Designer can be a very subjective word.
When I asked my friends, they told me that designer was a luxury name brand, like Louis Vuitton or Versace.
You know, the idea of thousands-of-dollars-for-just-a-shirt?
Just check out the Twitter conversation I had months ago with @sheisbliss, the blogger from Paranoid Asteroid where I had to clarify!
For me, anything with a recognizable logo is considered “designer” to me.
But maybe I’m alone in thinking this!
That includes Anthropologie of course, and for me, even independent designer names such as WendyB for jewelery, and Acme Made for bags.
Mia Scent Locket – $7500
I associated the word “designer” with the price…
I thought about it some more, and realized that what I considered designer was more related to the price tag of these items rather than an actual name.
And also if the items are sold as one-of-a-kind, or very small collections rather than being sold worldwide on every rack of every store in thousands of copies.
And I differentiated it by “high-end designer” and “designer”.
High-end, being Versace and Hermes for example.
If I can’t afford to buy it everyday….
I guess designer to me is also related to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to afford those items on a whim.
Basically, anything over Forever 21 or H&M prices. :\
(By they way, did you know that the H&M in NYC slashes their unsold clothing so that no one can wear them!? HARSH. Wal-Mart does it too. Read the entire article here.)
If I’d have to save up for them as they are over the threshold of what I could afford to spend on any given item.
They can charge $100 for a t-shirt, and $250 for a blouse, and $300 for a dress, which in some cases, I think are worth it.
And independent designers are expected to charge those prices as they are stuck in a small business conundrum of needing higher volume to be able to lower the costs of labour, but cannot sell in high volumes due to their higher prices & quality of work.
You should really read WendyB’s wonderful post on Learning about Manufacturing, to understand why she HAS to charge what she charges.
And others, like BF consider anything with a visible logo is “designer”, which is too vague for me 🙂
Perhaps I should start using “designer” and “retail” to differentiate between the two.
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If what I’m wearing makes me look like a star I would consider it a designer item 🙂 no matter the cost. Although I have a weakness for expensive items I also love shopping at f21, h&m etc.. I have champagne taste on a beer budget. LOL
I think designer is anything walking down a runway, or the name of the exact person who designed it is known, or a brand that they only sell on the top floor of a big mall, or a brand that they feel the need to tie the clothes to the floor. (I’ve seen this, once was in Lafayette in Paris buying a coat because it was much colder than anticipated, and saw a fur vest for 2000 Euro that was literally tied to the floor with steel cable.)
But if it’s something they sell in the mall in my hometown or just a piece from some regular store (despite however high the price is) then it’s not designer. Just sometimes overpriced.
I find anything to be designer if I can’t afford it everyday too. For example, Coach and Raybans are designer items. ALthough not as expensive like Versace, I can’t afford these items until their on sale and I have a saved up for a bit.
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I guess “designer” for me is paying a premium for a name brand. It can be a t-shirt from Abercrombie, or a clutch from LV. Both designer, just different parts of the spectrum.
But after taking a quick glance at the comments, maybe it’s just “name brand”…. and designer is more reserved for the super expensive stuff?
When I think of “Designer” I think of higher end items like Chanel, Coach, Loius Vuitton, etc… I don’t see H&M, Abercrombie, or anything like that really “Designer”, just name brand.
I would say designer is an expensive brand name. I would class something like Anthro as retail, not designer.
Designer for me is like you put it, things I can’t afford to buy on a daily basis. I stick to stores like H&M, Aeropostale, etc. In fact, I have given up on walking into stores that I know will have nothing that I can afford. One day, I may save up enough to buy a wallet or a purse from Coach. Because, unfortunately, their purses are really really nice, and “worth the money” – so my friends have said.
One day I walked into BCBGMAXAZARIA (or however you spell it – BCBG, for short) because I saw a sale rack with a sign that screamed “70% OFF ALL ITEMS” – well 70% is a lot. Yup, sure enough, cheapest thing on that rack was almost $300 and YES that was WITH the discount. And these items were nothing to shake a stick at. Just normal looking items to me.
I don’t understand some women who will only buy clothes from stores like these. But after working at H&M and barely having items rip or tear or have to be “damaged” and the prices are cheap, and the clothes are actually NICE, I will always shop there. Although after reading that article, that kind of broke my heart. I hope most H&M’s aren’t like that.
designer to me is all those crazy stores on Rodeo Drive where Pretty Women went shopping and got yelled at. I don’t go there even though I live in LA because of that movie, it scares me still.
got here by way of wellheeled, love your blog!
Designer to me is anything with a label. All clothes are basically the same to me. If you snip off all the labels and ask me to choose what I would like, I would probably pick the better quality ones and of course, be pricier…and probably from a “designer line”
I have been going to Banana Republic recently and to me that’s a designer store because who the heck can afford an $85 shirt on a daily basis or every month?
I realize that they have super great sale! I bought 2 100% silk tops for $30 and each retails at $95.00! I can buy 2 shirts that are cotton at Wal-Mart or Forever 21 for $30 easily, but will it be the same quality? Most likely not.
So… I don’t think there should be a “Strict rule”” to what is designer and what is not…as long as the quality is there… it really doesn’t matter what label it has on it!
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It sounds like what you really meant is “brand name” clothing, which can include higher end retail lines like Banana Republic, Anthropologie, and so on. “Designer” clothing is typically anything that is sold under the name of a specific individual – Kate Spade, Marc Jacobs, etc. And “discount” or “warehouse” clothing is everything else – lower end retail basically. At least this is how I think of it!
Interesting. Brand v. designer. Well, I baulk if my teen insists on a brand name, fortunately she hasn’t tried it with designer so far. No way. But cheaper stores often have their own brand names, too, without being hugely expensive… If my teen wants a brand name I will only pay what I consider a decent price and she has to pay the difference (this really works – I don’t think she’s managed it more than once!).
I just discovered Kate Spade – swoon – but would never pay that kind of price and don’t have access to anywhere I’d get the things cheaper so that will remain a dream for me!! Actually, they probably don’t do my size or something ;))
That’s terrible of H&M and Walmart to destroy perfectly usable products. They should just donate them to Kenya or something like that, jeez.
It’s so much easier being a guy, the only logo we care about are Nike and ??? That’s the only logo I have on today. heh heh..
Designer for me is the brand name. There are some not well known names that aren’t mass marketed, but I wouldn’t consider them designer. If you have something equivalent to the Louboutin Red Heel, whether its a polo player on a horse, a red flag (Tommy Hilfiger…cheap, but still brand name), or the interlocking Cs (Chanel), its designer. I know some articles of clothing from Charlotte Russe that costs more than Tommy but I wouldn’t consider it designer since it doesn’t have the branding.
I’m glad you found my manufacturing post helpful. Designer to me is luxury materials, special craftsmanship and price. But price means an objectively high price, not just something that a particular individual can’t afford. Anthropologie is just a recognized brand. When I first started working, Ann Taylor suits were aspirational for me — I had to buy them on sale — but that didn’t mean they were “designer.” Mia describes the various levels well.
In retail, there’s all kinds of descriptions for the stuff in between true “designer” (Gucci, Balenciaga, etc.) and say, Old Navy. There’s “contemporary” stuff which is like what you see on ShopBop, geared toward younger markets, but still recognizable brands (Juicy Couture, BCBG, etc.). Then there’s “bridge” lines which are sometimes cheaper lines made by designers (Moschino Cheap and Chic, for example) or stuff that isn’t true “designer” but has brand recognition and is sold in better department stores (think Kate Spade, Milly, etc.). There’s also a bunch of other stuff in there, but these are just two examples.
i definitely would NOT consider anthro designer. Just brand name and also, expensive. designer are like… people who have fashion shows and really really expensive clothes! I am not sure the definition, but I know it when i see it.
Regarding the issue of stores destroying merchandise, I wouldn’t be so quick to blame the stores. In a lot of cases, there is a tremendous amount of red tape and fear of litigation that prevents stores from giving away unsold merchandise and excess. For large publicly-traded businesses like H and M, there’s a ton of paperwork, regulation/laws, and other red tape you have to get through to make a “charitable donation.” You can’t just give away merchandise without tons of paperwork if you’re a big company, you can get in serious trouble for fraud, tax issues, etc. Also, multiply the headaches by the fact H and M has stores in multiple states and countries, each of which has it’s own set of regulations. And forget just putting the unsold merchandise out for dumpster divers or scavengers. The way things work with litigation is that if someone climbs into an unlocked H and M dumpster to grab some nice new merchandise and gets injured or falls, they can sue H and M.
And with stuff that’s already at a discount price point like H and M and Walmart, there isn’t much demand for their products from discount chains. Stores like Bloomingdales can sell unsold merchandise to “discount designer” places like Loehmann’s or Filene’s Basement, but generally there isn’t much demand for H and M stuff among shoppers at those places.
I associate Designer with the big names I’d never spend money on. Pretty much the brand names mentioned in Sex and the City. And usually these names are actual designer’s names.
A lot of people buy Designer (or knockoffs) because they’re a status symbol. But I’d buy designer if I actually liked the design and it was in my price range.
I wouldn’t know what is “designer” and what isn’t… unless I saw ridiculously high prices, like 10 times what I’d normally pay.
I scoff at people who buy designer or even just brand name clothes that are more exmensive because of their name. But I’m considering getting a pair of pants from lululemon so I’m guilty of it too.
Walmart slashes their unsold clothing? Of course it’s wasteful for anybody to do that, but I can’t see a reason for walmart to do it. I imagine some places do it so customers feel like they’re part of an elite group that can afford to buy expensive clothes…
Designer – high-end, above $750 per item.
Brand – recognisable label of decent workmanship, costing approximately $70 – $100 for a dress.
Affordable without longevity – Target, etc.
I shop primarily for recognisable brands on sale at affordable prices. 😛
Your #s are the same as mine.
I don’t believe I own anything designer, but I do like independent designer’s work.
That said, I’m starting to really like Kate Spade’s dresses, but their price tags are making me have a heart attack