Why handbags are so expensive

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You are going to send email to. And it is not just anyone on the street. It is supposed to be the best talent, and their opportunity cost is enormous. Real genuine designer handbags are not products of sweatshop labor. Everyone who works on a piece is well rewarded and motivated.

The top designers and manufacturers understand that a tinge of lousy attitude by someone working on a product might show on the final product. And so they do anything necessary to motivate them, and that costs money. Also, the craftsmen train for years before they are allowed to touch a bag without the supervision of a more experienced person. And you train for almost two years before you are allowed to build a Birkin designer bag. Indeed the quality of labor used goes into making designer handbags worth the money you end up paying.

The rarest kinds of designer bags, which also happen to be the most expensive, are made by the top designer with little delegation of tasks to others in their teams.

Nothing can be risked when it comes to the quality of the raw material used to make a designer bag. It is supposed to be of the highest quality possible. That is because a considerable part of what makes designer handbags worth investment is the material used to make them.

Most designer brand workshops work only with suppliers who have proven themselves as offering the best quality. And increasingly designer bag manufacturers are taking control of the entire supply chain of their raw materials right from the point of origin. If it is leather, for example, the companies want to monitor how the animals are bred, how the hide is harvested, preserved and processed into fine leather. For example, between and , Louis Vuitton took control of three tanneries.

And Chanel took over Bodin Joyeux. Some of them have gone further than that. All these actions are considered important to the quality of the final product. Some of the raw materials that handbag designers use are hard to come by or the supply very much exceed demand in the market. An excellent example of a raw material that is high in demand, but deficient supply is the crocodile skin.

That means the price of the designer handbags end up being extremely high in part because there are not as many as the market demands. Hardware crowns a designer bag. So bag designers and their workshops take the hardware part very serious. The list of materials used for hardware includes precious metals like gold and silver as well as stones like emerald, ruby, diamond and Sapphire. If you asked yourself, why are designer bags so expensive?

Look at the quality of the hardware. There are two categories of permits a designer bag manufacturer can acquire. The first one is from the authorities, just like any business. This category applies almost the same to manufacturers of all types of bags.

The second category of license is the most expensive, and it is what by large differentiates a bag manufactured for the ordinary consumer and an exclusive designer one for those who have high disposable income. Licenses in this category are bought from holders of technology patents and design copyrights.

And the best technology licenses, as well as copyrighted designs out there, are costly. In the end, they pass that cost to the end consumer. A lot goes into making potential customers aware of the existence of a particular design bag.

The company spends money to convince buyers why it is the best bag they will ever get. The bag has to be well placed in the marketplace, and that takes the work of the best publicists who need to be paid well. The marketing costs include what is paid to have the brand on fashion shows, celebrities to give it endorsements and get it mentions in press and magazines.

The brand also has to pay photographers, models, and ad placement in all the right media. Once the Chanel 2. Photo: Chanel. Just what makes designer purses so expensive? The answer can be distilled to two words: Material and craftsmanship. Their stratospheric prices are attributed to the fact that each bag is made entirely by hand by a single craftsman who trains for almost two years before he or she is allowed to build a Birkin.

It takes 18 to 24 hours to produce one bag, which means a limited number can be made each year. Birkins are made variously with calf leathers, cowhide, and mountain goat skin, some of which are processed and pressed for durability.

Exceptional skins, such as those from almost white crocodiles, can take decades to reach maturity. To make an impressive purse, the skins must be unblemished and ethically sourced.

But crocodiles fight, which means they get injured and scarred in the scuffle, so finding a pristine skin is a challenge. Add to that the diamond studs and gold buckles that embellish the bags and the numbers really start to add up.

Traditionally made of the finest lambskin, the bags are also available in patent calfskin, python or alligator skin, and other materials such as jersey and tweed.