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A comment on The unusual economics of the Birkin handbag. Parent comment

Re:The unusual economics of the Birkin handbag by ceejayoz on Monday June 24, 2024 @01:28PM (#40778646)
> What I dont get is what stops Chinese manufacturers from recruiting equally skilled local artisans in Asia to create their own luxury brands, and what stops Hermès from outsourcing their own bag manufacturing to those artisans in China instead or France or Italy.

A bag of this sort gets dramatically less valuable to the clientele if you cut the price by half. They don't want a cheaper version. If anything, they want it more expensive.

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Re:The unusual economics of the Birkin handbag by jotux on Monday June 24, 2024 @03:28PM (#40779717)
>A bag of this sort gets dramatically less valuable to the clientele if you cut the price by half. They don't want a cheaper version. If anything, they want it more expensive.

There's a name for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good

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Re:The unusual economics of the Birkin handbag by caycep on Monday June 24, 2024 @01:36PM (#40778719)
the French are good at finding answers to these questions, often to the benefit of themselves...see https://atelierwen.com
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Re:The unusual economics of the Birkin handbag by newsclues on Monday June 24, 2024 @02:41PM (#40779330)
Yeah, luxury bags aren’t about buying a bag but owning an object that signals status.

Making it cheaper or local or available to more people is not the goal.

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Re:The unusual economics of the Birkin handbag by roncesvalles on Monday June 24, 2024 @03:26PM (#40779707)
Beyond a certain price, all goods become jewelry.
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