Does luxury necessarily mean quality?

A few weeks ago some friends and I were walking around Princes Street window shopping. We pass by Anthropologie, see a 70% sale and, of course, go in. Whilst looking around I noticed the prices of some of the non-sale items as being £60, £85, £125, not to mention a coat priced at £175. I had never been to Anthropolgie and got the impression it must be a bougie brand. The decor was modern and aesthetic, the prices extortionate. And yet when I look at the materials on the clothes they or most of them were 100% polyester. I was very shocked. These fashion enterprises, through this, are telling consumers that all you are worth is 100% polyester and cheap materials. When in the past this was not the case. People of any social class were able to find good quality clothing. Yet in today's fashion climate even luxury brands are using polyester and selling their pieces for thousands of pounds. Why this is happening is quite confusing and has multiple factors that I will try and unpack. 

It seems like everyday the prices of clothes are rising. It can feel that a shirt that would have been £10 five years ago would now cost £25. Brands like Zara, H&M, Bershka, all fast fashion brands meant for the masses, have prices that make us double take. A Zara skirt can retail from £30 to £80. Yet even with these rise in prices the quality remains the same in these fast fashion brands. Zara can make their stores and website feel more sophisticated by having a muted colour palette and little table showing off accessories but it does not change the fact their quality of clothes is terrible. If you are not willing to dish out thousands of pounds to get a clothing item made of natural materials, all you have left is decently expensive plastic. But historically, and as recently as 30 years ago, working and middle class people could get high quality materials. It was the dyes and styles that divided the upper class to the lower. A good quality Aran knit jumper that would have cost £15 in the past now would go for £300. Although inflation plays a part in this, the reason for this increase lies in its associations with luxury. A higher price means it is exclusive to the wealthy even if the labour and materials aren’t expensive, and thus unaffordable to the ‘poor’. It also was cheaper in the past because more people could sew and knit for themselves. Women in the past could buy the patterns and copy the designs from dressmakers and make it themselves for cheaper and with good quality materials. Why would someone buy a dress they could just make themselves and for cheaper. Now these skills are much less common and consumers rely on pre-made items. And because of this brands can hike up their prices, whilst maintaining using low quality materials and exploitative labour. 

The use of polyester and cheap materials in clothes is extremely prevalent. Even luxury brands use polyester. Phoebe Philo is currently selling a polyester trench coat for £2900. In comparison Burberry’s iconic trench coat, which is 100% cotton, is £1500-£2500. Brands will sneak polyester into their clothes by making the lining or other parts of the piece out of the material. So even when consumers think they are helping the environment by buying a more expensive article of clothing assuming that it is good quality, it may still be made out of a material like polyester, viscose, or satin. Luxury brands can not be put above fast fashion when they are using the same materials. Not to mention also using exploitative practices. Usually we hear about SHEIN and Temu as being terrible to their workers but in fact luxury brands are also getting caught off these things. Earlier this year Dior got caught for having unsafe working conditions and using underpaid Chinese immigrant workers in Italy to make their products that are hundreds to thousands of pounds. It seems barely anyone has talked about this. Consumers call attention to SHEIN yet somehow let these luxury brands get away with it. Loro Piana’s $9000USD cashmere sweaters were made from the wool of an indigenous community in Peru getting severely underpaid. These large luxury brands consistently take advantage of small, vulnerable communities and are able to make excuses and let it fade from the public's mind. This is because consumers expect this out of a company like SHEIN but the idea of Dior, Chanel, Hermes is that they must be high quality, and pay their workers a liveable wage because they are associated with luxury. Luxury brands hide behind their name, and their connections to celebrities and TV shows (Gossip Girl, Sex & the City etc) to give the facade that they are exclusive and are not using the same practices as fast fashion brands. 

Although it may seem that all hope is lost if both fast fashion and luxury fashion are using materials bad for the environment and exploiting workers, there are ways to combat this. Before buying clothes check the materials to see what is made out of. Most consumers just do not realise what their clothes are actually made of. Search up a brand on the app “Good On You” to see if it is sustainable and non-exploitative. This difficulty is not a sign to go crazy on depop or at charity shops as over consumption is a whole different issue, but it should be used as a sign to be more conscious when you are buying clothes. Just because the website or the store or the fact its ‘luxury’ does not mean it is going to be good quality. It is important for us to remember that when buying clothes and enjoying fashion we hold brands accountable and uplift those using good business practices.