Middle ground between Yohji, Issey, kapital, etc. and Aliexpress
Why does aliexpress have uber cheap alternatives to high fashion iconic brands (yohji, issey, kapital, etc.) and there arent brands that can pull off similar aesthetics with half decent labor practices for a somewhat modest amount of money?
6 Replies
honestly avantgarde just has jacked prices
i'm not joking when i say it completely morphs your understanding of what's reasonable for a single shirt
I guess my question is just…why
Why has no one tried to lower that price bar
Because it seems pretty doable
I don’t want to have to pay $300+ every time I want a new shirt
there are more accessible diffusion labels within the brands. so for example, yohji yamamoto has s'yte which is online only and has a more accessible price point.
but that's comparative to yohji yamamoto as a whole rather than objective reality
there are also smaller japanese brands trying to do something interesting as well
usually they end up being ex-yohji pattern makers like sillage
agreed with Bill, second hand and diffusion lines are probably the way to go
i only really allow myself to buy like 1 retail piece a year lol otherwise you'd be getting rinsed out
At a guess, most midrange brands working with good factories are riding a pretty fine line in terms of profit, and producing copies of avant garde stuff isn't worth the risk, let alone striking out on their own designs.
(I don't think Kapitals pricing at Japanese retail is tooooo bad for most things. Thank you weak yen )