​In Denim, Indebted

Would you pay $790 for a pair of jeans? Dior believes that you might.

You’re on a budget? How about a pair of “sun bleached, destroyed” jeans from AG? For just $255, they’re yours!

Still too pricey? You want to drop as little cash as possible? You could try Levi’s, where you’ll spend $54.50, or Target, where jeans cost $10.48.

The Denim Disparity: I think about it often. Why is it that I could feed myself for a month for the cost of Dior’s cotton-pants-dyed-indigo? How can that product coexist in a market where Target sells something similar for just over 1 percent of that price? And where does AG fit into this equation? $300 is no small fee. But if I compare that price tag to Dior’s, it looks like I’m getting a good deal.

When I buy a pair of jeans—or any garment for that matter—what am I paying for? In other industries, more money usually buys better quality. But in fashion, parsing prices is perplexing.

Retail prices represent a multitude of completely qualitative variables, things like aesthetic appeal and brand name. Kanye West can design a sweatshirt that is nothing but “Japanese stretch French terry [cloth…washed] down to where it keeps its original qualities but then feels so thin,” and sell it for $560 because he conceived it and he’s Kanye. AG can charge $300 for their jeans because Kim Kardashian wears them. If Rihanna sports jeans with slashes on her knees, buyers willingly pay more to own the trend.

Labels like Dior have the added bonus of legacy on their side. A 70-year-old fixture in the luxury goods industry, Dior not only promises well-designed, beautifully made garments, but also serves as a badge of honor for wearers. When someone dons jeans with a Dior logo, they intentionally—albeit subtly—allude to their own wealth, prestige, and class.

But an expensive price tag isn’t necessarily an indication of unfair mark-ups and corporate cunning. Retail price also covers the material and labor costs incurred in producing a garment. When I see that Levi’s sells some of its jeans for over $50, I’m still worried and confused.

Here’s why. In the book “Women in Clothes,” journalist Julia Wallace interviews two Cambodian women who work in the Levi’s production factory. From their accounts, Levi’s grossly underpays its laborers. One, named Vantha, explains that if she gets “sick, then there is no money... The most sick leave we are ever granted is two days. Even then, we have to bring a doctor’s note proving we are getting medical treatment. It’s not easy to prove this, so usually our wages get deducted.”

The other, named Sophal, writes: “When I’m sewing seams, I always think that these jeans must be very expensive, they cost at least $40 to $50 per pair, and I’m wondering how those people afford those expensive jeans while my salary is so small. I sometimes wonder how I could ever afford them. They look beautiful, and I think how beautiful I would be if I wore them...Sometimes we feel like our hearts hurt.”

I would happily pay more for a pair of Levi’s jeans if I knew that the price reflected improved labor conditions and increased wages for their employees. But most haute-couture labels and mass-market brands are cagey when explaining their prices. And when a shopper walks into a Levi’s, Vantha and Sophal are not there to explain why the jeans are affordable.

So if you can’t afford to systematically avoid reasonably priced clothing stores, you’re stuck supporting stingy companies.

And this troubles me. Because shopping responsibly is already difficult. It shouldn’t also be a privilege reserved for the well-off or elitist.

Recently, a few shrewd entrepreneurs have identified this problem. Everlane.com is a company that commits itself to complete transparency. When you buy one of their garments, you see a breakdown of its cost in terms of materials, hardware, labor, duties, transport, and their markup.

In Los Angeles, a start-up named DSTLD taps into the city’s extensive, well-established denim manufacturing industry to produce jeans responsibly and sell them for reasonable prices. As CEO Corey Epstein explains, “people have become more interested in sustainable and conscious consumption…[they want], fewer, better things from brands that speak to [them] stylistically.”

It’s true! I’m “people,” and that’s what I want. I’m willing to pay more than $30 for a pair of jeans if they’re made well. Heck, charge me more if you give me a wacky wash, quirky crop, or an aggressive knee-gash. But I want the fashion industry to make my affordable, attention-grabbing trousers humanely. Sustainably.

And if this proves too difficult, we can just ask Kanye for help. If he can get designers to rearrange their showtimes at New York Fashion Week, he can do anything.

Lily K. Calcagnini, ’18, a Crimson editorial writer, lives in Dunster House. Her column appears on alternate Fridays.