Are we paying far too much for designer fashion?

Is it me or are we getting ripped off when it comes to purchasing the latest brands on the high street?

Discuss;

I went out to my local shopping center this weekend because I needed to purchase some new clothes, now anyone that knows me will know that this is a pet hate of mine and the proof of this is in my wardrobe! I have worn the same clothes now for the last 5 years and I would be quite happy to get another 5 years out of them, but unfortunately my girlfriend thinks otherwise......

So off we trott down to Harlow in search of a new wardrobe. When I say wardrobe I mean buying a new "everything" in the wardrobe down to new pants (to much information). I started looking in some of the more well known high street names such as Primark, JD Sports, Peacocks etc etc and I selected some nice tops, jeans and jumpers which were mainly my girlfriends choice of clothing. After an hour progress was good and I was starting to build up a nice collection of clothes, then I walked past a small designer fashion shop that caught my eye so I wondered in.

All of the main brands were there including Fred Perry, La Cost, Franklin and Marshall and just about any other expensive brand you can think of, and I must admit that even I liked the look of some of the tops that were on offer, so I tried some on and picked a few tops to buy.

My girlfriend who had been in the shop next door came in and looked at me in horror. "What are you doing?" she asked in an abrupt voice. "we can't afford this stuff". It was only then that I looked at the price tags. The first words that sprung to mind were not repeatable in this article, as it wouldn't get passed the review!! The clothes that I picked up were over 6 times the cost of other items that I had purchased from other stores on the high street and without question I put then straight back on the shelf.

Which brings me to the whole point of this article, the so called "designer fashion labels" are ripping us off no end. If you put a t-shirt from primark next to a T shirt from Fred Perry for example and took the brand off, could you really tell the difference between the two? In my opinion people would struggle as all you are paying for is the name. I work for a company that produces Apparel Software for the fashion industry and let me tell you that everything we buy all comes from the same place, as I have seen the proof with my own eyes, they just charge you about 8 times the price because they know you will by it for the name and it is a joke.

Question is, in the current climate will this ever change? I am not so sure anymore because the younger generation will always demand the latest "designer fashion" while the older generation will always want the designer fashion to try and keep themselves feeling young. Its a funny old world we live in.