I've always wondered about the process of pricing clothes. I invited Sim Gulati from Barley & Britches
to tell us about some of the factors that going in to pricing a garment and how that makes Barley & Britches even that more special.
Why Does Premium Quality Come At A Premium Price?
-Sim Gulati
Did you know that, at $130, the average pair of premium Chinos are marked up by nearly 300% because each middleman nearly doubles the price from production to the rack?
Why are chinos so costly? It basically boils down to unnecessary middlemen that your favorite fashion brand add on to the price of what you're paying for.
Middlemen begin to pile up starting from the very top of the production chain, the manufacturers have their fixed sale price, followed by the agents (who connect manufacturers to wholesalers) and then the wholesalers. Followed by the retailers, who can even add an almost full $100 to the entire cost of the garment. So something that may have cost just a considerably less to create, ends up at your nearest mall at almost a fourfold increase in price. This is simply not right.
As a result, I have made it my mission to disrupt the traditional supply chain in the men's fashion industry by trimming the fat out of bloated prices and a padded manufacturing processes. How? I have simply figured out how to remove the unnecessary costs that arbitrarily inflate prices. I am able to do this because I founded an international manufacturing company, The Gulati Group, and have produced apparel for retailers and brands such as Macy's, Nautica and Under Armour.
By removing the wholesaler and unnecessary middlemen, my new company Barley & Britches can bring consumers premium clothing at its original manufacturing sale price, no additional markups. The Everyday Chino only costs $38 because it comes straight from the source. There are no middlemen, retailers or wholesalers along the way. This is really the way all fashion brands should function, because there's no excuse to get stuck paying so much more for just a simple, comfortable pair of high quality chinos.
So the next time you think about buying a pair of great pants, instead of turning to the heavily marked-up Chinos at the mall, try something new - go shopping at that mom and pop shop down the street, or peruse the internet for a local, small retailer. What's crucial is to make sure your retailer of choice avoids agents, wholesalers and the like.
This can mean the difference between paying $130 and $30.
