The way the luxury fashion brands are marketed will make you feel that these accessories are made of the best quality materials and are largely superior to the rest of the products on the market, but are they really?
Is a new Michael Kors bag better than unbranded bags or bags by smaller, less-known brands? And more importantly, why are the Michael Kors products so damn expensive?
This article shares important insights into the brand that is Michael Kors and why the bags are rather pricey.
Why is Michael Kors so expensive?
1.High advertising costs.
One of the biggest, most powerful strategies employed by Michael Kors is its advertising strategy, a move that’s resulted in their massive success and popularity in the fashion scene.
The good news is that despite the high costs of marketing, Michael Kors products are made of the best quality materials, which means that despite the high price tag, you still get to enjoy the best quality.
That said, their high advertising costs are the biggest contributor to the very high prices of the bags, jewelry, and accessories by the brand.
2.Popularity among celebrities
MK bags, shoes, clothing, and jewelry are a staple on the red carpet and on high-fashion events, and with their pieces worn by Halle Berry, Viola Davis, Michelle Obama, Kate Hudson, Victoria Beckham, and Ashley Olsen, it doesn’t come as a surprise to see that everything that is sold by Michael Kors is quite expensive.
Essentially, products that are popular with the A-List celebrities are demand-driven, but to maintain the uniqueness and relevance of the pieces, only a limited number of the said products are made, and this drives up the prices of the products. Whether you are looking for high-quality Michael Kors (MK) bag or dress, the MK logo does the magic of not just making beautiful pieces but also driving up the prices.
In terms of luxury, quality, simplicity, style, elegance, and the beauty of the pieces of jewelry, bags, or outfits, Michael Kors products all embody that inner desire for class and also an expression of the true feminine spirit. Michael Kors bags, on the other hand, represent a complete package that no woman can really say no to. With these in mind, the MK bags are a tad too costly compared to other bags in the fashion market. The prices are, however, comparable to those of the authentic leather fashion pieces from other top brands.
The good news is that the Michael Kors bags are not as expensive as other high-end luxury products, especially because the jewelry is mainly manufactured for the large, mass market. Generally, the bags are expensive, and they sell for a few hundred dollars – expensive but cheaper than the cost of most other luxury brand products.
3.It’s a popular brand.
While brands like Kate Spade and Coach are just as popular as Michael Kors, MK is quite popular thanks to its presence in Project Runway.
During this time, the brand made a great impression in the market, as more people came to know more about the brand, and it became one of the bigger brands that the masses wanted to be associated with. Naturally, this drove up the prices of the bags and the rest of the products by the MK brand.
In other words, the Michael Kors handbags are largely expensive because you would be paying for the brand name. In as much as it may sound a bit stupid, people will always spend more money on designer brands, even if they are really expensive. So, whenever people shop for designer bags, they do this because they wish to be exclusive since the bags are made in rather limited numbers.
It’s worth noting that the success of the Michael Kors brand among the high-end fashion brands is largely attributed to the fact that Michael Kors has been able to keep their products relatively affordable, albeit in the luxury products world. With 870+ stores globally and their bigger flagships in some of the largest cities like Milan, New York, Paris, and London, the / popularity of the brand is one of the reasons for the expensive bags.
4.Luxury means limited numbers of bags made.
One of the top reasons why Michael Kors bags are expensive has something to do with the laws of demand and supply, which states that a limited supply of a product and its subsequent high demand will naturally drive up the price of the product in question.
Along with the large brand presence, Michael Kors capitalizes on this through the manufacture of limited numbers of their designer bags, meaning that only a few can afford the bags.
This is a principle that has been adopted by all other designer brands in all product categories, and keeping the numbers of their products down while producing a limited number of high-quality pieces results in great demand for the products, hence the high price tag.
5.High-quality designer products
While this is not always the case, the bigger fashion brands in the designer world understand that their target audience is always interested in the purchase of the best-quality products, even if the prices are considered ridiculous by others.
With this in mind, leading designers and fashion houses like Michael Kors are dedicated to the delivery of only the very best designer bags, which translates to the sale of the best bags and the subsequent high prices for their bags.
According to Michael Kors’s design and manufacturing teams, the expensive luxury tag that is attached to and associated with the Michael Kors bags is one of the things that makes the bags super expensive. The fabric used for the bags is a premium-quality fabric that is carefully selected for use by the brand – this requires a high level of expertise and workmanship, both of which are expensive – as is the fabric used. So, at the end of the day, you will pay a premium for that Michael Kors bag.
The use of unique and exotic materials for the bags, for example, is one of the things that drive up the prices of the Michael Kors bags. The use of python and crocodile skin, for example, is the primary reason for the $3500 and $7000 price tag for the Joni Python Fringe Tote and the Miranda Medium Totes, respectively. Bags made of the Nile crocodile hide are particularly expensive, and this exotic material is what makes for the very high prices for the bags.
Related Q&A
Is Michael Kors considered a luxury brand?
Yes. Given the success of the Michael Kors brand, the uniqueness and the good quality of their products, along with the fact that the brand offers high-end fashion items, Michael Kors qualifies as a luxury brand.
Michael Kors has its flagship stores in some of the flashiest and the most expensive cities in the world, such as New York, Milan, Paris, and London, along with over 870 stores across the globe.
With these in mind, the popularity and the brand presence, not to mention the fact that the brand has had many of its products showcased on the global stage, Michael Kors is a luxury brand.
Is Michael Kors more expensive than Louis Vuitton?
While MK bags, ensembles, and accessories are quite expensive thanks to their convenience and quality and the fact that they are red-carpet-worthy – their most expensive elegant designer bags go for over $3,000, it is not the most expensive designer luxury brand.
When pitted against Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors is quite expensive, and you’d have to spend a lot more to afford an LV bag than an MK bag. In terms of how expensive the brands are, Louis Vuitton is the biggest name in the luxury fashion world, and their bags mostly cost more than the ones offered by MK.
Worth mentioning is the fact that Louis Vuitton boasts a deeper, richer, and older history in comparison with MK, which means that most people revere LV, which translates to the high price tag of LV products.
Is MK or Coach more expensive?
Coach is a luxurious brand that offers some of the best high-end handbags. In recent days, the company has been on rather aggressive marketing, which has seen an increase in their bottom lines, and it might be a company worth considering if you wish to try working with or buying from a different luxury brand.
But how does it compare with MK? In terms of prices, Michael Kors bags are more expensive than the bags offered by Coach, which is also the reason why a bigger number of customers prefer Coach to MK. Coach’s appeal, other than the low price tag, comes from the unique styles of their bags, whether the duffle bags or the Rogues, not to mention the thickness and the quality of the leather used for the bags.
Coach is known for their drum-dyes and the pebbled bags, which have been around for decades. These features/ factors make Coach’s bags to be more practical, which is why more people opt for the bags by Coach and not the ones that are offered by the MK.
Conclusion
Michael Kors is one of the most popular designer handbag brands that offer relatively affordable bags for most of their bags, except for their very high-end pieces.
Generally, the high price tag comes from the popularity of the brand, the high advertising and marketing costs that are spread out to the consumers, and the quality.
But like other luxury brands, you will find that you almost always pay for the brand name – which is the biggest reason why the MK bags are expensive.
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Stephanie is a jewelry lover when she was a teenager. Her major was fashion design when she was in college. She is a jewelry designer at SOQ Jewelry and other design companies. Now she is also a writer for our website. She writes a lot of designs&brands posts with very actionable tips.