Posted on 09/05/2025 5:38:44 AM PDT by fluorescence
A handful of apparel retailers including Levi's and Aritzia are teasing more full-priced products, testing how much wealthier shoppers are willing to pay despite the sobering effect of tariffs.
They have not been disappointed so far.
Levi Strauss, for instance, raised prices on some products in July but saw no slowdown in demand, the denim maker's chief financial officer, Harmit Singh, said at the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference in New York on Wednesday.
"We are making a full-court press in selling higher full-price than we have done in the past," he said. "The Levi's consumer largely earns $100,000 and over. And that consumer we are seeing is generally resilient."
Aritzia's finance chief echoed that, saying there had been minimal impact on how much the U.S. customer was ordering after the high-end clothing maker raised some prices earlier this year.
The company, whose clothes are worn by celebrities including Beyonce, Bella Hadid and Pamela Anderson, does not plan to chase promotions and discounts this holiday season, offering instead just one week of sales during Black Friday and then going full price after Cyber Monday for the rest of the season.
"With every passing week we become more confident that consumer resilience is going to hold," the Canadian retailer's CFO Todd Ingledew said at the conference on Wednesday.
While lower-income households are hunting for bargains as U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war has forced companies to raise prices, wealthier consumers are buying steadily, largely unaffected by the cooling labor market.
Stock market gains and low credit card debt have bolstered the finances of the affluent. According to Moody's Analytics, the richest 10% of Americans - those earning at least $250,000 a year - now account for half of all consumer spending.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I bought a pair of George jeans a couple of days ago for $15.
Where was this story when Biden’s Jimmy Carter-like inflation was forcing everyone to raise prices by double digits?
My coffee went up 18% this week because of the tariff
“ U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war has forced companies to raise prices”
I haven’t seen any evidence of that. I have only seen sales people breathlessly advising potential customers to “buy now before the tariffs kick in”.
FTA “despite the sobering effect of tariffs. “
entire premise is a lie, pure trash for the liberal narrative.
Nothing useful can be gleaned from this article other than what the lieberal media is trying to push as a narrative.
I don’t think it’s the rich doing the spending. I’m a low-end landlord. *Twisting handlebar mustache. * I’ve had to evict several tenants for nonpayment. The amount of new clothing, in the package, they leave behind is often staggering and can take me a day to dispose of. *
* No, I can’t donate it. By law, it’s ported to the curb and left there for trash pickup. I always make an effort to get the former tenants to pick it up. If they bother answering which is unusual, they’ll say, “I have no room for it.”
Same here. It's a strategy because retail sales are off in general.
I can say this, The MSM alphabet channels are pushing this to the max.
An all out war on Trump admin is happening again.
> My coffee went up 18% this week because of the tariff <
Coffee prices are crazy now. It’s evidently due to both tariffs and poor weather in some of the coffee-producing countries.
One reason Trump instituted tariffs is to protect American industry. And that’s a very good thing. But America produces very little coffee. So the tariffs here seem to be political.
Is that a very good thing?
The Goodwills are crowded every weekend here..................
Can’t find. any decent short sleeve shirts out there like before.
Same here except it’s long sleeves!..............
“The Levi’s consumer largely earns $100,000 and over. And that consumer we are seeing is generally resilient.”
And that’s just the ones working at Burger King. Of course, it’s also why a Whopper combo meal costs $30.00.
The short sleeves selection were never good on 99 cent day. I am a large on long sleeve and most guys prefer x large so there used to be a good selection. I have enough for a lifetime. You hate to pay $6.24 when you can get them for $0.99. Sport jackets and ties are really cheap and plentiful. People who say worshipers can’t afford a sport jacket are kidding themselves.
I can’t find my jean sizes so I buy new. I have found slightly used work shoes have gotten astronomical on eBay. I needed a calculator with Trig functions and I stumbled across a TI for less than $5.00. Generally, I agree, Goodwill is getting picked over a lost faster than three to five years ago.
“Same here except it’s long sleeves!..............”
You buy long in the summer and short in the winter. It doesn’t work out if you die early.
See the reply above yours.
My state is testing “full price gasoline” thinking g that all drivers are rich apparently. Just ramped up $.20 in 3 days. $3.55 now for the cheapest
Well off shoppers do NOT shop for Levis.
I abandoned them in the late 90’s
Re: clothing.
It’s probably stolen. My daughter was a manger of a large boutique during college, very high end. The amount of stuff that walked out the door was shocking. It’s resold on EBay or whatever.
So much so, they closed the location and moved it.
(It started when public transportation stop was forced onto the center. Lowlifes immediately invaded.)
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