Namely, it is a fashion magazine and online store rolled into one. Quite obvious I know, but a deeper contemplation made me realize that online stores in general do not necessarily have the written editorial to tout their new products in a magazine format. Think of reading Vogue and be able to buy exactly what they’re saying is the hottest item of the season on the spot, instead of dragging yourself to the store, hope the store actually carries the item, if not, special order, and go through all the hooplahs one might go through to get the item.

We’re a lazy generation. I admit that many of you probably enjoy the going through the entire “hunting” experience of getting what you want, but I think it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore our need for instant gratification.

Online stores like Saks, Neiman, Forever 21, Piperlime and Zappos display their array of products and merely announce new arrivals, not quite hyping them up like Net-a-porter does. It also helps that Net-a-porter suggests looks and combinations, and allows you to really zoom in and analyze in full detail parts of the garment since it isn’t possible to do so in person.

I’m not suggesting all stores should start posting online editorials – however, I wouldn’t find it too shabby as a strategy to get more people to buy the products, especially if the store is selling different brands. Holt Renfrew and Ogilvy could perhaps benefit of such a move, especially when Holts already establishes a relationship with their clients with their aggressive call-to-action weekly newsletter. If both stores could offer online shopping and free shipping delivery (for shoes to start), they could definitely boost sales in these harsh economic times. Shoppers tend to shift to online stores when the market is down, so it would only be natural to take advantage of the online medium to keep sales afloat.

With the right combination of marketing and savvy management of an online store and proper, relevant, editorial content, I think clothing stores should consider this as a Plan B.

Image Credit: Versace from Holt Renfrew

But if you can get a “$500″ dress at a mark down price of $230, somewhere down the line, retailers are still making a profit from that $230 price tag, albeit a smaller one. So it goes into question, what exactly is the real price of that “$500″ dress? I came to this question as I was browsing the Forever 21 site, the US counterpart of an H&M fast fashion chain. There, hundreds of items are listed one by one, each sporting a cheap price tag. But as I further analyzed…what makes this tunic cheaper or more expensive than the one next to it? Who makes these prices and why are they so varied?

If you’ve read Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster by Dana Thomas, you’ll understand where I’m coming from. Some luxury bags are made with $250 worth of materials, yet are marked up to $1200 on the retailing floor. Of course, you’ll need a profit margin to pay for your laborers, distributors, rent, etc. But I mean, we’re talking about selling at more than four times the production costs.

Taking an example of Forever 21, they do the same, they mark it up “dirt cheap” to our eyes, at $20-$30 a garment, and can slash it as low as $14-$15 on sale. That means the piece is probably worth a mere $5 in production cost, copied and reproduced by the thousands. Wholesale is of course, always cheaper than retail pricing. You buy in bulk, you sell for more. This is really unsurprising, I suppose most consumers know this and don’t really care. This is how business has to be conducted right? To earn a profit, to earn a living.

I believe there are 3 factors that determine the price of a garment:

1. Branding
2. Emotional attachment (labour of love)
3. Production cost

Branding is an obvious factor that plays a huge role on consumer choices, why choose the Brita water filter instead of Evian’s bottled water?

Emotional attachment is connected to the designer’s love for a certain piece. Surely a more complex, hand embroidered, hand dyed dress, with a gazillion of embellishments will fetch a higher pricing. The more time a designer spends on it or loves the piece, the higher the pricing. I mean local Montreal designer Helmer made a dress out of toilet paper fabric and it was worth around $12,000, and we very well know that you can get a six pack of toilees for $7-$8 at the grocery store.

Production cost is obvious. Labourers of fabric usually get the short end of it as they have to sell the fabrics cheap for designers to buy them in larger quantities. More specialized houses will create unique more expensive fabrics, but in general, you won’t ever find the price of a garment equal to the cost of its materials.

As a consumer, the question remains the same: do you believe what you’re buying is worth it? This comes down to personal knowledge and taste. Some people are fine with Payless and others find that spending $585 for a pair of Christian Louboutin is highly justified (I am one of those people, and I own Payless shoes).

The truth is, there are clearly no right or wrong answers when it comes to determining the value of clothes (or any other product for that matter). It all depends on how influenced you are, how much money you’re willing to spend and if you feel any emotional connection to what you’re buying. I say if you love fast fashion, knock yourself out. Buy 100 outfits. Just pray you have a big enough closet to fit all of it in. For those of you who can’t live without the luxury of fine fabric, with $1800 Pringle of Scotland sweaters and $5000 corset dresses from Alexandre McQueen, enjoy it. Just make sure you really want it.

Made In Labels

I made a round at the Rockland Centre today, being a completely picky shopper. I checked “Made in” labels, rubbed the fabric between my fingers, and turned skirts, dresses, jackets and pants inside out to check what they were made of. Though now I know that some “Made ins” are completely false (produced in China, assembled in Europe, carrying the European label), it’s gotten a lot tougher to decipher what’s of quality what isn’t. Not to say that everything China is poorly made, there are different grades of quality in Chinese goods (and some of them are of very good quality), so it’s really a question of knowing your fabric, looking at the seams, the stitches, the craftsmanship. Not that I would be an expert in fabrics, but we all learn as we go right?

Here’s a roundup of what I found in some of the stores I visited:

BCBG - Lots of stuff made in China, shoes made in Brazil. Quality is to be questionable, especially at such a high price. I’ve already bought 2 dresses from them at $300-$400 a pop. One of them has sequins sewed near the neckline but it’s been dropping sequins all over the place after only wearing it twice for 2 weddings. Disappointing to say the least. Aside from the dresses, their jackets, shirts and pants, looked flimsy, I’ll have to ask my BCBG-nut friend of their clothe quality.

Banana Republic - Made in China, and The Philippines. Quality is better and appropriately priced for some of their clothes. I checked out one orange dress with a polyester lining but it looked flimsy as far as being attached to the dress itself. I have a skirt and a shirt that I’ve had for over a couple of years, so far the skirt looks worn and the black faded (lining still there amazingly), the white shirt needs constant ironing, otherwise the buttons are still on, a good sign.

Tristan – Made in China and Canada. Style wise, it’s my favorite store. They have this gorgeous royal blue crepe shirt made of 100% silk from China. Very unique texture, love the styling, the stitching looked good, but one look at the buttons and my hopes were dashed. The thin, flat iridescent buttons were badly sewn on, the first button looked like it was about to fall off. I’ve had my share of badly sewn buttons, if the buttons don’t look solid, I don’t buy them. The Made in Canada items looked better and felt nice, but I don’t know if their buttons are just as poorly sewn. I’ve also had a white shirt with organza ruffles at the cuffs, ripped off in not even a day, haven’t worn it since. Quality is to be questionable.

Mango – Made in China and Vietnam. I admit upfront: I hate this store. It’s everything a fast fashion store could ever possess. Cheaply made garments of today’s trend du jour at a pretty expensive price range. One thin double breasted cream jacket made in Vietnam cost $90 when I’m pretty sure it was made for like $5. I’ll never shop at this store.

Le Chateau – Made in China and Canada. The Canadian equivalent as a fast fashion store, and a highly successful one at that, somehow the quality appears to be better, or maybe that’s just the general pleasing aesthetic of the store, but I wouldn’t count on it too much. I bought my favorite coat from this place, a military styled turquoise knee length jacket. The only problem are, once again, the buttons. Like many other places, they use cheap threads to keep the buttons on, and have had to resew 6 of the 20 something buttons several times. Quality is dubious here.

Josef – Made in Canada. Finally! A fashionable store with Made in Canada labels, and it shows (too bad I couldn’t find a website to go with it). I touched one dress with a mock white collared shirt and dress bottom, the fabric felt thick like it would last me a good while, the lining was properly sewed on, and it looked like one of those wrinkle free dresses. It was $175. There was another gray, sleeveless office dress with a belt, also had good lining, $200. Though the pieces of this store were basic, I found the quality to look very good (at least I hope it is). Will definitely return to this store.

Stores with surprising quality

Forever XXI - Ok, we don’t have this store here. Yes, it’s the American equivalent of a fast fashion store. However, I’ve bought a couple of things from them, and all are Made in USA. A polka dot strapless dress, laced hemline, nice lining, and seemingly wrinkle free, could not ask for a better summer dress than this. Orange double breasted petticoat, buttons fall off, not surprised. Cropped gray pants, after a year it’s starting to show some light lint fuzz. For a fast fashion store, there are a few gems to be found here.

MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-Op) – I’ve written an article on Gloss about this store. And I wanted to say in detail how much I love the hoodie I got from them. During winter I wear it 5 days a week, no joke. If any store would know anything about quality fabric, it’s MEC. Some brands like Pantagonia have their stuff made in China, but all MEC branded items are Made in Canada. The hoodie, made with Polartec technology, will never ever make lint fuzz or balls. I don’t know much about how to describe its texture, but it’s smooth on the outside and lined with fleece on the inside. Best $110 I’ve ever spent. I’ve considered getting it in another color, but haven’t gotten around to buying it yet.

A Brand With Surprisingly Bad Quality

Lacoste shoes – I’m sure it’s more their licensee’s fault since Lacoste’s specialty are their famed polo shirts. And the licensee for Lacoste makes many of their shoes in places like Vietnam and Thailand. My flat ballerinas cost a whopping $145, made of leather exterior, and after a year of wearing it and traveling around, the leather wore off at the tips, and for some reason the stitching of the trims busted. I loved these shoes, but I won’t buy from Lacoste again for footwear.

Again, it’s not to say that everything made in third world countries are poorly made. I’ve seen knock offs made of the highest grade in quality, popular brand names (like Puma) made in legitimate factories in China, still make comfortable shoes. However, work conditions, and most of all, salary, are drastically different in these countries than they would be in Europe or North America. Why pay an italian worker $18/hr to make garments when you can pay $0.10/hr in China?

This was my personal assessment of the mid-ranged clothing stores today. I’d love to inspect further for higher end garments just to see if their quality is better, made in China or not. Of course I’d probably have to spend a small fortune, but there’s nothing quite like shopping for research.