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shmatt 5 hours ago

Labubus peaking and falling doesnt really say much about scarcity and trends. Labubu is made by a public company, who's stock skyrocketed, and essentially decided to go all in and mass produce to meet the popularity

thats one option. But other companies sometimes choose to keep the scarcity and secrecy for years, even decades, and if they play their cards right it keeps working

Labubus fall is more about its makers decision to increase sales numbers instead of keeping them flat and generating more and more and more hype

Hermes can sell a $15,000 Birkin to everyone, im sure they can figure out the supply chain aspects if they really wanted to. and within a month everyone that wanted one would have one and sales would drop. Hermes will have a spike in sales, followed by a drop

Instead they force you to play years long games with their sales staff to get an opportunity to spend $15,000. And decades later people still opt in to spending thousands of dollars on plates and scarves hoping one day they will be offered one

This is just as true about a $40 Supreme, or Aime Leon Dore T-shirt, than it is for a $15,000 handbag. If you keep the scarcity going just right, it lasts much longer

ErroneousBosh an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> This is just as true about a $40 Supreme, or Aime Leon Dore T-shirt, than it is for a $15,000 handbag.

According to a more fashion and design orientated friend of mine, you can buy knockoffs of Birkin or any other high-end bag. And, guess what? Some of those knockoffs and their manufacturers have developed a certain cachet, and actually sell for quite high prices. So of course, those have spawned knockoffs too.

It's like the bit in Pattern Recognition, isn't it?

f33d5173 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That might be true of handbags, I am doubtful it is true of dolls. A handbag is a necessary accessory and has been for decades. The popular brands grew their way there slowly over many years. A company that explodes into popularity suddenly for a product people never knew they needed is likely to only stay in the spotlight for a short while and is best served taking advantage as best they can.

takinola 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I agree that cashing in quickly before the fad faded was probably the right move for Labubu. However, there’s no world where Birkins (or other designer handbags) are a “necessary accessory”.

f33d5173 2 hours ago | parent [-]

A handbag is necessary for many people to carry their thing. Whether they choose a more or less expensive item to fulfill that function is a separate question.

georgefrowny 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Hermes can sell a $15,000 Birkin to everyone

It's sad and petty I know, but if I were a billionaire edgelord like Elon Musk, rather than Twitter, I'd buy Hermes and sell their products in supermarkets. All the past limited editions too. Just to fuck with the kind of people who buy them.

Then again Hermes is worth 200 billion and upsetting an oligarch's sidechick might just get me killed so maybe not.

taberiand an hour ago | parent [-]

All that would happen is the Birkin would lose its appeal and some other company would step in to fill the role, and people would empty their closets of orange boxes and fill them with some other colour box

Uehreka 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Hermes can sell a $15,000 Birkin to everyone

Wait hold on, what?

Like, I get that you were referring to the fact that they keep things scarce even for rich people, but you literally said “everyone”, so I just gotta check: Are you saying that everyday people would be willing and able to spend $15000 on a luxury handbag?

strken 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The sale of new Birkin bags is famously invite-only. In that context, to "sell" to "everyone" means making the bag available for sale to everyone. "Anyone" would have been a less ambiguous word choice, but it's a minor grammatical issue and the meaning is still clear.

RobRivera 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I didn't read anything about the everyperson beung able to do this.