A whole lot greater than the sum of it's parts?
A few days ago, a friend and I ventured into the Louis Vuitton store in central Hong Kong. Over the Easter break, he picked up a top grade fake Louis Vuitton Damier Ebene Canvas for the bargain price of HK$300, and he wanted to compare it to the real deal, which, at about HK$8000, is about 26 times more expensive.
On examining the two side by side, there seemed to be very little difference in quality (maybe the zips were slightly different), and almost no difference in style (the brass pieces had a slightly different finish) but I guess I'm just not fashion-savvy enough to see why these subtle differences add up over a months rent. Despite this, Louis Vuitton is the most bought fashion label in the world to this day.
Who is Watching the Watchers?
Whilst browsing the enormous, practically empty store, where over-eager staff outnumbered customers by about 5 to 1, we came across a rather flashy looking watch. A helpful assistant informed us that it had just arrived that day, and that price was something like $1.3 million Hong Kong dollars (I can't remember the exact price because the screams of horror and disbelief inside my own brain were somewhat distracting).
Now I realize that the sum of HK$1.3m might just be small change for some people, but let's just have a reality check and see what else that amount of change might buy you...
- A two bedroom, 550sqft apartment on Cheung Chau island.
- 185,714 ice cream sundaes from Mcdonalds.
- Lunch every day for 36 years.
- 590,909 cross-harbour trips on the star ferry (it'd take 809 years if you went twice a day)
- About 1100 bottles of Dom Perignon Vintage 2000.
In researching what to do with an impossibly large amount of money, I also came across the interest fact that LVMH (The umbrella company that owns Louis Vuitton) also owns Moet, Dom, Verve Clicquot, Krug, Hennessey, Belvedere Vodka, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Kenzo, DKNY, Dior, Tag Heuer and Fendi, to name but a few. A shiver runs down my anti-capitalist spine.
And I'm sure they donate to charity, but unless this watch folds out into a modest rural abode, or some sort of speedboat, or even a fully-staffed vineyard, I think it may be somewhat overpriced.
Disclaimer: This story is fictional; the views expressed are not representative of LV or any associated brands. The fact that LV takes counterfeiting seriously, employing a team of lawyers and agencies to actively pursue offenders (like Britney) worldwide, and allocates about half of its budget of communications to counteract piracy, is an unrelated fact. Have a nice day.
No comments:
Post a Comment