What do you consider “Designer”?

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.

So what is “designer” to you?

About the Author

Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver. I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year. Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about my story here, or visit my other blog: The Everyday Minimalist.