Quote:
I was mainly talking about items in the list. T-Shirts, Socks, etc. which I have concluded as commodities, generally equal with the exception of brand and price.
Convenience.
Barney's sells many of the same items as Macy's (suits as well as underwear), and the prices reflect the ranges of the respective labels available at each store. You shop at the store you can afford which offers all the items you need (from suits to boxers).
Does the label of your undershirt matter? Probably not. But, you're not going to find a $10 undershirt at Barney's because Barney's doesn't sell labels which make $10 undershirts.
Barney's can't afford to sell $10 undershirts. Macy's can't afford to sell $225 undershirts.
If you have enough disposable income to afford Barney's prices, you may not be inclined to drive to another district just to save money on underwear when you can buy it at Barney's. With that, it's not about the label on your underwear as much as it's about being able to buy underwear at the store you're shopping at. If you don't have a lot of money -or if you're a miser- these prices won't matter to you because you'll shop elsewhere - someplace that offers what's essentially the same items at prices you're willing to accept.
You're not going to find Tasso Elba at Barney's. You're not going to pay Macy's prices at Barney's. You're going to find Zegna at Barney's. You're going to find Tasso Elba at Macy's. You're going to pay Zegna prices at Barney's. You're going to pay Tasso Elba prices at Macy's.
Chances are good that if your underwear is Hanes and your suit is Attolini, you bought the latter (from EBAY) for the label and the former because you can afford it. Otherwise (if your suit came from the same store as your underwear), label likely doesn't matter to you at all, therefore you wouldn't care what's written on your clothes as long as you like the look/believe they are of reasonable quality based on either a friend's recommendation or what the salesperson told you to know about them.
EDIT: Moreover, the reason a Zegna undershirt is $200+ is due to the truth that Zegna makes $2000+ suits. Zegna could 'lose face' if it sold $5-$10 clothing items. Zegna offers undershirts because many of its customers wear undershirts, and Zegna customers can afford whatever they want. Zegna (I'm sure) sells more suits than plain, white T-shirts, so they can afford for those items not to sell - they exist as a convenience to the customer.
Edited by Pawz - 12/19/11 at 6:24am
