When a designer charges a lot of money for a piece of clothing, it’s usually to account for expert craftsmanship, luxe materials, and incredible details like beading, embroidery or tailoring.
Usually.
Sometimes, though, there’s no obvious reason why a garment costs what it does beyond the flashy designer label, which no one even knows is there except for the wearer. Case in point: These ten plain white T-shirts that cost up to nearly $1,000.
Do these come in a three-pack? Designer brands are selling outrageously expensive white cotton T-shirts, like this $320 one from The Row
That’s for a life supply, right? This tee by the brand Joseph will set a buyer back $345
A famous designer overcharging for a simple white T-shirt isn’t an anomaly — it’s a trend.
Several big-name brands are doing so these days, slapping price tags on tees that one would expect to find a splurge-worthy dress or leather jacket.
And by the way they’re marketed, it’s hard to tell if these brands are trying to pull a fast one over on all of us — or if they really believe their own hype.
One of the least-expensive in the ‘overpriced white T-shirt category — with the lowest price on this list — is the $320 Wesler cotton-jersey T-shirt from Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s brand, The Row.
No one can see your label: Saint Laurent expects shoppers to drop $396 on this T-shirt
When you have more money than you know what to do with! An Andrea Bogosian tee is $462, while one by the brand Barrie costs $721
The tee has a totally traditional shape and is made of 100 per cent cotton. The only things that seems to be setting it a part from a $4 Hanes tee are the sticker shock and the cleaning instructions: They recommend hand-washing or dry-cleaning.
Joseph’s 100 per cent cotton boxy white tee is $345, Saint Laurent’s is $396, Andrea Bogosian’s (which is a viscose blend) is $462, and Barrie’s (which also calls for hand-washing) is $721.
Osklen’s oversized version with a pocket on the front costs $347. Moncler’s, which has a pocket on the front and a zipper on one shoulder, will set shoppers back $480.
Valentino has a white tee going for an eyebrow-raising $750 — but to be fair, that shirt has replaced half of the crew neck hem with a safety pin, which the designer seems to think justifies the price.
Certainly, the most outrageous plain white tees come from the more avant-garde designers, who — with what appears to be some odd ironing — set their shirts apart with fabric bunched in surprising places.
For real? The price tag on this oversized tee by Osklen is $347, but we bet no one would be able to tell the difference between this and an XL K-Mart version
But what if you won the lottery? Still no? To be fair, Valentino added a big safety pin on top of this otherwise unadorned tee before slapping on a $750 price tag
Well OK then… A $480 shirt by Moncler comes with a pocket and a layered hem
Comme Des Garçons has a $430 cotton T-shirt (hand-wash, of course) has strange flaps on the front.
Maison Margiela cotton sweater, meanwhile, is dry-clean only and costs $990 — like thanks to some more bunching on the front and back that looks as though the shirt was crumbled in a heap on a table before an iron was taken to it.
Of course, the real question these shirts bring to mind is: Who is buying these? Well, someone is.
Several of these shirts are nearly sold out (though it’s unclear if a large stock was carried in the first place), and it’s happened before. Four years ago, Kanye West collaborated with A.P.C. on a white T-shirt that he sold for $120 — and it sold out instantly.
According to a 2013 report by Business of Fashion, designers mark up their designs for several reasons. Sometimes, they are looking to attract a certain type of client. Other times, they are preparing for sales.
No, it’s not a factory error! Comme Des Garçons actually meant for this $430 shirt to have this odd bunched fabric
Interesting choice… Maison Margiela, too, added that random ruching on purpose
Holy cow! But for the privileged of wearing this shirt, one would have to shell out $990
‘Designer brands repeatedly going on sale may eventually be forced to artificially inflate prices to counter the margin pressure,’ explained Matthew Walker, a former president of The Row.
New York retail consultant Robert Burke noted: ‘A brand’s biggest fear is having to mark things down.’
Savvy shoppers know that three months from a first drop of new product, retailers will offer up to 70 per cent off, making purposefully exclusive and often inaccessible $1,400 stilettos much more ‘reasonable’ at $300.
‘People who are on the really cutting edge of fashion might buy pre-season [at full price] but many folks wait for the discounts,’ said journalist Ellen Ruppel Shell, author of Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture.