re: China has turned to mocking the west for giving them manufacturing to sell for cheaper

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Im pretty sure everybody knows a $1000 designer bag only costs like $20 to make

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If you could do that then you should quit your turn and cough day job, but trust me you can't.

My wife knows as much about Hermes leather goods as I know about Swiss watches and flips them continuously making a quit healthy profit that gets funneled back to Hermes and makes fills her closet with so much orange you would think you want into a Home Depot. I ask her to watch the video and she just laughed all the way through. Most of what he said was nonsense.

First, the retail price of a Togo Birkin 25 (used as his example) is $12,100 for a catalog piece and none of those are even near $30k on the secondary. Second, no Hermes comes with stainless hardware unless it is a bespoke piece unique where the customer just wanted SS for some reason. Third, Hermes is highly vertically integrated and produce the vast majority of the materials they use. If you are flat out lying about those three why would you trust any of the other numbers?

A Birkin is definitely a Veblen good and it doesn't cost anywhere near $12k to make but even commodity goods have significant markups from material and labor costs.

Massive factories don't grow out of the ground. QC has its own significant cost. Marketing and RD are cost intensive as well. All of this goes into the wholesale costs. Then you have the retail costs added on to that. The marginal cost to produce another Birkin 25 is probably only about $2000-$2500. Add in all the amortized costs of CapEx, R&D, marketing and profit margin and the wholesale cost is ~$8k, the rest is retail costs and profit.

Luxury goods will always have a higher multiplier between material costs and retail sales price but that is the luxury enjoyed by manufacturers of luxury goods. One can argue they are overvalued but you can't argue they are overpriced. Birkins/Kellys and Rolex SS professional models, for example, have been underpriced in the market for years.

The Chinese can make counterfeit luxury goods that meet the 2 foot eye test but as of yet they can't fool the scrutiny of someone that knows what they are looking for. On the TGIF thread I taught people to distinguish between a fake and real mid-tier or above watch (Rolex, Omega et al) in a single post, and with the caseback already off I can do it in under 5 seconds without a loupe and be 100% accurate unless it is a franken. Building a luxury brand takes time, money and some luck. The Chinese unfettered, may get there with some items in 20 years or so.

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Exactly.

The point is to prove that you can pay more with zero repercussions.

It is the exclusivity.

It isn’t the bag itself, it is the name.

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I should have mentioned quality also. Luxury goods need to have better craftmanship, finish, and whatnot to be a true luxury good. The Chinese do what the Chinese do, which is make inferior knockoffs. There are plenty of so-called luxury brands that moved production to China. The quality always takes a hit.

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Has anyone every told you that you know a lot of useless shite?

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I've wondered before if he was googling and researching random topics to deliver these expert seminars

Though I do know a few nerdy old men like that, who just have an answer and a long story on any topic that comes up in conversation.

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Joke is on him. He doesn’t understand how Americans DO care about the logo…certainly WAY more than quality.

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Yep. Never underestimate the stupidity of the American consumer.

The coolers without color also was a good example of this.

I really trust this guy.

Seems like a good fella.

Some slant eyed MF'er sold me a Callaway Chinese Knockoff Great Big Berth Driver years ago.

It looked exactly like a real one and had Callaway on it but made a strange noise when I hit it, I could out drive everyone I played with it.

Best driver I ever had until I broke the shaft and some pro shop guy told me it was a knockoff

So did “China” do this or some random guy you found on X?

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And stupid westerners still buy them

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I know plenty of Asians that buy them, too. The asians are very brand conscious.