Recently I saw a mention on BoingBoing about the book “Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster“. I’m intrigued by the editorial reviews of this book on Amazon - I too have noticed that luxury brands have definitely become not so luxurious. That perhaps “everyday luxury” is an oxymoron. That perhaps not everything should have “luxe” prefixed to it. Personally I what I find especially appalling is how prices by certain brands are soaring, while quality has actually declined. One brand I’m thinking of has hiked its price of the same product twice for a total of 27% in the last 5 years - yet the material has gotten worse. Another brand I’m thinking of continues to position itself further in the affordable luxury market, yet the stitch work is very disappointing.

Hopefully I’ll have time someday to read this book.

That said, on BoingBoing’s post about the book, the focus was mostly on a Access Asia piece about this book. Here’s a quote from a quote:

Access Asia was recently in a Chinese factory where the same workers on the same production line were making US$2,000 bags for an Italian brand, and US$35 bags for JC Penney, at the same time. Ever wondered why Coach has so many stores in China? Easy – they make virtually all their bags here. Prada, LV, Furla – all now largely made in China. And that’s where the cost cutting starts, and then continues, with no linings and cheaper thread, glue rather than stitching, as well as cheap labour. Still feeling classy? And typical mark ups on bags once you move to China? Think roughly under US$100 to make a bag, which then retails for US$1,200 upwards. Still think you’ve bought status? And it’s also the high-end ties and scarves. About US$25 max to make in China, and retailing for somewhat more. Still feel exclusive? Or just conned?

This isn’t new because of China. It’s not new at all. Having roots in the garment production industry, I once saw a dress at a Big Name Department Store by a Big Name Designer for $800. The reason I noticed it was because I had seen it produced - in New York. The cost of production and materials could not have been more than $50. Heck, let’s be generous - $100.

So where does the money go? Well, in the old days, department stores would take a big cut. Like 50%. (I’m not sure if that’s still the case.) But then again, they have high operating costs. And, sometimes if they have sales, part of the discount is paid by the label (designer/manufacturer).

Still, that leaves a good chunk of money for the designer. So are you paying entirely for a designer’s heroin addict? Well - possibly, but probably not. First, clothing design is really labor intensive. As an example, here’s a little secret - more expensive clothes tend to fit better at different sizes, than cheaper clothes. It turns out that the human body doesn’t scale in vectors - that is, you can’t simply enlarge/shrink the dimensions by a constant ratio when going from Size 2 to Size 12. It takes artistic skill and experience to scale the patterns correctly. Better brands will spend the money to actually “fit” the designs over mannequins (or even models) at the different size points and make pain-staking adjustments accordingly. That’s costly. Cheaper brands will test at fewer sizes and if you’re not one of those sizes, then best of luck to you.

There’s also exclusiveness - you’re not going to sell as many $800 dresses as McDonald’s will sell Big Macs. And there’s risk - your collection for the season may have 20 pieces, but just 10 of them do well.

So basically above I’ve presented the way it’s supposed to work - higher prices and better brands spend more on production and risk, lead to better and more exclusive products. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case - I’m not terribly familiar with handbags and maybe the models are different there. I just wanted to provide some context around where the money goes.

FWIW, next time you go to a restaurant, realize that when you see a price on the menu, the cost of the raw ingredients are likely 20%-35% of that price. Life is definitely more interesting when you start thinking about the BOM and COGS of things you see around you.

or

Two interesting choices. I wonder what my GPS will say.

Which would you take?

My desktop PC at work isn’t feeling very well, so I was thinking of going home early right now so I can use my PC at home instead. So I took a look at the Live Search Traffic Gadget in my Vista Side Bar:

Wow… I’d never seen a road listed in black before.

So much for going home early!

I wonder what’s going on - and if it relates to why it was so stinky along 101 last night.

Update: Ah hah! It turns out that black is a new color.

One of the things I learned when I was an intern during college was that saddle-style laptop bags were really bad for your back.

For the last few years, I’ve been using a North Face Recon with a laptop sleeve as my laptop transport of choice.

Recently I bought the North Face Recon 2.0 bag and WOW this is a fantastic laptop bag. The section where the laptop is held is suspended, reducing possible impact when you set the bag down. The back of the backpack is also really breathable, and the number of pockets and locations are pretty good.

Also, it doesn’t look super dorky/geeky/stealme like so many other laptop backpacks.

Give it a try if you’re looking for a bag. It’s available everywhere, and in a whole bunch of colors too!

I was catching up on my DVR’s recordings and I ended up watching SNL. One thing that caught my attention was that Tad’s Steaks ended up being a punch line.

I certainly had a laugh at that - I’ve walked by a Tad’s Steaks in Manhattan quite often since I was a kid. The prices always looked good - and therein lied the problem: the prices were too good.

There’s one in SF as well. Has anyone ever been to a Tad’s Steaks? (And presumably lived to tell about it?)

Last week I attended the Career Fair at the Johns Hopkins University, to represent Microsoft. I’ve done this nearly every year since I graduated in 2000.

Over the years I’ve read about the national decline in enrollment of students in computer science, despite the fact that the average pay is at its highest level in seven years. I don’t have the hard numbers, but this decline is noticeable.

I’m a strong believer in hiring college talent for infusions of fresh ideas and fresh perspectives. Thus, this trend is clearly not a good thing.

Of course, my perspective might be a bit skewed - in my Junior Fall Semester, the database class had nearly 200 people enrolled. There were med students, grad students from all different areas, and undergrads from completely irrelevant majors. Being that this class used to only have about 50 students, the infrastructure was simply unprepared, and the Oracle servers continually crashed. (Ask me some day about how I had to finish 2 final projects midway through the Spring semester of that year!)

Nonetheless, I hope this trend is reversed. I’m sure there are no easy solutions - there never are.

That said, there seemed to be a lot of strong talent coming from the Information and Security Institute.

I wish the Class of 2008 the best of luck!

(For those who are not graduating this year, or are still in high school, this post is a pretty good read.)

I’ve been looking at hotels for our Honeymoon at the end of the year.

What’s wrong with this picture?

So far, this was the only page and price with a quirk like this. I’ll need to keep my eyes open…