looks the same. often they are not, there are a great number of things to take into consideration. personally, i don't buy from target. not because i don't like their clothes, but because i believe in supporting the little guys. even if they are owned by giants, they are a subsidiary that is just a vulnerable as a small business. if myer wasn't as big as it was, it would have died 10 years ago. the company barely makes a profit in relative terms, but because it's myer and its a freakin giant it can live. most small business don't make it past the five year mark. its my goal in life to make as many small businesses as possible last longer than the giants. i dont believe in a truly monopolised economy...because eventually that's what will happen. the end. of this incredibly long rant. with very few paragraphs.

This post has been edited by kiki: Aug 27 2007, 02:01 PM