Most people think that designer items are of higher quality than non-designer items. Don’t be fooled by this perception, because some high-end brands use low-quality materials in their products and charge more for them. In some cases, you are only paying for the name.
If you have every shopped at department stores such as Macy’s or Nordstrom, you may have noticed that some of the products sold there are from brands not well known to consumers. These brands are typically owned by larger companies who specialize in marketing and distribution rather than manufacturing clothing. The clothing they sell is usually between premium and mid-tier in terms of price and quality. They also tend to offer less variety since they often carry only one or two lines rather than dozens of different styles. There are plenty of reasons why people buy expensive products. Sometimes it's because they want to impress others (the “I have money, so I must buy expensive things” argument). Other times, people just think that higher-priced items are better quality. But does this assumption hold true? Not necessarily.
The issue is that most people don’t have the knowledge or experience to know whether a product is worth its price tag—and even if they do, they may not be able to afford it. One way you can find out if an item is worth the money is by reading reviews thoroughly. While you can’t always trust review sites (since we don’t know if some reviews are fake), most offer honest feedback from real shoppers who have tried out their products. If you read a review with lots of complaints about durability issues after months or weeks, then it probably isn’t worth purchasing.
There are many factors that determine how much a garment costs and how much it’s worth. It can be difficult to separate the effect of all the factors that go into making good quality products, but I think you can make some generalizations. A lot of times, designer brands are more expensive because they are made by companies that have more resources and time to spend on research and development, and they hire people who have been trained for years for that particular task. Therefore, they charge a higher price to cover all the overhead expenses. These are the times it’s worth it to spend extra for a higher-priced item.
A study conducted by Good Housekeeping Research Institute and Procter & Gamble, found that “consumers believe that higher-priced brands are of greater quality than their less expensive counterparts. However, when asked which products they believed were highest quality, most consumers were wrong.” As a small business owner, I know first-hand that there are times two boutique owners that buy the exact same piece of clothing from a manufacturer, but charge very different price points. As a consumer, one might think the higher price point is better, especially if that brand is well-established. Unless they make everything in house by hand, they have to source it from somewhere. It just works in their favor to be a well-known name with an established customer base, to be able to charge whatever price they want, and the consumer will buy it.
I encourage you to shop around when looking for a certain item, so you don’t end up spending more for lesser quality products. If you ever feel the urge to buy that designer bag, or shoe you’ve been eyeing, there’s nothing wrong with going for it. I love designer and will always wear it. I just know when to mix it up with non-designer items and still make it look good. It’s a certain level of confidence one must have to be able to achieve looking good without feeling they need designer.