The mall, one of my favorite places, revolves around shopping and being around people. It is one of many hubs my friends and I have made one of our frequent get-together spots. After a day of window shopping, eating, and sometimes buying things, we always end our day by heading to Nieman Marcus and gawking at the shoe section because it is a collage of the worst shoe designs ever seen in many ways. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that money cannot buy taste, and these luxury fashion brands deliver that message. With exposes detailing the real process of making these high-end goods, I ask why everyone still strives for the look and feel of expensive.
What inspired this idea was news breaking out that the Italian police raided a bunch of make-ship factories full of illegal immigrant employees and other “off-the-books” workers for Christian Dior and Giorgio Armani. The prosecutor of Milan’s reason “accused the companies of hiring subcontractors that employ Chinese migrants and other foreign workers who are paid as little as between $2 and $3 an hour.” The court accused both of running sweatshops, reporting that “investigators found evidence that workers were sleeping in the facility so bags could be produced around the clock, … They also tracked electricity consumption data, which showed work was being carried out during nights and holidays.” The pure hypocrisy of luxury handbags being made in unkept facilities by workers barely paid to afford them to be alive, let alone a pricey purse.
Speaking on these purses, another piece of tea from this case revealed that “ Dior paid a supplier $57 to produce bags that retailed for about $2,780.” Armani was also in on this practice, only paying “$99 per bag for products that sold for more than $1,900 in stores.” So this is the luxury to strive for. Bags made in unkept conditions, by worker not paid or treated for their labor, and upcharge ridiculously just so the rich and those clawing to get into the club can say they are elite, exclusive, and separate from the regular class.
This example is nothing new across many types of goods. High-end makeup brands work in the same factories as the ones you can find in drugstores. But of course, people still invest in luxury goods and hold up for brownie points. From outside, I just laugh at the allegiance to the faux rich. Yet still, as my generation ages and starts to develop our wealth under a dreadful economy, we step back and analyze the status symbols and good we are taught to work for, and what is worth it to us.
