Why 10 Luxury Clothes and Accessories Are So Expensive | So Expensive | Insider Business

from Iconic cowboy hats and made to measure shoes to streetwear Staples like Supreme and Air Jordan we traveled the world to discover the stories behind the most expensive luxury clothing and accessories is the secrets Behind These price tags just brand hope or is it the craftsmanship that makes them so expensive we begin in Kojima Japan where a pair of hand-dyed denim pants can cost over two

thousand dollars it takes between one to two months for hiso manabe to dye these threads a deep indigo blue denim made from these threads will maintain this Rich color and Sobo manabe's nails for three weeks that's because manabe uses real Indigo instead of the synthetic dyes most jeans are made with today a pair of momotaro jeans dyed with natural Indigo can cost over two thousand dollars

but using real indigo is just one element that can raise the price of Japanese denim each stage of production requires meticulous attention so what exactly makes Japanese denim different and is that enough to make it so expensive in basic terms Japanese denim refers to denim made in Japan but today it often implies Selvage denim the name comes from the way fabric is woven on these old

shuttle Looms they weave fabric with a sealed or self-finished Edge hence the name self Edge it means the end of the fabric won't Fray or Unravel you'll notice a pair of salvaged Jeans by the cuff there's typically a colored line along the out seam [Music] s this type of denim is made here in Kojima Japan foreign [Music] is one of kojima's most well-known denim brands but

before momotaro makes denim it must first dye the threads the company's most expensive jeans are hand-dyed with natural indigo natural Indigo comes from the leaves of the indigo fera plant dyeing fabric with natural Indigo has been a valued art form in Japan for centuries [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] over several days he Rings each roll out and hangs it up to dry before dying another [Music] must

die each roll a total of about 30 times otherwise the color won't be a dark enough blue [Music] dyeing jeans This Way doesn't only take longer it also costs more a kilogram of some synthetic Indigo can cost between four and five dollars depending on the quality natural Indigo might cost 10 times that [Music] um that one bail is only enough to die about 15 pairs of

jeans although using natural dye raises the cost of production it has unique effects on genes that can't be produced by synthetic dyes foreign [Music] s have mostly replaced natural ones so jeans still made with natural dyes are often considered a premium product which is partly why mamotaro's Kinton or gold labeled genes are worth over two thousand dollars The increased price of this pair is a nod

to the extra effort skill and money needed to dye the threads by hand and get the color just right foreign not all Japanese denim or momotaro jeans are made with natural indigo but even so the price remains high around 200 to 300 dollars for a pair like this and that goes back to the way Japanese denim is woven [Music] before Toyota made cars it made looms

like this originally introduced in the 1920s these Toyota looms are no longer made today and although they look and sound like they're working fast weaving fabric this way takes five times longer than weaving on Modern projectile Looms um [Music] despite the Looms being automated an experienced mamotaro technician has to keep a close eye on them as they run he checks to see each Loom is working

smoothly and that all the threads are aligned correctly even so it's possible something will go wrong um on top of weaving slowly the Looms produce fabric less than a yard wide that's about half the width of non-selvedge denim so producers need more fabric to make a pair of selvedge jeans this is yet another factor that increases the cost of production and ultimately the final price of

the jeans shuttle looms are also less precise than projectile looms but variations in the fabric make each yard unique and ironically that's what gives these jeans one of their biggest Appeals While most other genes have a smooth surface Japanese denim is a little bit rougher foreign genes are made on the automated looms the most expensive Gold Label genes are produced with an even slower more traditional

method by hand with an antique Loom it takes one hour for Kazuki Akita to weave just 10 centimeters of fabric while this process raises the price the extra effort gives the genes a distinctly different feel ings is and for denim enthusiasts traveling from Thailand to Tokyo is worth the trip to buy momotaro's most expensive pair usually when you brought a new pair of jeans you feel

it's a little bit hard and just you feel like a little bit it's a little bit hard to move at first right but this one even from the start yeah it's feels so comfortable like you have worn for sometimes after the fabric is woven by hand or Shuttle Loom it heads to the sewing room [Music] according to heddles on average most other types of denim weigh

between 11 and 14 ounces While most denim from Japan weighs 20 ounces a heavier fabric makes Naomi take bayashi's job more challenging is [Music] another Cornerstone of Japanese denim is the artisanal nature of the way the jeans are finally formed at mamotaro all the stitching is done by hand [Music] the same goes for adding each copper rivet [Music] the final look and feel of a finished

pair largely depend on take bayashi's dedication to detail foreign because shuttle looms are less precise the fabric will naturally have several imperfections but if momotaro's retail stores find anything wrong with a pair of jeans they mark it with a small sticker and send it here to the quality control room takibayashi sifts through the flag jeans using a tweezer to repair each marked spot is one of

around 40 denim makers in Kojima considered the birthplace of denim in Japan while Japanese denim from this city has found a luxury category to call its own the denim industry hasn't been prominent in Kojima for very long um [Music] in the decades since Japanese denim has reached far outside Japan today it's considered one of the finest types of denim in the world a Stetson cowboy hat

is stretched shrunk and submerged in water before it fully takes form those are only a few stages in the two-day process that can make these hats so costly you won't find the popular Skyline style for less than 245 dollars on stetson's website little compared to this one which will set you back five thousand dollars but it's not just how these hats are made Stetson is one

of the few hat brands that have reached icon status so what made Stetson so iconic and is that why these hats are so expensive producing a Stetson cowboy hat is a complicated and costly process the production begins here in Garland Texas where workers turn fur into felt Stetson says it's one of the few cowboy hat makers in the U.S that makes hat bodies from scratch this

means it buys its own raw fur pelts and processes them into felt compared to some other companies that buy pre-made hat bodies with the fur already Blended fur is the biggest indicator of quality and therefore has the biggest impact on price in the fur room Stetson stores fur from Portugal New Jersey Belgium and Ukraine okay this is some of our natural beaver of course this is

the finer the finer Beaver Hatcher made out of natural beaver very tight fur very durable fur good for all the weather rain nice feel this kind of fur isn't cheap just one pound of beaver fur can cost 125 dollars a chinchilla fur can cost four times the price now consider that Stetson only produces about two hats per pound of fur after the different furs are mixed

together the blend goes through a blower which separates long hair from down Stetson uses down fur because it produces a stronger felt the machines in the factory are crucial but the job couldn't be done without trained workers the company employs more than 200 workers at two factories to guide the hats through each stage another element that ultimately impacts the price about 100 sets of hands touch

every single one of our hats as of right now workers passed the felt through several stages of shrinking until the proper hat size is reached later during the Tipping stage a worker helps create the crown by stretching and pulling the Hat then as an employee turns the felt brass fingers of another machine push the bottom out to form the brim one of the last stages of

producing the Hat body happens here at the forming machine where the hat is submerged in hot water an employee pushes down the former and out comes the final half body at the finishing Factory machines taper and shape the crown of the hat but the next few stages require special attention even as a machine Sands the Hat an employee again must be there to guide and feel

it the worker will decide when it has reached the proper thickness at other stations craftspeople use scissors and pliers to secure the Buckle accent others cut and sew on the leather strap by hand then the inner satin lining no hat makes it out of the factory without a final Quality Inspection all hats go through roughly the same process but premium ones have a few more features

that impact the final cost at five thousand five dollars the Diamante Premiere hat is one of the most expensive cowboy hats you can buy it's made with two high quality Furs chinchilla and beaver there's also the addition of the 14 karat gold buckle set which can add one thousand dollars to the cost of a hat quality is only one reason Stetson has the confidence to make

a hat like this and be sure customers will buy it to understand the other piece of the puzzle you have to go back to stetson's beginning more than 150 years ago the founder John Batterson Stetson is often credited with inventing the modern day cowboy hat and setting the precedent for what the style should be there are many replicas of the Burberry trench coat but they were

the original and they sort of set the industry standard for that specific product and I think Stetson has also done these very similar thing where they have set a precedent with uh you know the celebrities the politicians uh wearing the hat and giving it that added value of yes this is a luxury piece in the late 1800s Sharpshooter Annie Oakley became one of the first famous

figures to Don the Hat in fact in 2012 a Stetson hat worn by Oakley sold at auction for just over seventeen thousand dollars while Stetson saw a dip in popularity in the 60s demand picked back up in the early 80s reignited by the release of the Indiana Jones movies the Hat reached the heads of other famous figures like President Ronald Reagan around this time too but

by the 21st century the kind of famous face wearing a Stetson had changed [Music] Dua lipa's 2021 video for love again opens on a shot of a floating Stetson then a shot of the singer looking stylish and seductive while wearing the hat and here are two more notable examples that show how Stetson has linked itself with high status there's Gigi Hadid holding a Stetson hat in

this Vogue shoe in 2018 and three years later Beyonce wearing Stetson on the cover of Harper's Bazaar in September 2021 both prove again how the brand has evolved to something worthy of being worn by the world's biggest names if you idolize where are the brands that they wear this is the most important moment in the process of creating a south sea pole the moment when Harry

inserts the nucleus into an oyster around which a power will form and if he's imprecise the resulting power may come out misshapen the goal is this a near perfect round pole with a large 20 millimeter diameter that's more than twice the size of the more common okoya Pearl and this single Pearl can sell for fifteen hundred dollars compared to 75 dollars for a high grade acquire

Pole a necklace of near perfect South Sea pearls can cost over two hundred thousand dollars so why is making these pearls so much more difficult and what makes them so expensive South Sea refers to the southern portion of the Pacific Ocean in these Waters just off the coast of lombok Indonesia Pearl Farms like aftol Pearl a growing cultured pearls these are pearls that require a human

to put something inside an oyster instead of harvesting naturally occurring piles and South Sea pearls are the most expensive variety of cultured pearls that's in part because of how long it takes to make a south sea Pearl while some fresh water oysters can churn out dozens of smaller pearls within three months it takes about five years to cultivate a single South Sea Pearl the oyster it

comes from the pink powder Maxima can only make one at a time and only a fourth of these oysters survive cultivation that's why the Pearl Farmers have to go to Great Lengths to keep the oysters alive it starts in this highly controlled laboratory where lab technicians must create the perfect conditions for oyster larvae to grow into healthy Pearl producing adults they have to maintain a room

temperature of exactly 20 degrees Celsius and feeds the larvae the phytoplankton they need to grow to do this they combine salt water from the south sea and sodium hydroxide and store it for five days until there's enough plankton lab techs feed the Plankton to Nets of baby oysters and monitor their growth for about 45 days that's around the time they reach at least one millimeter in

diameter and are old enough to be transferred to Sea the oysters are transferred to save on the costs of rearing figure oysters which can get expensive [Music] in the south sea the oysters get the warm Waters and food they need to mature this is also where most of them will die without producing a single Pearl again [Music] that's why Pearl Farmers have to check on the

oysters monthly to ensure they're still growing eating and healthy they pull the Nets of oysters up from the sea and clean the shells this helps prevent Predators from feeding off the oysters and eventually killing them [Music] foreign after up to two years of nursing when the oysters are large enough implantation can begin for cultured pearls implantation is the most important step when a nucleus is implanted

the oyster sees it as an irritant and reacts by building protective layers of nature around it this becomes the pow [Music] Harry is demonstrating where the nucleus is implanted on an opened oyster foreign [Music] and injects the nucleus in the middle he then adds sipo under the nucleus saipo is a mantle tissue cut from another oyster that surrounds the implanted nucleus it's essential to the Pearl

quality and without it the oyster won't produce any Pearls at all Harry is the only person after all trusts with this step that's because the nuclei don't come cheap Mahmoud buys the nuclei from Japan and their cost in addition to import taxes takes 20 percent of his profits and he says getting import permits for these nucleons difficult preventing him from buying enough to expand his business

after the nucleus is implanted special attention is paid to how the naked grows around it to avoid a misshapen Pearl they're working towards a large almost perfectly round Pearl workers invert the oysters and put them in their protective Nets to bring back to Sea the south sea piles unique soft satiny luster and thick maker are a result of the warm Waters it grows in and a

thick maker means a large Pearl Harry says they must flip them regularly so the naked grows evenly foreign workers remove the oysters from the sea and Annie clay Harry checks the implanted oysters monthly to see how the Pearl is developing this is done for up to two years before the first pile can be harvested [Music] that is hairy implants the same oyster two more times each

time the Pearl after harvest is bigger by the third harvest the Pearl can reach over 20 millimeters in diameter and over 8 grams in weight but as much as Pearl Farmers like Mahmoud invest in the intense care needed to raise the oysters the outcome is never guaranteed Mahmoud says only 20 percent of the oysters that survive make the most valuable kind of pearl almost perfectly round

lustrous and large Mahmoud grades the poles based on size luster shape and color the larger rounder shinier minimally blemished pearls get the highest grade that can be Triple A or quadruple a depending on the producer Mahmoud then sells them to Jewelers like Rihanna Melia who Fashions the pearls into necklaces earrings and rings Rihanna seeks out the highest grade she can find but it isn't easy material

lower grades are more available but they're rougher asymmetrical and lack shine and in the jewelry World those are the least desirable but even the highest grade pearls are not perfectly round that's because even though they're farmed they're still natural pearls so finding a near perfect pole let alone enough to make a string necklace is extremely rare it took nine years for Rihanna to find enough AAA

grade pearls to make this necklace she is finally able to sell it this year for thirty six thousand dollars to a local buyer that makes sourcing these expensive pearls worth it for Rihanna who relies on Farmers to continue to produce high quality pearls but Mahmoud says Pearl Farmers need more support from the government specifically around making nuclei readily available foreign even in the high-end world of

jewelry Cuban link chains are a symbol of luxury this 18 karat gold chain is worth twenty seven thousand dollars and some of the most valuable chains will cost 10 times that making a single chain requires the skill of more than five experienced Jewelers and can take over 12 hours so how exactly are Cuban link chains made and is that what makes them so expensive somebody had

to literally take 14 hours of their day running hot Steel through Machinery to then turn it by hand to then file it by hand so then polish it by hand you're not just wearing a chain you're wearing somebody's Blood Sweat and Tears and passion around your neck the origin of the Cuban link chain is tough to pinpoint but it likely didn't start in Cuba it was

a quintessential part of hip-hop style in the 70s and 80s and grew in popularity as hip-hop became more mainstream in the US but not all Cuban link chains are created equal many Cuban link chains are made by machines in countries like the US Italy and China but the authentic and most expensive ones are made by hand at just a few shops in Miami when you move

into the higher end of Cuban link chains which you get into the fifty thousand eighty thousand hundred thousand dollar chains those have to be handmade one because of the attention to detail the file the tight links it's like going to a Ferrari dealer you could buy a Ferrari off the lot or you can have it major how you want this is a custom build a chain

like this goes through 30 manual and time-consuming stages the skills come from your ability and practice and knowledge worldwide I can't tell you an exact number within South Florida there's a handful of people literally a handful of people that could do this not only is this process incredibly labor intensive it's also dangerous Tino and his crew work with 1 000 degree Flames to melt down the

gold and form it into a bar you definitely got to be paying attention to what you're doing in this job one mess up you're gonna hurt yourself there has been people that have lost fingers in this in this business that bar passes through a rolling machine as many as 12 times just to make it thinner each of the nine Jewelers at Gold Fever Miami has a

specific job at the stretch bench one Jeweler can spend over an hour just stretching the wire to length this isn't dirt it's actual gold if you look at my ads you'll see the place of gold on them this wire then gets curled around a copper Rod to form the shape for the links for smaller chains a drill gets the job done but thicker ones need the

strength of two Jewelers the most crucial stage of the process comes next it also requires the most skill the soldering is the most intricate part of what you're doing essentially what you're doing is you're heating up gold and right before it begins to break down and melt you're introducing solder solder is another type of metal that's used to permanently close each link so it's the balance

of applying the right amount of flame with the right amount of technique to when those two metals meet that solder melts and fuses into the gold so if you left too long the whole thing is just Liquid Gold if done way too early the solder won't melt properly and you won't get that Fusion between the legs you can't mess that up or you're going to create

gaps in the chain and you can't be scared to stop and just do it all over again it's no secret the price of gold plays a part in determining the cost of these chains an ounce of gold costs Seventeen hundred dollars today but even the most high-end Cuban links are mixed with something else gold itself is a very soft material typically too soft to be made

into jewelry on its own it has to be alloyed with other metals white gold for example is an alloy of gold made of white metals like silver zinc and nickel those Metals make the gold more pliable allowing it to be stretched and twisted during the jewelry making process but they can be especially difficult to work with one small movement can make all the difference in rare

cases with white gold this can happen this is the reason why it costs so much if any one of these links break you then have to take it back to the soldering table re-solder it and bring it back here and turn it again once the links are properly turned and tightened the chain will lie flat a jeweler must then file down the chain so that each

side is level and looks exactly the same and here is where the passion of the Jeweler comes into hand to how beautiful he can make that shape [Music] but these Cuban links in particular didn't become so sought after or so valuable until recently Google Trends shows that searches for Cuban link chains began taking off in 2012 and in the last two years Gold Fever Miami sales

have grown 100 times over the shop used to sell two thousand dollars worth of Cuban links a month that number is now over two hundred thousand dollars whether you're the most famous or you're just starting off to legitimize yourself as a rapper you have to have jewelry and if you have jewelry you have a Miami Cuban link chain in 2012 Jay-Z wore one of the priciest

Cuban links made at the time worth two hundred thousand dollars a year later Daddy Yankee debuted his 10 kilo Cuban link chain in a music video and there's even more traction in the music industry now they're so intertwined with pop culture more specifically hip-hop and reggaeton just about every song that has a music video will have a rapper with a Miami Cuban link chain it's become

in a way like a status symbol we have customers that want to match their Rolexes to their chains these versions are often decked out with diamonds which naturally makes them pricier but Gus doesn't see demand slowing for chains like this or the more modest ones right now as of March of 2021 we are pumping anywhere from 10 to 15 kilos in five days so per five

weeks and we still can't keep up with the demand we still have a wait time of five to seven weeks this coupled with the Steep price of gold means prices likely won't drop anytime soon shaving off a millimeter too much of leather could ruin the fit of this bespoke shoe to make a finished pair Artisans must carve hammer and Stitch each detail to the exact specifications

of a customer's foot twice one pair can cost over five thousand pounds some designs cost over twelve thousand pounds so what's so special about how bespoke dress shoes are made and is that what makes them so expensive Cannons of London makes some of the world's most expensive bespoke shoes all by hand using traditional techniques even the thread The Artisans use is hand spun you could bring

a cross person in here that made our shoes 100 years ago and they'd be able to start work properly straight away that's Simon he's been making shoes for over 15 years the fit is tailored completely to each person whereas a ready-made shoe is essentially a generic shape it will either fit your right foot or your left foot they won't perfectly fit both the key difference is

this the last it's a wooden mold carved to the exact measurements and features of the customer's foot it's the foundation of the whole shoe it determines whether the shoe is going to be comfortable it's also the style it starts by cutting away large amounts of wood then make small adjustments with hand tools even the smallest little half a millimeter sometimes can just make all the difference

it can just throw the whole thing off the easiest thing for me to do would be to just make a beautiful last the challenge is to make it useful and to actually make it fit [Music] this workbench from the Shoemaker who trained him this has been in the business for forever I believe it was with the business before he came into it which was in the

1950s making a last can take days it's a constant process of carving wood and checking the measurements but that effort is worth it because a last can be reused for future pairs saving time and bringing down the cost this Workshop has thousands of lasts some over a hundred years old we're lucky enough to have many famous lasts we've got Franklin D Roosevelt Charlie Chaplin's one really

amazing shape as well very high arch there we also have Fred Astaire these are very very elegant if they're done right they have the character of the the person so you can almost see everyone's character really it's very fun working in a workshop bespoke shoemaking Workshop has particular smell to it there's like the Oak Park tan leather almost everybody comments on that when they first enter

the workshop the most popular material for bespoke shoes is leather and the more expensive the leather the priceier the shoe I think our most expensive shoe well they're always ones made of crocodile or alligator they generally cost around 11 or 12 000 pounds pull up every every skin and examine it and what I'm looking for is a blemish free section so it can't have any tick

marks tick bites you know any stretch marks because that will show up when the shoe is lasted and spoiled the look of the shoe at this level anything like that is unacceptable we have to have perfect skin often we only cut one pair per skin this leather will become the upper the top part of the shoe Artisans pull it tightly over the last and carefully work

it into shape to ensure there's no excess material or wrinkles this step alone can take two days it's a constant process of stretching hammering and scraping yasu has been a Shoemaker for over 25 years he works quickly but each motion is intentional bringing the shoe closer to its final shape having a clean fit is essential for premium bespoke shoes but the upper isn't the only part

of the shoe that needs a clean fit the bottom of the shoe has two parts the outer sole which touches the ground and the inner sole which sits under your foot to make the inner sole Artisans cut out leather and meticulously tack it around the last as with the upper part of the shoe Artisans shape this material to perfectly match the customer's foot so this customer's

got a really high arch in here so we're going to do an insole up for support and he's also got this pocket here where his joint sits and it's been added so basically this is going to be molded completely to the last and is one of the fundamental things that separates you know ready to wear or factory made shoes from bespoke shoes [Music] for each step

shoemakers work with the shoe on their lap it basically just gives you control you're able to like switch back and forth you can change the position of this quite freely you can check how it's sitting you know check the movement of the leather I think if you've got it in a held position you just don't have that flexibility [Music] diffuse all of these pieces together shoemakers

use a sewing technique called welting they sew a strip of leather around the shoe to attach the sole to the upper some shoe manufacturers use glue to combine all of the parts but Simon Says a stitched welt like this makes the shoe easier to repair it's ideal actually because the outsole can be stripped off you can just take another piece of leather and Stitch back through

the welt again so it's almost infinitely repairable as long as the upper is kept in reasonable condition the shoe really can last a lifetime [Music] all of the time and materials that go into making a bespoke shoe are reflected in the price a well-made pair can easily cost five to ten times more than ready to wear shoes I really made sure would easily be made in

a day that's made in a factory environment you could quite easily notice the difference when you put your feet into the shoe you'll lock into a bespoke shoe it's because the inside has been blocked to the shape of the bottom of your foot for Simon crafting the perfect fit for a client makes all the effort worth it I like the journey that it takes that you

go on a journey with each of these individual people which might last for many many years could last for you know your whole career when you're doing it [Music] countries the UK was a hub for all kinds of shoemaking but in the late 20th century the struggled to compete with cheaper mass-produced shoes today there is far less demand and far fewer shoemakers Simon makes around 200

bespoke pairs each year but the industry isn't gone yet over the past decade there has been increased demand for bespoke shoes from Japan and the US many bespoke shoemakers in the UK now rely on their International clients and Simon says there has been an increase in young crafts people looking to learn the trade when I started I was told by the master last maker that it

was a dying trade and actually the complete opposites happened there's so many young people now that are coming into the craft and learning about it and wanting to get involved and become shoemakers or last makers [Music] this is using a centuries-old technique to dye silk for a kimono it's physically demanding but that's not the only challenge he has to match this color exactly making adjustments by

eye and it's essential that the fabric inside this Barrel remains White Kenji won't know if he's successful until he opens the lid this is one of over 20 steps required to make a kimono you can buy a cotton kimono for three hundred dollars but a handmade cheese okimono can cost over ten thousand dollars and the company's most expensive kimonos cost 10 times that we followed 10

Artisans step by step to find out what makes these kimonos so expensive versions of the kimono have been worn for centuries today the kimono is viewed as formal wear worn on special occasions like weddings or coming of age ceremonies part of the reason why chiso's kimonos is so expensive is that they're made entirely out of silk it takes around 12 meters of silk to make a

single kimono chiso collaborates with a network of Highly skilled artisans each step is done by hand and can take weeks to complete this intricate design starts out as a simple sketch is [Music] foreign once the design is ready Hiroshi transfers it to the silk this step is called Drafting and it can take up to two weeks Hiroshi ensures that the design looks good when the kimono

is worn not just on a flat surface these lines are critical to the design process but you won't see them on the finished kimono this paint is washed away after acting as a guide for other artisans Hiroshi has 37 years of experience but he's still very critical of his work there is kimonos are known for their complex patterns painted using a technique called using Artisans trace

the design with a glue-like paste that separates colors when the silk is painted it also gives a characteristic white outline to parts of the design s it's patients work but I says it's all worth it when she sees the finished kimono what does it [Music] foreign pieces of the kimono are sent off to different Artisans across Kyoto each Artisan must perfect their section while keeping in

mind the final design at yoko's Workshop she dies the base of the kimono with these large brushes Disney Yoko and her assistant blend the edges working around the design but this isn't the only way kimonos had died some are dyed using a technique called shibori which creates bold colors and distinct shapes but it's very tedious work before kanji starts working Artisans sew up the silk and

bind this Barrel tomorrow [Music] the same hiromi is sewing forms the edge of the design then Matsuyama wraps the silk along this wooden tub and tacks it into place before he attaches the lid this step is key to preventing dye from bleeding inside [Music] now it's time for Kenji to dip the silk [Music] he works quickly but constantly monitors the silk to ensure it's dyed correctly

if the barrel remains in the die for too long the colors will start to bleed Kenji cuts a strip of fabric Compares it to the Swatch and adjusts its die accordingly [Applause] after the dyeing is complete Kenji lifts the lid and examines his work all of these steps combine to tell a story through the design of the kimono themes of nature or the seasons are common

while some designs reference poems or plays one of the most skilled and delicate steps is the use end dying tomoko has 25 years of experience making kimonos [Music] use and dying has been practiced for centuries and has become an iconic feature of high-end kimonos the technique is more expensive and time consuming than screen printing but chiso's customers are willing to pay a premium for the result

long-sleeved kimonos with complicated designs can take two to three weeks to paint on them all right [Music] [Music] the final step in the process is for Artisans to apply gold leaf and embroider complex designs embroidery alone can take weeks to months depending on the design the more embroidery a kimono has the more expensive it will be when all the pieces fall into place the finished kimono

is a work of art a testament to the skill of each Artisan who has worked on the silk um foreign takes 6 to 12 months to make and those hundreds of hours of Labor are reflected in the price most range from seven thousand dollars to fourteen thousand dollars some of chiso's elaborate designs cost over one hundred thousand dollars and the accessories traditionally worn with a kimono

increase the price even more [Music] um customers looking for less expensive kimonos might choose to rent or to buy refurbished ones which usually cost a few hundred dollars but still provide good quality buying a cotton kimono or one without complex use in is much more affordable these kimonos are often worn for Less formal events but current demand for expensive complex kimonos is low kimono sales declined

dramatically in the 90s during Japan's economic crash and the industry has continued to shrink today it's around 14 of the size it was in 1975. she so sells around 4 000 kimonos each year but the relevance of the Garment in Modern Life is limited foreign s it relies upon to maintain production a getting older [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] Supreme baby just bought a faux

fur jacket for a thousand dollars so people want to know hey look that guy's wearing supreme but people also make a living offer too so these two jackets are nearly identical both made by The North Face and both using Gore-Tex technology this one on the left costs 300 the one on the right is currently selling for nearly thirteen hundred so what's the difference this one just

happens to be a North Face collaboration with Supreme so why would someone pay nearly a thousand dollars more for basically the same jacket and what is it that makes Supreme so expensive [Music] from the eye-catching logo to The Limited product releases and artist collaborations over the past 20 years Supreme has transitioned from a small skateboarding store in New York to a one billion dollar streetwear company

but for its fans Supreme is more than just a brand it's often an obsession and an entire subculture of its own since its origin Supreme has maintained an image of being authentic founded by James jebier in 1994 Supreme started as a skateboarding store in the Soho neighborhood of Manhattan the store started out selling hoodies and sweatshirts aimed towards the burgeoning New York skate scene throughout the

90s and early 2000s Supreme functioned as a Skate brand catering to both skaters and those interested in the emerging streetwear style the Supreme's limited releases and attitude has pushed them far beyond their beginnings thank you the most iconic Supreme design is their box logo originally simple white italic lettering over a plain red background this design so closely Echoes the work of conceptual artist Barbara Kruger that

is hard not to see it as a direct copy and copyright theft is something that's in Supreme's DNA Supreme's appropriation of images is one of the keys to its popularity pop cultural imagery and logos are copied and adapted in a way that makes the design feel more like contemporary art or graffiti than a big fashion brand Supreme's first branded t-shirt was simply a photo of Robert

De Niro in the film Taxi Driver along with the iconic red and white logo and the company's use of often unlicensed imagery has led to Supreme Being Served cease and desist letters from Louis Vuitton the NHL and the NCAA the more we've been exposed to our brand the more likely we are going to be developing an association a familiarity almost an as a sense of connection

with it with Supreme there's no elements of status and they went completely for what a logo should be all about standing out being identifiable the recognizability is key to Supreme's power as a brand but the items are also purposefully difficult to get a hold of and their products are kept in high demand by very limited releases Tuesday at 11AM you go to the Supreme website you

enter your basic information your name email phone number and credit card number then they'll send you a text later in the day to let you know if you've been selected to stand in line then on Wednesday they'll send you a text telling you the time and store to report to and on Thursday you go to the store at the time that you're given uh there's a

one there's a one limit per Style rule in Supreme so what that means is if a shirt comes out in black red and gray you can only get it in Gray so if I want it in black and red I need to get two other people to get it for me so they need to stand in line for me a lot of the people who do

stand in line are standing in line for someone else Supreme only sells their merchandise at 11 brick and mortar stores across the world as well as their online store it was around the mid to late 2000s that Supreme really started to pick up speed this success was partly due to what's been dubbed the Kanye effect in 2006 Supreme released their Supreme Blazer SB a collaboration with

Nike the shoes retailed for around 150 with resale prices ranging from 300 to 400 dollars in July 2007 West was pictured wearing the shoes at the grammy foundation's starry night party after the photos were released the resale price of the shoes doubled to 800. similarly the teal box logo sweatshirt worn by Tyler the Creator in his she music video originally priced around 150 sold for 3500.

but not everything from Supreme is going to end up being valuable sellers like Chris have to decide what's going to be popular and what items will give them the best return so how I decide on what I think is going to resell is based mainly on what I would wear you can also go to these Instagram accounts and they'll have Instagram polls Twitter polls talking about

oh like you can upload this you can download this and it's kind of it's this crowdsourcing tool to understand the market better and find out oh this one's going to resell or this one is really popular the most money that I've made off of one supreme item is the 2017 fall winter collaboration with the North Face and it was a mountain parka I bought it for

398 dollars and I sold it for 950. this incredibly limited release means that buying and reselling Supreme items is where the real money is when you look at the prices of supreme items in store they aren't as outlandish as you may expect they retail for around 38 dollars for a t-shirt to 138 for a sweatshirt but it's once these products have sold out that they can

reach 30 times their original price many of the big brands are now adopting this method of very limited releases to generate hype around their products from trainers to other streetwear brands these releases make people feel like they're part of something exclusive the more we make a consumer work for their a particular access to a product then we're alluring these services and products are becoming so I

think Supreme know very well how to make something incredibly accessible and sexy by allowing us to jump through as many Hoops as possible to make it relevant for them but there's something about Supreme that's different could any other company get away with selling a brick or a branded crowbar what is it that gives Supreme such a devoted following I think it's the hype they come out

with really cool items I personally feel like they do it's a name brand and name brands attract anybody at the end of the New York especially for our streetwear so like people want to have that like exclusive uh those exclusive items so I feel like Supreme they keep their quantities very low because of the the higher the man people will pay that price if it's something

they like Supreme I think the thing that really causes people to spend money and wait in line is kind of the it factor that it has right and they've done an amazing job of limiting quantities and under producing to the demand so in that way their their Market of people that they're uh of people that would want to buy the product isn't just people that are

interested in the product but it's also people that are interested in making money and that demographic is way bigger than people that are just interested in streetwear so when there's an opportunity to make money then there's going to be a huge line of people around the block regardless if they want to wear the product or not Supreme has managed to somehow keep their cool alternative and

Exclusive Image despite their expansion and has still maintained its skater credentials despite selling a 50 stake in the brand to a private Equity Firm this is the Jordan 1 retro fragment it originally retailed for 185 dollars in 2014. but today a pack can resell for up to two thousand dollars and this is the Yeezy boost 350 V2 core black red which retailed at 220 in 2016

and now resells for 900. the fragments resale value more than doubles its competition these shoes were both sold in limited releases so why did Jordan's become so much more expensive foreign [Music] of the Jordan brand and how it makes and markets its iconic sneakers in fact that it's made in China where the tariffs are higher made in the best factories made with more material basketball shoes

tend to use more material than a running shoe and then trying to be as close to the original product or all things that have driven the prices up there according to Matt's research the average price of a basketball sneaker is about 110 while Jordan's average price is about 145. to understand why Jordan brand can charge more let's go all the way back to the beginning before

the Jordan 1 was introduced before the 1984-85 season Nike signed an unproven MJ to a five-year deal worth more than three times the richest contract to that point but that wasn't the only unusual decision Nike made while launching the Air Jordan brand the Air Jordan 1 swapped the standard white upper for a black one which violated the NBA's uniform policy and resulted in a five thousand

dollar fine per game on September 15th Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe on October 18th the NBA threw them out of the game Nike recognized this unique marketing opportunity and footed Mike still as he went on to win Rookie of the Year playing every game in his band namesake sneaker ninja showed that he was rebellious and it was something that people gravitated to and they

wanted to wear them too it was like the first sneaker that really Shook Up sneaker culture I think it's the shoe that catapulted sneakers to where they are today because it was the first shoe that people saw and wanted more than the average shoot Mike's success as a rookie made a big impact on Nike's bottom line the original Jordan 1 hit stores Across America in March

1985 priced at 65 and at the end of the year the Air Jordan franchise had made a hundred million dollars in Revenue the Air Jordan 2 wasn't as successful after just 18 games in his new design Jordan suffered a season-ending broken foot reports surfaced about Mike being unhappy and looking to jump ship to Adidas the Air Jordan 3 became a crucial Crossroads for Jordan and Nike

enter Tinker Hatfield today he's known as the architect of modern sneaker design back then he was known for innovating Nike's Air Max technology his Jordan 3 design became legendary it pioneered the first ever mid-cut basketball sneaker included elephant print overlays and immortalized His Airness in the Jumpman logo and Tinker Incorporated his Air Max technology into the soul those three things I think brought its cultural importance

because it was a statement shoe right so now you're actually making a statement by wearing a basketball shoe which wasn't necessarily the purpose of wearing a basketball shoe off Court the company's rollout of the Jordan 3 was equally as legendary as the design Nike's marketing team connected Jordan with Spike Lee for what would become some of the most memorable commercials in history you know how I

get off my game do you know do you know do you know that's right Air Jordan Air Jordan Air Jordan you really saw the Jordan brand become a luxury brand in the United States it was our designer sneaker and it made the shoes very visible and that's a big part of the conspicuous consumption is to be able to look across the room and see that that

person's wearing a hundred dollar shoe or a 300 shoe in today's parlance during all this the price of Jordans had jumped to a hundred dollars significantly higher than the top basketball sneaker at the time Converse's weapon Jordan marketed its sneakers as a luxury product to match MJ's talent and style and in the process created a cultural phenomenon bringing sports apparel into the mainstream he was a

very marketable figure with a great smile and a big hoop earring and people wanted to look like him and so you started seeing this face all over the world but the brand priced out kids from low-income families who wanted them the most and by the 90s Jordans were so coveted violence erupted around them two teens were even killed for their Jordan sneakers nevertheless the phenomenon continued

Jordans were a status symbol that couldn't be stopped whether you're in the fashion whether you're in the sports or whether you're just a fan of Michael Jordan himself you had to know about Jordan brand you have to own something from Jordan brand Hatfield continued to design Jordan's signature sneakers for the next 12 years the Jordan brand became a sneaker Giant and MJ became the greatest player

in basketball history their run lasted for more than a decade but that was all about to change in 2013 Adidas released new technology signed Kanye West and staff making big games despite increased competition Jordan's prices stayed high that year's new Jordans retailed at 250 dollars the highest price for a new signature Jordan release to that point retro prices jumped too a retro is a re-release of

an original shoe 220 for these 400 for these this happens with every sneaker brand as they see the resale prices of their shoes go higher they want they want more of the pie and so they started to try and get more of the pie when Adidas came out with a lot of their more popular Styles during that era it caused a lot of people to just

say I'm going to stop buying Jordans for right now and I'm going to focus on these newer styles that are comfortable that are cool that are trendy Jordans weren't selling out as fast as they had in previous years and Jordan increased Supply to balance out revenues but it oversaturated the market according to Soul collector between September and November 2017. Jordan released 30 different Retros the price

hikes combined with an oversaturated market and increased competition led to what Sole Collector called Jordan fatigue and Adidas's market share nearly doubled Jordan brand president Larry Miller admitted that the brand had released too many shoes and needed to figure out how to connect to Young consumers again and Nike CEO Mark Parker did just that with his edit and amplify strategy he helped Nike r d cut

down from 350 sneaker ideas to 50. this helped the company be more disciplined and catch up with the speed of the sneaker Market the secret sauce for Jordan over the years has always been unrequited demand never having enough shoes to satisfy the market which made the kid come back on the next release and hoped that he would get a pair Jordan mounted his comeback in 2018.

the brand ramped up offerings for female customers and its Concord 11 Retro release was its most successful shoe introduction ever according to Parker and they've been able to connect to a new generation tapping Travis Scott Virgil ablo and more to offer their takes on the historic designs today you don't really need to Market a Jordan product and so it becomes a poor Market the idea is

that the product is so Sensational so so wanted by the consumer that it's pulling them into the store the brand is pulling in customers like the old days and according to Parker Jordan ones are more coveted than ever freestyle info backed that up remember that comparison we did at the beginning it looks like Jordan is getting the balance just right between Nostalgia and Innovation this has

to be my favorite sneaker of all time this is the Air Jordan 4 white submit the Lily may Jordan 1 biotech the Air Jordan one it represents the beginning of Jordan's career I think it's interesting to see how the Jordan brand continues to evolve as Avengers deeper into the woman and unisex Market you know it just reminds me of my childhood this is really what got

me into the sneaker game it's the reason why a lot of us think heads exist and it's liquid colorway when Doc Martens first appeared in the UK in 1960 they were working boots that would cost you under three dollars a pair A's a pair of Maiden England boots could set you back 225 so what has changed and why are these shoes now so expensive Doc Martens

are a style icon that has endured for over 50 years they've been worn by everyone from Kanye West and cardi B to the Dalai Lama and even Pope John Paul II when the Vatican placed an order for the famous eight islet boot in black white and navy leather while a pair of docks may not be the most expensive boot out there their price and use has

gone through a pretty radical transformation and the company producing them has shifted dramatically too from a family-owned local Factory to an international fashion brand owned by a private Equity Firm since 2014 the price of boots has risen by almost 25 percent sales have grown year on year and profits were up 70 in 2018 to 19. so how did the company go from its humble beginnings to

producing seven million pairs of these shoes each year before they got their Punk image Doc Martens weren't quite so cool the patented technology behind the boots the air cushioned Soul was invented in 1945 by Dr Klaus Martens a German Army Doctor Who injured his ankle in a skiing accident and was looking for a comfortable alternative to hard leather sole boots the market for this new shoe

technology wasn't the punks or skinheads you might associate with the history of these shoes but older women in need of comfortable and practical Footwear they were even advertised as perfect gardening shoes at one point it was when this technology was brought over to the UK in 1960 that the iconic shoe you might recognize was first made the air cushioned Soul was licensed to the Greeks company

in Northampton and the 1460 boot was created the iconic stitching and recognizable heel Loop were added and the boots were sold to factory workers across England at the time these boots cost only three dollars a pair even with inflation that's just over fifty dollars they were cheap hard-wearing and perfect for Postman policemen and workers on their feet all day the boot was quickly adopted by any

counter-cultural movement that appeared and they became a Mainstay in Glam Punk skinhead Scar and Goth style among many others doc Martin's fashion status wasn't always guaranteed though after the Boom in the 90s the boots dipped out of fashion and the company struggled almost going bust in the early 2000s as the industry shrank the cost of manufacturing shoes in England also got more expensive and by 2002

it already cost around 87 for a pair of Doc Martens that's around 140 with inflation Northampton chair was once the home of shoemaking in England in the mid-19th century there were over 2 000 shoemakers working in the region but as many of these shoemakers struggled the majority went under or moved production abroad and now there are just over 30 left Doc Martens followed suit moving their

production to Asia the company still makes shoes in its northamptonshire Factory but now this is only around two percent of its total production Doc Martin says this relocation hasn't changed the way its shoes are made at all we wanted to see if there actually was a difference between the new Asian made Boots the more expensive made in England variety or a vintage pair from before the

move we spoke to someone who's torn down multiple pairs of these shoes to find out Weston K I'm a professional leather worker and I cut boots and shoes in half on YouTube yeah I would say the production methods are really similar between the Asian May boots and the made in England boots um they have a lot of the same features on the inside of how they

Stitch their boots are identical the construction is really similar they still heat sew the sole to the welt I think a lot of the big differences between the vintage boots and the newer ones it's it's stuff that you would only notice if you cut it in half almost or if you wore them for long enough time the Vintage Doc Martens had a way better midsole that

adds a lot of comfort they had a wooden shank and the leather was just a lot better so they lasted longer they're more comfortable they have the support you need the newer ones just have worse versions of the old ones materials I wouldn't describe them as a super durable or long lasting boot but a lot of people are just buying these boots because of Doc Martens

anyway and they're going to be comfortable they're going to last a decently long time so most people are going to be happy with them we contacted Doc Martens about these comments and a spokesperson told us we have not altered any materials or manufacturing processes that would jeopardize the quality of our products and where specification changes have occurred they've been made to enhance our iconic products and

to ensure we improve the wearers experience we removed the shank in 2000 after realizing it did not improve the structural Integrity of our boots in 2005 our internal fellow was changed from felt to a better quality material the 90s boot being referenced along with our current made in England range have a leather thickness of 1.8 millimeters whereas our main range has a thickness of 1.6 regardless

of the materials doc Martin's style has endured and since 2002 the Brand's popularity has skyrocketed a counter-cultural image that made it so famous is something that is stuck to this day despite the expansion from small town british-made boots to International icon for fans of the boot this can be an obsession over the years the company has evolved from producing one boot in 1960 to producing around

250 Styles each year and as its popularity has grown so is the competition over recent years Doc Martens has filed lawsuits against Urban Outfitters fans boohoo and others in an attempt to protect its iconic boot design in 2014 the company was sold by the family and bought by private Equity Firm pamira since this takeover the price of boots has risen by almost 25 percent and profits

were up to 70 in 2018 to 19. in large part due to the Newfound success of their vegan range and while the boots have transitioned from an English workers boot into a global fashion icon their style is endured and their devoted fan following isn't going anywhere [Music] spoken back are some of the most expensive bags in the world ranging anywhere from nine thousand to half a

million dollars the bags embody absolute luxury a Birkin bag you've heard of it of course that's a very nice purse the exclusive accessories even considered by some to be a better investment than gold or the stock market and the world's most expensive bag is an Hermes Himalaya Birkin bag that sold for five hundred thousand dollars so what is it that makes Birkin bags so expensive [Music]

the story of the bag begins with its namesake Jane Birkin on a flight from Paris to London the English actress happened to be seated next to the chief executive of Hermes Jean Louis Dumas later Dennis please prepare for takeoff Jane was known for carrying a wicker basket wherever she went and used it for everything from groceries to diapers when she tried to fit her famous Basket

in the overhead compartment the lid came off spilling the contents everywhere Jane complained to her seat mate that it was impossible to find a weekend bag she liked Dumas introduced himself as the head of Hermes and the pair spent the flight sketching possible handbag designs on the back of an airplane sick bag a year later Dumas presented Jane with a Birkin bag a spacious yet sophisticated

leather design perfect for everyday use the Birkins Pockets made it highly functional and the bag seals to prevent anything from spilling Hermes makes the bags in France using premium materials like calf skin alligator skin and even ostrich skin each bag is made entirely by hand although Birkins are one of the most exclusive and sought after bags today they actually weren't all that popular when they first

launched it wasn't until the 90s that the Birkin became one of the it bags of the era now they're the ultimate status symbol Victoria Beckham reportedly has a collection of over a hundred Birkins estimated to be worth over two million dollars and Singaporean socialite and entrepreneur Jamie Chua is considered to have the world's largest Birkin collection with over 200 bags just walk into AMS and get

one while there used to be a wait list nowadays all you can do is hope to be important enough or spend enough to be offered a Birkin bag and if you offered one don't expect to be able to choose the color or size Hermes also places limits on how many Birkin bags a client can purchase per year this dedication to preserving the exclusivity of the back

has certainly paid off and the disparity in demand and access has created a thriving resale Market a 2017 study revealed that the value of Hermes Birkin bags has increased 500 in the last 35 years an increase of 14 per year one of the most coveted models comes from Hermes Himalaya collection which comes in three sizes often referred to as the Holy Grail of handbags the white

Himalaya Birkin bag features 18 carat white gold hardware and more than 200 diamonds the 35 centimeter model in particular is very rare and has sold at record prices year after year most recently in 2019 it sold for over half a million dollars professional sports betting consultant David wancher also known as Vegas Dave made the record-breaking purchase the reason I bought the Birkin bag is I love

breaking records I broke all the sports betting records I wanted to break the most expensive bag record I'm all about raising the bar also it's about supply and demand the only other one in the world is by Steve Harvey's wife so there's only two in the world not even Kim Kardashian has us so I actually bought it for a Content believe it or not so I

could take videos with it pictures of it getting people to talk about me the record-breaking sale actually took place over social media sell is pretty easy I posted on social media I have about a million followers I'm looking for a bag this lady hit me up Prive Porter um she messaged me said she gave me the bag I realized it was the most expensive bag she

said would break the record yeah and this is for sure the record 500 000. absolutely the most expensive bag ever sold we close this deal about three to four days really really fast I actually do use the bag most people think I'm crazy um they put it away like in a safe and they never touch again I've taken that out twice once to a nightclub in

Vegas as a great piece of content it's definitely worth the cost because you could offer me a million dollars cash and I wouldn't sell it my asking price is 2 million if not I'll just keep the damn thing it's also made with white or albino crocodile skin which is extremely rare the costly skin is painstakingly diet to emulate the snowy appearance of the Himalayan Mountains the

high retail value and resale value is because these are pieces of artwork these Artisans train years and years to make one of these bags and they may even train 10 years before even they're allowed to make a Birkin another reason for the bag's high price of course is the limited availability total number of birkenbacks Hermes produces each year is a well-guarded secret but it's estimated that

there may be around two hundred thousand in circulation and for the luxury resale Market Birkin bags are a hot commodity online retailer preview Porter uses Instagram and WhatsApp to sell the bags online and luxury reseller the real reel has hundreds of Birkins available at any given time many of which are priced well over the original retail cost their birken bag does retain and sometimes exceeds its

value it really does depend on the leather the color the size of the bag you know the hardware there are so many factors that go into pricing a Birkin that it could really vary however if you do buy a Birkin let's say in 2004 and maybe the retail at that time was five thousand dollars you most likely will be able to sell it even if you

ever won it so many times for five thousand six thousand dollars even as resellers like the real real and private Porta have made more Birkins available than ever the prices haven't gone down if you go to air mass you may not always get the exact color size that you want here we have almost every single option and if that means you have to pay a small

premium people and our clients are willing to do so even though that there has been such a saturation of these bags not one bag is the same so let's say as an attained Birkin 35 with Gold Hardware we only have one right now and if it's sold we may not get another for a while so someone's looking for that and they'd be willing to pay an

extra maybe ten thousand dollars to get that bag as soon as possible and all these bags are handmade artisan craftsmanship it's a piece of artwork not one is the same not even one stitch so if you have an extra ten thousand dollars lying around it could be worthwhile to invest it in a Birkin just make sure that you're not falling for a fake from Canal Street

in New York City to websites like eBay the counterfeit Market is full of luxury knockoffs and Birkins are no exception back in 2012 Hermes sued several websites for selling fake products and 100 million dollars in Damages that same year French police cracked down on an international crime ring that was manufacturing counterfeit Birkin bags the crime ring reportedly included actual Hermes employees only two employees were arrested

but Hermes believed that several other employees could have been involved and despite all their efforts fake products continued to flood the market the quality of counterfeit bags has also vastly improved over the years making it difficult to tell whether a bag is real or fake however there are a few tricks to spotting a fake Birkin the handle should never be too long if they look too

long longer than the bag then it is most likely inauthentic the hardware shouldn't be too shiny or protrude out and the feet another big thing is one of the best things I always check is that the feet should never screw off they are hammered in the leather itself should feel very Supple very luxurious and if the price seems too good to be true it probably is

while many other handbag Styles have come and gone it looks like the Birkin is here to stay and the bag has become synonymous with status in a way that many other luxury goods have yet to despite its popularity the bag features no prominent logos and is only recognizable to people who already know what it is in Birkin Hermes has created something that feels inaccessible and thus

highly exclusive as for whether the Birkin will always be so expensive only time will tell [Music] thank you [Music]