When I was 22 all I wanted was a Chanel 2.55 bag. My desire was spawned in part by the TV show The OC, where teenagers paraded the halls of their high school with quilted bags draped over their bony shoulders. The other influence was Vogue; women quizzed on their essentials often name-checked the clutch for its timeless elegance. Back then, the bag retailed for about €1,500 – already aspirational. Today, the same bag costs €11,000.
Why is the Chanel 2.55 so expensive? Is it because a) it takes time and skill to make? b) because it’s rare?, or c) because the materials are so costly? Each quilted bag uses several metres of premium leather. It takes 18 hours for a skilled artisan to produce. Although the direct cost of production (materials and labour) is not made public, luxury analysts estimate a gross margin of 80-85 per cent for luxury bags. This doesn’t include factory overheads, logistics, marketing and above all, the branding that makes the 2.55 not just a bag, but a cultural object.
Western culture places a hefty premium on authenticity, and consumers are willing to pay a lot for “the real thing”, especially when it’s exclusive. Not all cultures have the same baggage. In China, philosopher Byung-Chul Han argues, a good copy can rival – or even surpass – the original.
So why is this bag so expensive? I’d wager the answer is d): the Chanel 2.55 isn’t expensive because it’s valuable; it’s valuable because it’s so expensive. Luxury handbags such as the 2.55 and the Hermès Birkin are the ultimate Veblen goods: as prices rise, so does demand. Some fashion houses (ahem – Burberry) have been known to destroy their stock rather than sell at a discount.
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[ Jane Birkin’s original Hermès handbag sells for record €8.6m at Paris auctionOpens in new window ]
But maybe we’ve hit the limit of this fiscal mindmelt. About five years ago, I stopped wanting a Chanel 2.55. I still think the bag is beautiful. But everything it once represented for me – timeless, long-lasting artistry – began to feel like a pale imitation.
As Chanel bags have grown more expensive, craft hasn’t kept pace. While pre-2008 the bag had 24-karat gold-plated hardware, the newer models have brass finishings that tarnish. Vintage editions had sturdier handles, thicker lambskin and higher stitch counts. Around the time Chanel prices began to soar, production also went through the roof. The result is a more expensive and, to my mind, poorer product.
The fate of the Chanel 2.55 is emblematic of what has happened to the fashion industry in the past decade. If luxury once meant a quality, ethically produced object, today it may just mean stupidly expensive.
We’re all familiar by now with the evils of fast fashion – ecologically devastating practices, quick churn, poor quality and exploitative labour costs. But is high fashion really so much better?
A slew of recent news stories about alleged labour abuses by high-end Italian brands suggests not.
“People think ‘Made in Italy’ means you’re getting a long-lasting craft item,” says Caoimhe Grant, a Dublin-based designer and founder of the handbag line, August Night. “But real artisans can’t produce at the speed luxury brands demand. If it’s mass produced, how luxury is it?”
Last week the luxury cashmere brand Loro Piana (a subsidiary of the LVMH group) was placed under court administration in Italy. The company is accused of exploitative labour in its production line. In Loro Piana’s case, its main contractor outsourced to a Chinese subcontractor called Evergreen. A police search of the factory premises uncovered 10 Chinese migrant workers. These workers put in 90-hour weeks for €4 an hour, housed in illegal dorms on the premises. A Loro Piana wool coat can retail for €5,000. One factory owner claims the contractor was charged €118 per unit.
Loro Piana is the fifth luxury brand – and the second LVMH-owned one, after Dior – to be investigated for alleged violation of Italian labour laws.
How did this happen? In the past decade, Chinese workers emigrated en masse to Prato, a textile manufacturing hub in Tuscany. While most worked in fast fashion, some now work in the luxury manufacturing business. Chinese-owned workshops offered fast, flexible garment production that was still legally “Made in Italy”. Today the practice has spread to Milan and Lombardy, the heart of Italian luxury. Companies such as Evergreen are Chinese-owned and staffed by Chinese immigrants, a shadow supply chain the consumer doesn’t see.
The internet only accelerated this demand for speed. Luxury brands, once operating on two collections a year, now produce up to six. The churn of novelty, the pressure to deliver product faster and cheaper – all while maintaining the illusion of Italian craftsmanship – has hollowed out the old idea of luxury.
In 1955, a designer bag would have been a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, made to last a lifetime. Today, influencers say they’re “no longer reaching for” a bag bought last month. The recession trained customers to expect discounts; ecommerce platforms such as Net-a-Porter and Mytheresa squeezed brands with exclusives and RTS deals (where designers eat the loss when stock doesn’t sell).
[ Handbags at dawn: It was obvious I was not the typical Chanel customerOpens in new window ]
It’s not surprising then that many people are leaning towards circular fashion and resale. I’ve been devoted to eBay for 20 years. Some of my best buys: The Row trousers (€80) and a Margiela coat (€45). Others are leaning into luxury “dupes” – counterfeit goods produced in China for a fraction of the cost. While the factory still has to pay for materials and labour, they get the brand for free. In the new world of mass luxury, a good copy might be just as “good” – even better – than the cheaply made original. Reddit purse forums are hopping with details on where to find the best-made Chanel replicas. (187 Factory in Guangzhou is popular.)
Maybe this is our sign to reject the logo game altogether and look for real luxury elsewhere — small, local, upcycled or direct-to-consumer brands that aren’t caught in the hamster wheel of mass production. “It’s thoughtful, clever design, quality fabric, high-end, ethical production,” says Grant, who makes sculptural bags from fabrics such as silk, velvet and Irish linen. “You can see the ideas, the work, and the story behind it. That’s real luxury for me.”
