How can tracksuits command such high prices?

[Mr Knightley]

Anna Wintour ‘stuns fans’ ... and @Knurt

 

[Knurt]

But is it wildly expensive?

 

[Mr Knightley]

But is it wildly expensive?

Without doubt!

 

[dauster]

same goes for overpriced moncler jackets and amiri jeans... You can make the argument for pretty much any off white/ nike sneaker. What about dior hoodies for $1700 - are they worth it? C'mon there is a market for these items and people buy them - ridiculous sure but worth discussing I am not sure...

 

[Knurt]

same goes for overpriced moncler jackets and amiri jeans... You can make the argument for pretty much any off white/ nike sneaker. What about dior hoodies for $1700 - are they worth it? C'mon there is a market for these items and people buy them - ridiculous sure but worth discussing I am not sure...
[/QUOTE


But you came here anyway! Thanks.

 

[dieworkwear]

The reason why tracksuits are expensive -- as well as all the other things mentioned earlier, such as Off White sneakers, Amiri jeans, and Moncler jackets -- is because they're connected to an image and a fantasy. They allow people to express a certain part of themselves while also allowing them to dream. If you're not attuned to that particular part of culture, it may seem totally foreign to you because you don't get the symbolic meaning.

Fashion at the end of the day is about symbols and language. And the only reason why we understand the suit is because of the history of British imperialism. They set the common visual language, especially for men. Guys who love suits engage in the same fantasy regarding class, sophistication, power, and all the other things that often attract them to suits before they learn about things like Milanese buttonholes or whatever.

Tracksuits can be cool, fashionable, hip, or whatever. I feel like the purest fashion moment is when you're a teen and you want to dress up like your cultural heroes (e.g., movie stars, musicians, etc). Or because your friends are into something, so you're into it too. A lot of this stuff is popular for that same reason. People want to look like their cultural heroes.

Regarding the poster's earlier comment that influencers have "debased" culture, culture has been on a shift towards casualization for the last 400 years. Casualization is also inherently American because Americans aren't as hung up on blue blood traditions (this is the "Turner thesis," which posits that the central character to American identity was formed by the man looking outward on the frontier). But broadly speaking, casualization is linked to liberalism, which is about the celebration of the common man.

Many of the things people take to be high culture and formal today were, at one point, another generation's cargo pants and "debased culture." Jazz music, for example, is sometimes used as a way to signal high taste. Back in the day, it was considered "the devil's music." Casualization has been around well before even electricity was invented, nevermind the internet and influencers. Casualization is linked to the reason why we have democracy.

On a more basic business level, some CM brands offer expensive tracksuits because they have to keep pricing in-line with the rest of their offerings. Can't very well sell $7,000 suits next to $50 tracksuits.

Anna Wintour looks awesome in that photo above, by the way.

 

[Knurt]

Makes sense, sort of. But, for me, in a degenerated way. I grew up in the 1970s in a European nation. We had to have tracksuits for our compulsary school gyms, so I went through three or four as I grew. These tracksuits were made in the same style as the current expensive ones. Us boys were not very fond of these. We rather wanted the ones that top athletes used, and we never used them for anything but sports. Then sometime in the 1990s tracksuits reappeared. They got a new name - barbecue suits - as they apparently were used by some in their leisure time. Noone I knew wore tracksuits. I saw them sometimes in petrol stations and shopping entities selling cheap goods. These tracksuits were obviously not expensive, but the point I am getting at is that in my country they came to represent a social group - class, if you like - who did not care how they looked. Maybe things have changed, but I do not think so.

In many other ways we have Americanised and wear jeans and t-shirts and a variety of other «liberal» styles. Ralph Lauren is very popular.

 

[dieworkwear]

Makes sense, sort of. But, for me, in a degenerated way. I grew up in the 1970s in a European nation. We had to have tracksuits for our compulsary school gyms, so I went through three or four as I grew. These tracksuits were made in the same style as the current expensive ones. Us boys were not very fond of these. We rather wanted the ones that top athletes used, and we never used them for anything but sports. Then sometime in the 1990s tracksuits reappeared. They got a new name - grilling suits - as they apparently were used by some in their leisure time. Noone I knew wore tracksuits. I saw them sometimes in petrol stations and shopping entities selling cheap goods. These tracksuits were obviously not expensive, but the point I am getting at is that in my country they came to represent a social group - class, if you like - who did not care how they looked. Maybe things have changed, but I do not think so.

In many other ways we have Americanised and wear jeans and t-shirts and a variety of other «liberal» styles. Ralph Lauren is very popular.

Yea, I think certain cultural groups go in and out of fashion, and their modes of dress are taken up by "fashionable" people. The resurgence of tracksuits is somewhat connected to our ideas of Eastern European culture, streetwear, hip hop, Italian mob films, etc. For a while Gosha Rubchinskiy was somewhat popular with the fashion crowd, and he drew a lot of inspiration from Russian and Eastern European street culture. To a degree, so does Demna, who's probably the biggest designer at the moment. ASAP Rocky also made Needles' track pants popular, and he has a lot of cultural sway. Lots of guys want to look like him because they like his music and he has a lot of cool appeal.

Those people give the item cultural capital (which in the postwar period is often about a vague sense of cool). The fashion industry then makes upscale versions of those things for first adopters.

The reason why Japanese fashion guys buy American clothes is because Japanese clothes for them is boring. American clothes allow them to dream. The reason why American fashion guys want to buy Japanese clothes is the same. No one wants to wear The Gap. They want to wear something exotic, like Muji or Uniqlo, even if that's just The Gap in Japan.

 

[Mr Knightley]

That picture of Anna Wintour accompanied a piece about working from home and how, although she had previously vowed not to wear them, even she had opted for a more casual style including track bottoms. The pic was apparently shared on Vogue's Instagram.

Was her original reluctance to do with her natural 'British reserve', a dislike of something that 'casual' or a class-related thing?

Either way, she does look great as @dieworkwear says. Does that make the answer to the original question 'yes'?

 

[Knurt]

Interesting. The American fascination with the underworld and the underdog that come through in films all the time.

 

[Knurt]

I am reluctant to say she looks great BECAUSE of the track bottoms. She could have worn something else in red to the same effect in the picture. Does not explain the price on some of these items.

 

[dieworkwear]

I don't think there's a good reason for any kind of luxury item. It's all borderline crazy. Bespoke shoes from a West End maker costs $5,000. Most guys can fit perfectly fine in a pair of $300 ready-made shoes. Yes, there's more craftsmanship that goes into a bespoke shoe. But the most hyped up pair of track pants right now (Needles) is like $400.

Are $400 track pants really that much more irrational than someone buying $5,000 shoes? Maybe, but they're both pretty crazy.

 

[Knurt]

Oh, but tracksuits from Stephano Ricci is something like $3-8000. I would not have started this thread on the basis of $400 track pants.

 

[Knurt]

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[dieworkwear]

Oh, but tracksuits from Stephano Ricci is something like $3-8000. I would not have started this thread on the basis of $400 track pants.

From what I can tell, the people who purchase those items are oligarchs. When I lived in Russia, I tried on a pair of Cucinelli cashmere sweatpants. I can't remember the price, but between the normal price and Russia's crazy import taxes, it was something crazy. But the people who buy those things are the kind of people who own super yachts. $5,000 or whatever to them is not the same as it is to you or me.