Label Under Construction (Luca Laurini)

[hobo]

Re economy:
Unfortunately my friends, I seriously doubt that we will see a return to the old days of lofty pounds and dollars. What we Brits and you Yanks have to accept, is that our currencies were grossly overvalued in comparison to the others. With the rise of new economies, such as India, China and Russia, and the withdrawal of the speculators (who were chiefly responsible for the overvaluation), our currencies have been shocked back to reality and I don’t think that there will be any imminent opportunities to drift off again.

Re LUC prices:
I agree they are high relative to the average guy’s pay packet and that makes it difficult for most to access the brand. This is a great shame but it shouldn’t be confused with bad value. I don’t think that LUC’s prices are high relative to the quality and craftsmanship of the project. In fact I would go as far as to say that, knowing the work that goes into the manufacture of each garment and quality of the fabrics used, LUC is one of the best ‘value for money’ brands on the market. And yes I really do mean that! I know Luca and I understand the way he works. I can personally vouch for the fact that many man-hours of work go into the production of every garment, in order that he can design and produce the unique patterns and shapes that he does. Now, whether that translates to good value for you personally would depend on how important these things are to you and, to be brutally honest, how wealthy you are.
Personally I would have liked to have bought the shawl collar jacket this season, but I simply couldn’t afford it! But if you ask me would I have preferred him to have made a cheaper version, so that I could have afforded it, and I would have to say no. If I want a toned down version, there are plenty of other designers on the market for that kind of thing. I’d rather Luca stayed true to his principals; even if that means that I can’t afford to buy his clothes very often.

[huckleberry]

Nice to see your posting again hobo, I always enjoy reading your posts and look out for everyone of them. I can completely understand what you are saying in terms of quality. The reason I would buy LUC is because it is one of the few that is above the rest in regards to that.

[cjbreed]

yes hobo good to see you again.

and i actually think that LUC is not necessarily high to the average guy's salary, its high when compared to similar items on the market. which makes it "high" with respect to everyones salary. some just have a lot more salary to work with.

so the immediate response to this would be "well there's nothing really "similar" on the market. LUC is head and shoulders above the rest (knits anyway)". and this is pretty much true. but all of that extra time and effort and craftsmanship is apparent mostly in the details of the garment. so the question is, "is it worth it?" are those details worth $1300? or $800 more than a "similar" knit from another (also very talented) designer?

the best way for me to calculate "value" is to think, well what else could i get for that money? what else could i get for $1300? i don't know. a mountain bike, a bad ass tv, 15 copies of modern warfare 2, a high end call girl, travel accommodations for a ski trip to whistler, a down payment on a motorcycle, augusta boots or a rick leather from the classifieds? lots of stuff. or i could get a cotton shirt.


its a tough call. if i had the dough i'd get all of it. since i have to choose one, i'm going with the ski trip.

[AKA*NYC]

yes hobo good to see you again.

and i actually think that LUC is not necessarily high to the average guy's salary, its high when compared to similar items on the market. which makes it "high" with respect to everyones salary. some just have a lot more salary to work with.

so the immediate response to this would be "well there's nothing really "similar" on the market. LUC is head and shoulders above the rest (knits anyway)". and this is pretty much true. but all of that extra time and effort and craftsmanship is apparent mostly in the details of the garment. so the question is, "is it worth it?" are those details worth $1300? or $800 more than a "similar" knit from another (also very talented) designer?

the best way for me to calculate "value" is to think, well what else could i get for that money? what else could i get for $1300? i don't know. a mountain bike, a bad ass tv, 15 copies of modern warfare 2, a high end call girl, travel accommodations for a ski trip to whistler, a down payment on a motorcycle, augusta boots or a rick leather from the classifieds? lots of stuff. or i could get a cotton shirt.


its a tough call. if i had the dough i'd get all of it. since i have to choose one, i'm going with the ski trip.

scary when you think of it that way.

from what i have observed there is a huge discrepancy between the prices on luc items in the states and in europe. i can't help but think that some of these elevated figures we're seeing are owing more to our weak dollar and high import taxes than anything else. that being said the pieces aren't actually "worth" that money nor intended to be by the designer. it just so happens that that is the price of importing them. as for quality: the last luc knit i purchased got two tears the first time i wore it but i went and had them patched up because i couldn't fathom parting with the piece.

[hobo]

yes hobo good to see you again.

and i actually think that LUC is not necessarily high to the average guy's salary, its high when compared to similar items on the market. which makes it "high" with respect to everyones salary. some just have a lot more salary to work with.

so the immediate response to this would be "well there's nothing really "similar" on the market. LUC is head and shoulders above the rest (knits anyway)". and this is pretty much true. but all of that extra time and effort and craftsmanship is apparent mostly in the details of the garment. so the question is, "is it worth it?" are those details worth $1300? or $800 more than a "similar" knit from another (also very talented) designer?

the best way for me to calculate "value" is to think, well what else could i get for that money? what else could i get for $1300? i don't know. a mountain bike, a bad ass tv, 15 copies of modern warfare 2, a high end call girl, travel accommodations for a ski trip to whistler, a down payment on a motorcycle, augusta boots or a rick leather from the classifieds? lots of stuff. or i could get a cotton shirt.


its a tough call. if i had the dough i'd get all of it. since i have to choose one, i'm going with the ski trip.

I totally agree and that is exactly why it depends on how much salary you have, because, as you said, if you could afford it all, you would buy it all.

I have clients, some of whom are famous, who really wouldn't miss a couple of grand if it fell out of their pocket on their way to work, so for them, as the money has less value (because they have a lot of it), the importance becomes the detailed construction and craftsmanship and whether they value it, not the price. So they buy, no questions!

I'm not saying that if you're rich you just buy everything, but money buys you the freedom to not have to worry about price. Only then can you judge the true value to you.

[cjbreed]

yeah. i need to make more money.

[Fuuma]

I haven't been following things too closely but weren't LUC prices some of the most reasonable of the continues offshoots? I really like what they're doing but the only piece I have is a pair of pants and I haven't worn them in months.

Of course I recently saw someone saying CCP boots retailed for around 2K in the US...last time I checked it was something like $1100-1300.

For the record I think what LUC is doing is gorgeous, I just don't really feel like wearing it.

[bestial]

I really have gotten into the LUC-thing, it's relaxed. Most stuff don't speak so loud of themselves until you come closer and see all the small details. This is nothing everyone does of course and for them it might look like an ordinary l/s top. but the softness, and what I often feel, a sort of fragility. Some pieces even have "started to decay".

The price is of course rather high, but I have always felt that it was worth it when I'm having the garment on me, and I'm not a person of high income. The feel of a piece from LUC is other then from other designers.. It's like the garments is shy but with dignity.

[theetruscan]

Re LUC prices:
I agree they are high relative to the average guy’s pay packet and that makes it difficult for most to access the brand. This is a great shame but it shouldn’t be confused with bad value. I don’t think that LUC’s prices are high relative to the quality and craftsmanship of the project...

I don't quite follow, because there has been a massive change in prices for exactly the same garment over the last year. The dollar is at nearly the exact same value to the Euro it was at a year ago, yet LUC is at 2+ times the price it was a year ago. I felt like, a year ago, it was very expensive, but given that there was no one else doing it, I understood and was willing to accept that though pricey the value may well have been reasonable to good. Given that the same garment now is twice as expensive, I find the pricing exceedingly high and the value bad. Did you think that LUC t-shirts were massively underpriced at $700 for cotton, or do you think that the value is the same at $700 as at $1360? Or am I giving you a false choice?

I'm pretty sure I disagree completely with you, but I'm always willing to believe I'm missing something.

[RADO]

It's like the garments is shy but with dignity.[/QUOTE]

Beautiful stament

[hobo]

I don't quite follow, because there has been a massive change in prices for exactly the same garment over the last year. The dollar is at nearly the exact same value to the Euro it was at a year ago, yet LUC is at 2+ times the price it was a year ago. I felt like, a year ago, it was very expensive, but given that there was no one else doing it, I understood and was willing to accept that though pricey the value may well have been reasonable to good. Given that the same garment now is twice as expensive, I find the pricing exceedingly high and the value bad. Did you think that LUC t-shirts were massively underpriced at $700 for cotton, or do you think that the value is the same at $700 as at $1360? Or am I giving you a false choice?

I'm pretty sure I disagree completely with you, but I'm always willing to believe I'm missing something.

I can't really answer your question, because I don't know which T-shirt that you're talking about. What I do know is that Luca very rarely puts the same piece in a collection more than once. There are more often than not items which look the same but there is a difference in the dying process, fabric, yarn or construction. Luca is an innovator, so even if something looks almost exactly the same it usually isn't. A good example is his plain black cashmere T-shirt which I bought last winter and which I have bought again this winter. At first sight they look the same but on closer inspection, he has changed the neck construction, to make it stronger and the cashmere is thicker. In other words the T-shirt has evolved. It is better now. The constant evolution, as opposed to regurgitation of the same think, is an expensive way of doing things, because it takes time and it is the time of the top, most knowledgeable and therefore highly paid guys.

LUC is clearly evolving in the direction of expense and therefore elitism and in some ways that is a shame because it means that less people get the chance to fully appreciate his art, but LUC is not more expensive because they are just hiking the price up. They are more expensive because they are continually using more complicated construction, better yarns and rarer fabrics and dying processes. This is why I stand by the fact that it is not worse value because it is more expensive because you can be damn sure of all of the above. It is only bad value to you, if this evolution of technique is not so important to you, and that is where it gets subjective. I can completely understand why someone may not be interested in the changes in the cashmere T-shirt, after all it does look the same as the old one, and so is it worth another £100? Only you can answer that and you can only speak for yourself. Personally, for me it is worth it.

Incidentally, has anybody actually seen this elusive and ridiculously expensive cotton T. I would be interested to know, because I can’t remember seeing it in the showroom, although that was a year ago. I’m also very aware that my cashmere T was only £450, so there must be something pretty special about the cotton one. If so, it’s probably not the best example of Luca’s work to be debaiting.

[hobo]

Much wise have been said, but I just wanted to say something else. When it comes to knitwear, you have to compare it to other "luxury knitwear" as well. Even Missoni sport for example is as expensive as most LUC when it comes to knits, at least if I were to buy the knits where I live ( expensive country indeed). I don´t really mind knits around 1000 USD mark, but if it will go very much higher, you can´t count me in anymore. I would most likely never pay 2k for a knitted sweater, but for the scarf jacket I don´t think it´s that bad actually. I think the scarf jacket was pretty reasonable priced this season, but still expensive.

But would you say the same if you earned 10 times what you earn now?

[theetruscan]

At these prices I begin to question how much I value additional innovation, but if the "basics" aren't really repeating basics then it becomes a much more personal consideration. This makes a lot of sense Hobo. Thank you very much for taking the time to explain what you meant. Also, Eternal, I definitely agree about the scarf jacket.

[Faust]

But would you say the same if you earned 10 times what you earn now?

I'd ball like a motherfucker

[MoFiya]

I'm not saying that if you're rich you just buy everything, but money buys you the freedom to not have to worry about price. Only then can you judge the true value to you.

Well, I don't know if that's in fact the case. Actually, I think as someone who does not have as much money 'not to worry about prices' is taking a more detailed look if the amount is actually worth the garment. You are having second thoughts about every garment which costs more than just peanuts and as that comes, one does have a closer look. The quality, manufacturing, details. And when it finally comes to a purchase, you are 100% sure about it and really come to appreciate all the simple details which made you put the money in it.
I am not saying that sb who has enough money not to worry about a garments price does not see the simple details but as they have the freedom to be more of a impulsive buyer, they maybe are not closely examining at first (maybe they do later, when the piece is already hanging in their closet).