Comments on: Profits & Markups in the Fashion Industry (or, Did Banana Republic Make Money Off My $20 Dress?)

By: Rekha

Rekha — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:42:05 +0000

As a designer of a new line and currently working on finalizing all my pricing details – this is great info for me!! And thanks for the lead to Toronto Fashion Incubator!

By: Annette

Annette — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:59:49 +0000

The info from the Toronto Fashion Incubator website is just what I was looking for. I am currently working on launching a fashion accessory label, I am based in Catalonia (Spain), and I am quite certain it works the same here. Very good post, very good comments – thank you and kind regards from Barcelona!

By: MoneyMateKate

MoneyMateKate — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:23:59 +0000

I had someone from the industry explain to me the “difference” between Old Navy quality and … I can’t remember if the comparison was to The Gap or Banana Republic, but it helped me understand a couple of things.

If you try something on in Old Navy in your usual size and it’s a bit too snug or a bit too loose, try in a different pair from the rack. One of the ways that ON saves money is that at the fabric-cutting phase, it piles up ~20 pieces of material to be cut at once – so some pieces are physically stretched more on the frame. For the other store brand, it only cuts 3 at a time, so sizing is more consistent. Anyway, I thought I’d throw that in as an example of streamlining/cost-cutting.

By: Kayla

Kayla — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:50:39 +0000

A little bit out of the box for what you were thinking, but in a round-about way, they made profit off of your dress. They aren’t selling it at such a discount to make money. They’re just selling it that low to get it out of the sales area to throw in new merchandise. Without you buying it, the new merchandise won’t be on the floor and they won’t be making money off of it.

Also, at Wal-Mart (where I worked, not sure if it works at Banana Republic), our marketing showed that when people pick something up like that at such a low price, they’re more likely to buy full-price merchandise that they wouldn’t have before because now they feel like they “already saved” and don’t need to worry about a bigger purchase. If that makes any sense.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:18:55 +0000

I’m really interested to hear what other people have to say about mark-up, great post!

I don’t have any experience with clothing retail, but I did work for a major cell phone company for a year or so and can offer a small bit of insight that way. The cell phones, really do cost the retailer $200-$500 each!! buuuut, the accessories are massivly overpriced.

The $25 case or car charger actualy cost the retailor about $3.50

How’s that for mark up?