JL is a lux brand and, as such, exclusivity is a part of its sales strategy. Even the prices charged by Skoak was out of reach for many people. About 30 years ago Mecedes Benz came out with a lower-tier prced class of cars designed to lure young customers to the brand. The result was that it lost many of its high-end customers and it quickly abandoned the lower-tier class cars. Gucci did the. same thing in the 70's until it pulled back its licensing deals and began to sell its products exclusively in its own boutiques. This is called the "exclusivity factor" in economics and companies that subscribed to it aren't afraid to alienate consumers who aren't willing to pay exclusive prices. In fact, they count on losing those customers as they are not engaged in classic marketing or even premium brand pricing techniques, where the product is freely available to those willing to pay the price. The pricing of any product housed under a luxury brand has to reflect the brand's played to "value". My point is, if this is what's happening at Skoak, JL likely doesn't care about loosing customers in its Prestige line at lower prices.That's what I said. First, they make it impossible for their local stockists to sell their shoes when they are asking $2200 for a pair (I still cannot believe it) and then they think the problem is the customers who import them from overseas or the retailers who sell the shoes to them. And when we say we buy them from overseas at a lower price, it's not like we get them from free or anything. We still have to pay the ridiculous amounts of $1300-1400, even $1500. What a joke.
So yes, they think that because now I cannot get their shoes from Skoak for $1300 I will pay $2200. Go to **ll JL! That's my response to you.
BTW, the people who think $2200 is nothing and it's still ok to pay this much for a pair of shoes, these are precisely the people who did not import their shoes from the internets to begin with. These are precisely the people who would show up at the JL boutiques and buy the shoes on the spot, with or without JL telling retailers what to do and what not to do. These people do exist and they will continue to exist. So this will not have the effect they think it will. They are only pi**ng off people and alienating customers. And shame on Skoak for succumbing to this garbage. It's a 2-way relationship and you also get to say what you want and what you don't. Otherwise, they can take their precious shoes and shove them up their you know what.