Why Designer Handbags Tend to Cost More Than Ordinary Handbags

In any store that deals with handbags, you will tend to find two categories of the bags. The first category has those that are termed as being 'ordinary' handbags. The second category has those that are termed as being designer handbags. The latter tend to cost substantially more than the former. And while there are many people who don't bother with the issue, and who will pay the higher prices associated with designer bags just because 'that is the way things are,' there are those who seek an explanation. Specifically, they seek an explanation with respect to the justification for the higher pricing associated with the designer bags. We are looking at a situation where the average designer handbag costs as much as a hundred or two hundred percent more than what the average 'ordinary' handbag costs. There are people who, subsequently, show keenness on understanding the justification for this pricing difference. And that is what we venture to look at, as we explore the reasons as to why designer bags tend to cost more than ordinary handbags.

As it turns out, one reason for designer bags costing substantially more than ordinary handbags is in the fact that the former are typically made from higher quality (and hence more expensive) materials than the latter. The designer bags are also typically made through higher manufacturing standards. It is on account of the first fact - the fact that they are made from higher quality materials - that the designer handbags tend to have greater aesthetic appeal than ordinary handbags. It is also on account of the second fact, the fact that they are sewn and otherwise made in accordance with the highest manufacturing standards, that the designer bags tend to outlast ordinary handbags.

But the flipside is that, as we have seen, to get the higher quality material for making designer handbags, the manufacturers have to part with bigger sums of money. Also, for them to subscribe to the higher manufacturing standards, the makers of designer bags have to part with bigger sums of money. And the all these are costs ultimately footed by the end-user of the products, hence the higher pricing of designer handbags. 

Another reason as to why the makers of designer bags tend to price them substantially more than ordinary handbags is in the fact that the designer handbags are meant to be prestige items. They are meant to be exclusive products - the sort of product you carry around knowing that not many people will be having it. It is only this way that having a designer handbag can make you come across as being a 'person of means' - which is the image many of us want to portray, by buying designer 'products.' The challenge, of course, is in the fact that the designer bags would lose their prestige, if everyone had them. To retain their prestige, ownership of them has to be the preserve of a few. And to make ownership of them the preserve of a few, they have to be priced in such a way that only a certain 'caliber' of people can afford them. It is for this reason that the makers of designer bags will tend to price them somewhat highly - in order to make them exclusive - and preserve the 'prestige factor' which many people yearn for, as they go shopping for the designer bags.