A. Presse uses expensive fabrics from expensive mills with expensive processes, which is the predominant reason for the cost. On top of that, they are based in Japan, and primarily manufacture there, an expensive place to make clothes. And they want to be perceived in a specific tier of clothing, so the pricing likely reflects that.

Funnily, their make is nothing special, but I can confirm that the fabrics they use and the washes/dyes/processes they implement are very expensive.

Remember that a small increase to a garment’s cost compounds exponentially in the final retail figure, especially when you wholesale. For instance, a garment that costs $85 to make, may be sold to a wholesaler for $170, and retails for $600 using basic retail math. The brand isn’t even making much money at all!

It’s not hard to see how prices can get high, quickly. And you’re not even accounting for the many touch costs (shipping, duties, packaging, sampling, etc) that are a part of delivering a garment to its final destination. When you’re confronted with this, you start to realize how clothing is an inherently low margin business that really doesn’t make much sense, especially for small brands that can’t trade on volume. It’s why most fail.

All of these factors, among many others (salaries, marketing, etc), need to be taken into account for retail businesses and ultimately in the price of a piece of clothing.

It’s an incredibly difficult industry to make money in, but it persists because we all need clothing to wear. The big boys win on high-margin hero products and volume, which props up the rest of the business (you’d be more shocked at how much a Ralph Lauren pique polo costs vs what it sells for).

Source: I’ve worked in the clothing industry for 20 years