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Originally posted by Wine&SilverBlue
Anyway, has anyone noticed that Abercrombie has gotten ridiculously expensive?? $140ish jeans, $100+ bags? Maybe they are trying to escape the whole pastel colored sparkly stuff that draws all of the 12 year olds to the store... 
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Sorry...double post.
I think many stores are trying to follow the new trend of expensive jeans and expensive handbags. It's always been popular (well, at least in SoFla) but I think it's caught on across the country. My sorority little is from Nebraska and was telling me that when she lived there, nobody ever wore that stuff and most people had never heard of Fendi or Burberry. When she went back there last December to visit, her old high school friends were telling her about how they drive all the way to Chicago to buy designer clothes because the malls closest to them don't carry that kind of stuff!
The problem with Abercrombie and Express trying to sell expensive handbags and jeans is that they still have a stigma as being a moderately priced clothing store. If most people are like me, they'll buy themselves a pair of Chip & Pepper jeans for $140 before they buy a pair of Abercrombie jeans. I mentioned the same thing earlier in this thread about the Express diaper bag vs. the Kate Spade diaper bag.
I guess maybe this is coming from a marketing standpoint but I think what Express and Abercrombie are doing is just a bad, bad idea. Abercrombie and Express have their niche in trendy, moderately priced clothing for high schoolers and young adults. By upping the prices and not the quality, they lose their original market. The older clientele with more money would rather spend their $140 on jeans at Neiman Marcus. I don't know of
anyone who would buy a $140 pair of Express or Abercrombie jeans. I have a feeling that this price increase is going to come back to bite these companies' in their butts.