Bored Druid Thread: The Next GenerationFollow

Looks like an airport couch - the epitome of not cozy.

Well, yeah, you're military.

But, this couch is a decent fusion of both.

Most pull-outs are awful looking. That one manages to not be too bad, if the bed option is something you need.

You can obviously get something nicer for less, if you don't want the bed option.

[EDIT]

I don't mind the Visser in some of the color options (if that would fit the rest of the room), but I don't like the grey.

Edited, Apr 8th 2014 11:38am by idiggory

Well, assuming you like how it looks, which certainly isn't always the case. What you're paying for is a brand and an image. There is no reason why it needs to cost that much, it does because there are people who are willing to pay more money just to show off the fact that they can. That's really the ultimate reason for these luxury brands, it's to show off how much richer and better you are than other people.

I too quite like the fabric of the couch that dig linked. I see that the bottom part is a bit heavy, but given the function you need to have it there. I'm not sure how you'd have the pull out nature but hide the extra space that needs to be used.

It's not ******** though. There are certainly products where extra cost is justified and you're welcome to convince people that cost for something is justified. There are also lots of products where the only reason for the increased cost is to have it cost more to show people what you can afford.

Are you denying that these sorts of products exist, or just that these specific bits of furniture aren't examples of this?

I disagree, I would say that's the definition of a luxury brand.

I'm with Xsarus on this one.

Brands cost that much because they're brands. That's why it's called branding.

Edit: No matter how you slice it, Aeth, the quality of the Eames chair does not justify the $4,000 price tag. At all. There is no way it cost anywhere near $4,000 to produce.

Edit: I honestly don't care if people want to blow their money on overpriced stuff - it's their money - but I do care when people get a superiority complex over it.

Edited, Apr 8th 2014 7:26pm by Mazra

Cost of production would include a slice of the design time, and the persons time isn't worth that much.

I think the point here is that luxury items have a cost:price ratio that is far off compared to non-luxury items, because they're designed to be limited, so your margins need to be greater per item.

I'd be willing to wager that the vast majority of luxury items on the market could be priced a great deal lower and still be wildly profitable for the companies putting them out, because these aren't low-margin items. They're extremely high margin items by nature, because they're specifically marketed to a group of people who don't care if they're high margin, because the price point is a selling point.

There's definitely some difference there. When you walk into a furniture showroom where every item is handmade by the guy who owns the shop, then the $5k sofa is probably a higher value item than the <insert designer> option at $5k, because he probably doesn't have the brand influence to drive demand for his goods allowing him to elevate his profit margins through that alone. Even if he pays the same for the materials as a big name designer (which he won't, because he's not buying in bulk), he can't charge anywhere near as much and actually sell it. But it can still be priced as a luxury item.

In the end, branding is a big deal.

But once that name is known; once people know an item is expensive by name alone, when they can tell it's expensive without knowing anything about product quality, that item's expense becomes a feature. Easily the most important feature, unfortunately.

That company still needs to produce quality items to keep their luxury status... usually. But they probably won't have the best on the market.


You know what? Here's an example. I'm wearing cologne right now that probably cost next-to-nothing to produce, but I still paid out $60 for a tiny bottle of it, and that's at the lower range for fragrances. There's a massive market of affordable fragrances available on the internet, but finding one I liked took so much more effort at that point, and now I can easily tell people what I'm wearing when they ask, and they'll have a context for what I'm talking about. It's a luxury item, and I absolutely paid for the name.

I legitimately enjoy the scent, but I still paid for a whole lot of branding there.

Except it's not the brand it's the design, totally different thing.

Their design is their brand.

How do you determine the talent of a designer? He's an artist, no? And art is subjective.