When you hear the term “designer brands,” you might automatically think of wealth, luxury and elegance. With fancy sounding names and $400 t-shirts with loud branding, these article pieces can’t be meant for anyone else but those who make top dollar, right?
Some consumers see these expensive designer pieces and think to themselves how unobtainable they are or how unreasonable of a purchase it would be. In reality, these products are marketed toward the average person.
It’s crazy to think about, considering the average college student or middle-class citizen more than likely isn’t wearing any Louis Vuitton or Balenciaga on a daily basis. A study in 2021 has shown that individuals that made less than $50,000 made up 39% of luxury goods consumers. This is a large chunk, considering this is the opposite demographic that the luxury industry wants to appeal to, but lower-to-middle-class individuals are actually the target audience for these brands.
Clever marketing and endorsement by extremely influential people and celebrities have created the idea that these goods are what defines success and that, in order to be successful, you need to show this through what brand of clothes you’re wearing.
This tactic tricks younger, lower-to-middle-class individuals into thinking that if they own these products they’ve achieved financial success. In most cases, people will typically feel a desire to show off this status symbol when they haven’t quite reached that point of financial success and come to the conclusion that as long as they can keep up the image, they might as well be the real deal.
Big luxury brands know that they have made their audience fully believe in the messages they’re sharing, equating their high-price products with success. This means they can now drive up prices while maintaining a consistent flow of loyal customers willing to pay those high prices.
Unfortunately, this cycle repeats itself when people put on this facade and have others believe their success, which further spreads the idea to more people.
It shouldn’t go without being said that not every single designer brand is going out of their way to do this to consumers, and the demographics mentioned are not the only demographics they’re trying to appeal to. This is simply a general issue that has been observed more often than not. Additionally, it’s important to note that the messages expressed by these brands are not the truth.
What brand you wear does not define your worth or who you are. Wear what and who you want to wear proudly, and love it for what it can express, not how much it costs.