The Official RRL Thread - Page 368

 

RRL doesn't have to justify it's prices to anyone, let alone you. If you can't afford RRL you don't have to rag on where it's made to justify your perverse moral code. If it were cheap you wouldn't have a problem that it's made in China but since ''way overpriced'' you obviously can't afford it and feel the need to rant about it. That's what these arguments always come down to. A person's perceived value of an item comes from it's point of origin.

 

If RRL is made in China it should automatically be cheap but if illegal arabs make something in France it's okay to be expensive? These arguments would have been valid 10 or 20 years ago but today are just ad nauseam. Europe is filled with sweatshops where do you think LVC/Diesel is made? Romania and Poland.

 

China has tiers in production just like every other country and people are used to premium clothing coming from China and don't care as long as it's stylish and of quality construction and of luxury branding. The success of Polo and a thousand other labels is proof of that. RL makes clothes in China so they can turn slightly higher margins, nothing wrong with staying competitive in the fashion industry if everyone else is doing it and if they don't they will go out of business. Why should RRL be held to a higher standard? I can guarantee how fast RRL will become defunct if it didn't always look for cheaper labor somewhere else.   

 

 

 

LOL I see (or have seen) True Religion, Evisu, LVC, Wrangler black label, Diesel, Nudies, Big John, Dior Homme, Replay, Cavalli and Balmain (just to name a few) jeans at Marshalls stocked at one point or another so your argument is moot. 

 

Please stop trolling the RRL thread with  political discussions.  I'd rather listen to 1000x thigh measurements questions than made in China BS one more time.

 

 

 

Edited by RRL CLOTHING - 8/18/11 at 1:26pm

The reason why you don't see LVC in TJ and Marshalls is because they are made in limited quantities and Levi's has their own stores and website they can get rid of the stock on. For the Japanese repros it is because they are imported from Japan. Limited quantities make their way to the US and only a few companies sell them. The jeans are not as expensive in Japan itself. You are paying for the middle men to import and sell them.

RRL was only in those stores because of the lawsuit from Levi's.

@ RRL CLOTHING

relax kiddo, obviously your nickname screams fanboyism, but try and not get so bent over mere issues of a clothing brand.. anyways LVC has nothing made in romania or poland, that's just some major hater BS.. and as far as Diesel, True Religion..etc those brands i consider horrible garbage, I could care less where it's made, but more importantly they are not even RRL's competition, you've lumped down the fashion industry as a whole, which really shows your ignorance of the topic at hand..

anyways my point was about heritage brands should use true artisanship and stay local, and most of them actually do, wether it's RedWing, Alden or Quoddy in the US, Mackintosh or Tricker's in England, Saint James in France or Buzz Rickson in Japan...etc etc they are high price, but they are high quality ( which i can all afford btw thank you ) however i am not really sure though that all these things really matter to the RRL customers, especially in these neck of the woods where they most likely learnt about the brand through the likes of jay-z...

The first jeans you linked are an older design I believe. The current back pocket design is different. It seems like RRL comes out with a washed blue jeans pretty often so don't worry on that. Not sure about the grey.

mistake, LVC has no official store in the US and not even a website.. most americans order LVC from europe where it is more readily available ( LVC headquarters are in Amsterdam ). you are probably right about the lawsuit effect though..

"Of course there is also a huge irony of comical magnitude for a USA heritage brand to produce in China.."

Who the fuck said that RRL is a Heritage Brand? Can you provide one shred from RLC that confirms this? It's an upper end clothing brand from the Ralph Lauren Corp. As a matter of fact all their brands are heritage brands and they have every right to produce merchandise where ever they please. It's not ironic or bad taste and certainly not PC or anything. They are a public company working for their shareholders and employees. They give back to society in so many, many ways!!!

What have you done to contribute lately?

pardon my supidity.
What is Lvc?

That's what I assumed.  Pissed I didn't get the greys.  Thanks.

 

Call the Malibu CA RRL store. They have a few pairs of those grey jeans. Probably run you a little over $ 100..

RRL
3835 Cross Creek Road
Malibu, CA 90265
310.317.9592

levi's vintage clothing. they make some great shirts

this store is great. they shipped me a pair a of boots a few months ago.

Well if you think that is the only way to look at the trade deficit then I suggest you read some Milton Friedman. He is American so it should be ok for you to read. Or if you want a "laymen terms" summary then maybe you could read wikipedia, which happens to originate in the US as well, so it should pass your quality standards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_trade Or in the words of Daniel Griswold at Cato: "Nations do not trade with each other; people do. America's trade deficit with the rest of the world is only the sum of the individual choices made by American citizens. Those choices, to buy an import or to sell an export, only take place if both parties to the transaction believe it will make them better off. In this way, the "balance of trade" is always positive."


Keep on believing your Keynesian economics and the all-knowing Keynesian multiplier. (In case you haven't noticed, Americans and multiple other sources have proved just how dumb this system is by economic terms).

As for Italian made goods, a significant percentage of them are shipping in from China and then tagged and minor details are added on to say it is "Made in Italy". But since you dismissed this as an over-blown issue and we should just forget the fact that this happens and accept your all knowing knowledge.

If you consider any of the "heritage" brands you mention as high priced (and your proud ability to afford them) then I think you are living in a dream world. They are all standard prices / cheap in some cases.

When you mentioned heritage brands, what about Allen Edmonds then? Along with Alden they are the only remaining "American" shoe company. And where are AEs made? A major part of some of the shoes is made in the Dominican Republic. Your narrow mindedness is kinda scary. Maybe you need to stay in France where you can believe crazy skewed facts and live off your welfare.
Edited by stevent - 8/18/11 at 4:04pm

RRL didn't just start making clothes in China, it's been made there for at least a 10-15 years, this is old news not even worth talking about anymore so try to keep up or go troll elsewhere. Don't like it go buy something else, nobody cares what you think about RRL.

 

a really crappy vintage line by Levis that nobody bought so they trashed it at flagship Levis stores. They still import it to specialty boutiques and it's still popular in Europe for some reason (usually sold alongside brands like Energie and G-star) where it's made in sweatshops in Romania and Poland. some of the ugly flannels/chambrics cost $200 and they're not even selvedge and usually are acid washed or some other hideous treatments. Some of the expensive stuff is made in Italy or rather a place called Prato where they run Chinese sweatshops, you know where garbage labels like Diesel are from.

 

 

Edited by RRL CLOTHING - 8/18/11 at 5:22pm

Most of the stuff we buy are mass produced, and mass produced has a lot less to do with artisan than manufacture process. Corneliani and Canali are both mid tier Italian suit, majority of the production is made by machine, and it's excellent quality. Also lots of manufacture even if they decide to do it by hand they will "specialize". For example if they decided button hole needs to be made by hand instead of machine made, then they will hire 100 people and train them just doing button hole for a year, instead of hiring artisan. Now you might ask, can you have decent quality coming out of it? The answer is again, up to the manufacture, remember these 100 people just need to know how to make button hole, and that's what they will do all day. After training, they will be put into production line, and say by the end of 2~3 year, they will have more experience in making button hole than any bespoke cutter/tailor ever did in their entire life.

Now that might or might not guarantee quality, as they could just be throwing out crap button hole everyday for 2 years, so again it's up to the manufacture, if they decide to hold everyone to X quality, then those guys can do a good job in button hole as well as any artisan can, and faster while at it.

If you're interested in the hand made vs. machine made suit debate, this is a blog. The guy have the rare experience to worked on both side (bespoke, and set up mass produce manufacture). Most of my words are just his, but I am too lazy to dig out his exact words in different posts/blogs
http://www.tuttofattoamano.blogspot.com/

I am not familiar with denim manufacture process, so I don't know how much can or can't be done by machine while still maintain some of the quality. Though for example I thought chain stitch was done because it was again a mass manufacture process back in its days.

Another example is Goodyear welt, it was introduced at end of 19th century so to be an easier, cheaper, and faster process than hand welt. Of course now we decided let's just glue everything, so Goodyear welt becomes the better method when hand welt was actually the truly superior method. There are Goodyear welt shoe made in China these days, I don't know how good the quality is, or how much training the employee have received, but there is no reason why China can not come out with AE/Alden quality shoe if someone actually do want it, and probably more consistent than Alden...

As to the economical debate, things are never that simple, I am happy to discuss via PM or in another forum but it's really about RRL here. All I can say trade balance itself does not tell you the story.

by the way I agree RRL is over priced at retail, but who buys at retail here?

mistake, the 3 americans left who still wear LVC buy it from Barneys. LVC overstock ends up at Barney's outlets clearance racks $29 for western shirts and $49 for jeans.

 

 

LOL

 

 

Edited by RRL CLOTHING - 8/18/11 at 5:14pm

@RRL

I know you're trying to be funny…but seriously you do realize LVC and RRL are extremely similar, actually Maurizio the current head of LVC was running RRL before changing ships.. 90% of LVC is produced in the US, the rest in Europe but certainly not romania or poland LOL. furthermore there is nothing gimmicky about LVC, they only focus on reproducing vintage clothing from the Levi's archives.. of course you're favorite rapper will probably not be featuring it in his latest video..

@ Stevent

i won't even respond to the first part as we obviously have different politico-econonomic views on the situation, concerning italy, well it's my neighboring country i spend a lot time there, i think i am probably better informed than you are on certain subject matters yes. concerning the heritage brands i mentioned, i meant they were high priced in comparison to similar brands that outsource everything, not saying that they were out of reach to anyone. as to your silly implication that i'm somehow bent on anything american, that is utterly ridiculous, i don't even live there as you've noticed lol… oh and the welfare cheap shot.. you really sound like an internet bully man, why get so personal? you ralph's wife or son or something? i mean i actually like RRL a lot more than other brands out there, it's just surely they could do better..

@ clee1982

finally someone with a brain on that raises interesting points that may lead to an actual clever conversation, fellow european too no surprise.. above primates take example