At left, Dino proudly poses in his
'non-brand name'
clothing. Shoes, Bulldog $1,100; Pants, Handum $500; Shirt, Davon Khakis $300; Watch, Guess $5,000. -TOUSSAINT SMITH PHOTO
At right, Terica Sinclair in some her brand name clothing.
1. Top: Fetish by Eve US$38; jeans by Pele Pele 40 pounds; bag US$102 and watch US$175 by Louis Vuitton; jewllery by Pagoda, US$325 and ring from Tiffany's New York, US$25.
Outfit cost:
$44,180. -HUGH STONE PHOTO
Alicia Roache
, Staff Reporter
LOUIS VUITTON, Burberry, Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Old Navy, Pele Pele, Von Dutch, Fendi, Christian Dior, Movado, Kenneth Cole. A list of high fashion, brand name designers from a magazine? Perhaps, but it is also the list of brand name clothing which 17- year-old Terica Sinclair of Portmore, St. Catherine, has in her closet.
Terica is one of a growing number of young men and women obsessed with the lure of a brand name. They can't be seen out and about, at parties and other social functions, in anything but the right gear. They know which brands are hot from one season to the next and spend lots of money satisfying their brand habit.
"Last year Louis Vuitton was in style and everybody was wearing Louis Vuitton," says Terica who says that 90 per cent of her wardrobe comprises brand name clothing. The other 10 per cent, she says, is 'yard clothes' or something simple, like for dance class.
The reason Terica gives for her preference for brand name clothing? "The quality is sump'n. A regular cotton T'shirt is destroyed in two washes. The brand name might be a little bit more expensive, but it lasts longer," she argues.
QUALITY
Quality is also the reason 22-year-old customer service representative Paul McCarthy gives for his obsession with brands. He says he wears Adidas, Puma, Reebok, Nike, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger only brand names".
"They are better quality for one and they always look good," he says.
In addition to the perceived better quality of the brand names, Terica argues that individuality plays a part in choosing brand name clothing.
For these brand name cultists, knowing where to wear which brand is also part of the appeal.
And she insists that even though she wears these brands she is living within her means. Those means, provided by her parents, mean an average of $15,000 per month on clothes.
Interestingly Paul, who buys his clothes from his own pocket spends about the same on clothes. According to him, he spends a "whole lot of money, somewhere in the region of $15,000 $20,000 a month" on brand names.
But is spending this much money on brand name really worth it? Are we being bamboozled by the brand?
Dino McLarty, a 21-year-old University of Technology (UTech) student believes so. "To spend $7,500 plus tax on a Timberland which is only going to mash up just as any other shoes, when I can take $3,000 and buy a shoes which looks just like Timberland but does not have the logo that logo is going to cost me $4,500 is stupid. I can live without the logo," he says.
Though he does wear some brand name clothing, Dino believes that brands hold no exclusivity to the claim of quality. "It is my experience that certainly in most cases the non-brand name is just as good or sometimes even better than the brand name, because they have to make up in other ways just to sell," he says.
But Gary Codner, manager of Cooyah, considered by many to be one of the leading local brand name products, believes that maintaining the company's reputation will challenge the manufacturer of brand name garments to create better quality. "The truth is you spend more time because you are doing brand names, so you take more time in doing what you are doing. You try to maintain a better quality in what you are doing than companies out there that have no label," he says.
DIFFERENCE
Glen Laughton, designer and manager of La Pluma Negra, another local based brand, agrees. However, he says, "the difference between a brand name and a non-brand name is that everybody knows the brand because of marketing, but it is not necessarily the 'brand' that has quality." He gave as an example, the variations in quality that some brand names offer. According to Laughton, some established brands which produce different products may not manufacture each to the same quality. In such a case, says Codner, there is an "illusion" of the brand name, being a quality product. "Von Dutch will sell for a higher price than one of my products and they will be made by the same manufacturer," he says.
Emile Wright, receivables clerk at Lee's Fifth Avenue, Tropical Plaza, says that while medium brand names such as Jordache, Offshore and Bugle Boy offer the same quality as high fashion brands like Polo, Nautica or Perry Ellis, mass-produced goods will not. "Brand name clothing really are of good quality, better stitch and so on," he says. He says to determine quality, people can look for not just the logo, but how the item is stitched, (double is better than single), the cut, the fall of the collar, the room of the shirt, length, fabric and so on.
Laughton suggests that determining quality is not simply a matter of "thinner is less quality and thicker is better quality". He suggests however that, the tighter weave of the fabric and the softness of the cotton are suggestions of the quality of the products. "The price might be a bit higher (than others) but the quality is also higher," he says of his products. "And people are willing to pay for it,", he adds.
"There are people who can look at it and see that its good quality," he says of La Pluma Negra attire.
At the end of the day, as Dino suggests, the ultimate consideration should be what suits you, brand name or otherwise.
As Dino says, reworking the old saying, "the clothes don't make the man, the man make the clothes."
