Why £300 is the most tempting price tag of all
It’s a lot of money, but here’s why designers think you’re willing to spend it — and what it buys you
NOT too long ago, a £300 handbag or dress would have been considered the height of extravagance: designer items for the wealthy elite, and far beyond the reach of most ordinary women.
How is it, then, that £300 has become the so- called ‘sweet spot’ for brands, garnering the sort of sales figures that could never be achieved with peddling small quantities of ultra-luxurious items to the super-rich?
Well, it seems fashion has remembered the middle classes, because the ‘£300 Club’ is being touted by fashion insiders as the future for an industry that only a couple of years ago seemed intent on pushing its prices into the stratosphere.
And while few women would impulse-purchase items at this price — when the average monthly spend on clothing and footwear is less than £100 per household — there are enough takers to have hugely boosted the sales of companies such as Michael Kors and Tory Burch, which have enjoyed phenomenal growth in the past couple of years by tapping into this lower entry pricing zone.
Indeed, pop into an upmarket department store such as Selfridges, with its immense selection of designer handbags and clothes, and it is the Michael Kors department that buzzes with excited customers, cooing over designer label handbags that they have saved up to buy.
These are long-anticipated purchases that, at around the £300 mark, can be just about rationalised by the middle classes as investments or well-deserved treats — something that could never be said of, say, a £2,500 classic Chanel.
It’s no surprise, then, that a company such as Mulberry, which until last year had been relentlessly pushing up the entry-level prices of its goods to well over £1,000, has recently reintroduced little crossover bags that cost ‘just’ £350.
It’s not just handbags, either. Michael Kors extends his pricing policy into clothing too, with, for example, a jacket available for £300. Yet other items as simple as cardigans or a cotton skirt still cost thousands, and bags on his U.S. website reach nearly £14,000 — all of which helps those £300 items all the more desirable.
The question, though, is whether the £300 Club shops are offering a savvy alternative to overpriced designer fashion or a rip- off product aimed at aspirational shoppers with pretensions. And, as might be expected, the answer is a mix of both.
THere’S no doubt that the figure of £300 is partly a clever ploy to attract a certain type of customer, says Nivindya Sharma, fashion analyst at Verdict retail. ‘This magic price point is more to do with psychology than actual affordability,’ she says. ‘It works for professional women, who can justify that kind of spend reasonably frequently, but also for the traditional luxury shopper who wants top-up pieces for their wardrobe. It crosses that bridge.’
The ability of some brands to offer items at a lower price than usual can, of course, be explained by compromise — products made in low-wage economies, for example, rather than in europe or America. And while ‘made in China’ may not be a problem in terms of quality, it certainly raises questions about mark-up levels.
What you get for your money varies, too: for some brands, such as Stella McCartney or Miu Miu, accessories such as a scarf or a small clutch are a chance to enjoy just a hint of an exclusive, high-fashion brand
that is unapologetically aimed at the very rich. For others, like Hugo Boss, Tory Burch or the diffusion brand Red Valentino, as well as the more upmarket High Street brands like LK Bennett, Reiss or Hobbs, £300 is squarely in the middle, the ball-park figure that you might expect to spend on a premium dress or a silk or lace top.
Yet if a High Street brand such as Marks & Spencer can make clothes in Britain for less than £100, doesn’t £300 seem expensive for something made in South-East Asia?
While British businesses such as Mimi Berry and Ally Capellino are producing covetable handmade leather handbags in the UK for around £300, supporting our own economy and employing an artisan workforce, why do so many people still desire a mass-produced bag for the same price, just because it has a designer logo?
What these brands benefit from is the knowledge that when we are choosing those special, coveted items, function and logic don’t always come into it. The sensible-but-stylish Saffiano leather tote, endlessly copied at the budget end of the High Street, is one thing. An exquisitely pretty, hard- to-find silk organza Carven skirt or a delicate pink feather DKNY skirt from Harvey Nichols, is quite another. Pieces like this look like they cost every penny and more of their price tags, and you’re not likely to see them on your High Street — or at your nearest race day — any time soon.
Similarly, a stunning costume bracelet by a historic brand like Oscar de la Renta puts you in company with the great designer’s famous clients, from princesses to movie stars to our own Amal Clooney — without having to spend many thousands on a dress.
‘We are not programmed to make conscious decisions about prices in this designer and luxury sector, because it’s more about emotion than need,’ explains Dr Dimitrios Tsivrikos, lecturer in consumer psychology at London Metropolitan University.
The figure of £300 itself is no accident, he adds, explaining that while it is expensive it is not entirely out of reach for many people — shoppers at the entry-level of designer brands who believe that these buys can ‘differentiate them from those who shop on the High Street’.
Anything above £375, he says, is too close to £400, which is ‘an expensive, less accessible figure... more of a luxury.’
So, how to make that £300 item more an investment than an impetuous mistake? Know what you’re buying: where is it made, what is it made from and how many other millions of the same item have been sold.
But most importantly, be certain you love it. If your £300 handbag is going to simply sit, guilt-inducingly, in your wardrobe and never sees the light of day, you’d be better off spending your money in Zara.