Despite the downtown and luxury meltdown, many pants can easily be found at retail north of $500.
An article in The New York Times explored the rationality of such high-priced items, mentioning $480 khakis from Michael Bastian, $595 slacks from Giorgio Armani, $780 pants with elasticized cuffs from Bottega Veneta, and $350 Thom Browne chinos.
Some fashion observers tossed off the lofty prices purely to image.
"The cost of creating those things has nothing to do with the price," said David Aaker, the vice chairman of Prophet, a brand consulting firm. "It is all about who else is wearing them, who designed them and who is selling them."
But Scott Sternberg, whose Band of Outsiders label sells a $550 khaki at stores like Bergdorf Goodman, asserted the quality of the materials and craftsmanship merits the price.
"It sounds crazy to say this, I know, but our pants are a steal," said Mr. Sternberg.
To make his case, he gave the Times a tour of its factory, Martin Greenfield, in Bushwick, Brooklyn, "where little has changed in the production of tailored clothing in a century."
The author, Eric Wilson, described the scene, "A man was hovering over an 80-year-old contraption called a jump iron, hot enough to mold fabrics into shapes they will be unlikely to forget. Another man basted panels of suit fabric to springy canvas, which makes the garment more flexible. In a machine-made jacket, the canvas would be fused or glued into a suit."
In sum, Mr. Sternberg's pants cost about $110 each to make, about a fifth of their retail price.
The costs for fabric were tallied at $54 for each pair. The fabric, a resilient cotton gabardine, costs $24 a yard, plus $3 a yard to import. With details largely sewn by hand, the union shop pays employee $13 an hour with the average pair of pants taking four hours to make.
With the designer's markup, the wholesale price comes to $220. The retailer adds another markup (typically about 2.5 times) to yield a $550 price tag.
The author concludes, "A machine might make pants more cheaply, Mr. Sternberg said, but for a designer who wants to be known for quality, what would be the value in that?"
Discussion Questions: Is demand for pricey pants driven more by image or the quality of materials and craftsmanship? Does it take a different type of marketing and sales approach to sell these items today than in the past?