More and more Western brands are leaving Russia, selling basic t-shirts and sweatshirts at affordable prices. A good white T-shirt can be bought for 1,000 rubles, jeans for 3,000 rubles and a hoodie for 1,500 rubles at Uniqlo, H&M, Zara. Now it is more expensive to dress modestly but decently – either go to the stores of domestic brands, or order Uniqlo products from dealers or buyers at exorbitant prices.
Prices in Russian clothing brands are much higher than in the mass market and are more likely to reach the premium segment. The only exceptions, perhaps, are the brands Zarina, Lime, Love Republic, O’stine, Incity – a T-shirt there will cost 500 rubles. up to 1.5 thousand rubles.
In the most fashionable Russian brands, the starting price of a t-shirt is 3,000 rubles. But why? With such a question, socialbites.ca turned to the manufacturers themselves, who unanimously explained that the price of a basic T-shirt consists of many factors, and the cost of some of them has increased significantly recently.
The actual cost of goods is patterns, fabrics, accessories, threads, branded goods, tailoring, packaging and logistics.
These costs are already added to the percentage the brand wants to earn from the sale of the product. The strength of a brand can increase the price of a t-shirt dozens of times and, conversely, leave it just above cost.
According to Anastasia Shishkina, founder of Russian teen clothing brand Ad Astra Lab, in their case, the bulk of the cost is the cost of the fabric. You can reduce the price of t-shirts either by using cheaper materials or by increasing the party quantities. “The larger the lot, the lower the wholesale price of the materials and the lower the cost of tailoring,” she explains.
Tatyana Fomicheva, founder of the Russian brand Studio 29, also sees the cost of adapting a product as an important expense item. These costs can be cut so that prices can be lowered, but at the same time the quality of the product will deteriorate.
For global clothing retail chains, the cost of tailoring products is several times less than for domestic Russian products. The fact is that factories aim to work with large customers with large batches, they are more willing to give discounts and lower prices because of the quantity of goods.
“World brands and their batch volumes and the purchase of raw materials are thousands of times larger than batches of Russian brands,” says Tatyana Fomicheva. – This always affects the cost. A large factory in China that can produce large quantities of products at low cost will not accept a small batch.”
The cheapest production of basic things is currently in China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. “This is where Gloria Jeans, O’stin, Funday, Detsky Mir and other major Russian mass-market chains place their core model productions in their collections,” Anna Lebsak-Kleymans, CEO of Fashion Consulting Group, tells socialbites.ca.
The cost of production in Russia is more expensive than in countries with their own raw materials and large textile factories, “This is why mid-priced brands and designer brands produce their collections in Russia and Turkey.”
If sewing the product and the material used for it have always been expensive, now the impressive expense item is added to the difficulties of delivering something. The logistical crisis arose several years ago, not at the end of February, as many think.
“In the past two years, delivery time and cost have almost doubled, which unfortunately has resulted in an increase in the cost of goods. Incity Brand Director Valeria Mitrofanova said, “We have decided to place some of our orders with local manufacturers since the beginning of this year in order to reduce logistical risks.”
“Of course, the delivery time has increased a lot now,” says Valentina Mukhovikova, creator of the Fashion Rebels womenswear brand. “Despite the fact that the exchange rate is currently falling sharply, suppliers continue to sell goods from 70 to 85 rubles per dollar.”
Studio 29’s Tatyana Fomicheva says supply chains from China and Turkey, for example, are no longer interrupted. The cost of logistics has, of course, increased, but the goods move in contrast to the suspended supplies from Europe. .
Despite the obvious difference in the cost of clothes of foreign and Russian brands, not everyone agrees with the opinion that domestic is always more expensive. Alexander Arutyunov, CEO of the Emka brand, says that you need to compare brands in the same market segment. “For example, Gloria Jeans, Yours and foreign brand Bershka have similar prices. By the way, Emka and Massimo Dutti have the same prices for t-shirts. Although our t-shirts are of better quality,” he said.
Anna Lebsak-Kleymans believes brands will be ready to lower their core product prices if customers don’t have the money to buy goods.
However, the brands’ own plans do not include price reductions. To Be Blossom says they will keep their prices; Studio 29 occupies a certain price niche in the market and “wants to stay in”; Ad Astra Lab plans to optimize production and increase margins; Fashion Rebels does not lower prices when doing things in Russia; Emka does not plan to lower prices, but will do so only in one case – if the buyer does not appreciate the work.