Our ideas of a fair price for clothes have been massively distorted by fast fashion. Clothes like that are cheap in our countries because life is cheap in the countries of origin. Bluntly, clothing supply chains are rife with modern slavery.
Apart from labour, the inputs include fabric, premises, logistics and branding. Fabric cost will also be affected by the amount of slavery in its production, and by how much you use per item (for example, you use more to match patterns such as plaid. Really cheap shit doesn’t match up lines in plaid to cut costs). The bigger the size and more relaxed the cut, the more fabric. You also have to work out what to do with the fabric offcuts.
Logistics and marketing have their own quirks, but basically it’s harder for smaller, boutique labels.
After that, you have to add the costs of excess stock, having designs ripped off, and being vulnerable to changes in fashion.
Almost all the businesses listed by
@Slideshow Bill are small, make niche products, can use non-standard fabrics such as organic cotton, recycled polyesters or treated fabric, carry a large range of sizes in relaxed cuts but don’t charge extra for the 4xl, and bang on about sustainability, ESG, paying above average wages, and philanthropy.
One even gives unlimited paid leave! Quite a few were founded by lesbians and pride themselves on giving back to the LGBT community. All that adds to the overheads. Inshallah, they will be affected by changes in fashion if teenage girls stop pooning out.
In short, they’re not clearly price gouging - they have entered a volatile market, and decided not to make their clothes in the cheapest way possible. Some have cut corners in subtle ways, such as eliminating box pleats and darts on shirts, but they’re selling these as features, not bugs. That’s refreshingly cynical, but not enough to blow away the cloud of smug that envelopes them.
In itself, by the way, these manufacturing practices are not a bad thing - buy fewer, buy better, and don’t support slavery. Unfortunately the buyers are not following these maxims. They’re buying to affirm their mental illness, the sellers think that’s great, and a lot of the clothes are ugly enough to do just that.