I have a friend who is a buyer for Dillards (a big department store chain in the US) she travels a lot to the 'far-east' and tells of the mark-ups on the manufacturers price and the retail price that would make your hair curl. As an example Asian manufaturers generally supply knit 'polo' shirts at $1.60 per unit , these are the ones which carry the Nike, Izod , Seanjohn (Puff Daddy)lables and usually sell for $20 plus .
Supposedly all the high price cashmere woollens (think Benneton)that you thought were woven from the under belly of mountain goats that happily romped up and down the Matterhorn to the Sound of Music are now coming from the under bellies of Yaks on the Mongolian steppes, another exampleof the 'world economy or Globalization" or the Chinese/Italians ripping us off
Another friend works in the local Hermes store so I usually get one of last years range of neckties as a Christmas gift , pure silk ties that were selling for over $200 last year that she can buy during the sale, including staff discount for less than $30 and they are still making money. (incidentally the writer/novelist Danniele Steele who lives in the area usually buys 200 neckties at $200 each every Christmas as stocking stuffers for her nearest and dearest friends......yep ..its a different world )
