Brooks Brothers may not be the upscale icon it once was, but buying Levi’s there still strikes me as the equivalent of going to Tiffany & Co. for a Timex. And talk about your “Golden Fleece”\u2014though the standard button-fly 501s at the Levi’s store will set you back $60 to $100, depending on the fabric and finish, at Brooks Brothers the 501 freight is $148.<\/p>\n
The main thing that distinguishes the Brooks Brothers 501s, besides their price, is that they are made in the U.S. No doubt the labor costs are higher, but I suspect the real reason for the inflated price is to create the impression that the jeans are somehow superior. This is the quirky luxury phenomenon that economists call a “Veblen good”\u2014a product that is valued and desirable simply for being more expensive.<\/p>\n
Making the jeans in the U.S. is also key to the marketing proposition behind the Brooks Brothers and Levi’s partnership\u2014that both brands are “staples of American menswear.” Alas, Levi’s doesn’t have any U.S. factories anymore. It contracts with manufacturers around the world, and its list of suppliers, with one company to a line, goes on for 25 pages. The handful of factories Levi’s still operates are in Poland, Turkey and South Africa. And so Levi’s hired a shop in Los Angeles to cut, sew and finish the Brooks Brothers jeans. Such are the times that a “staple of American menswear” now has to outsource production even in the U.S.
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