Price increases: It's all in the bag

With the news that Louis Vuitton is having a price increase tomorrow and the rumours running rampant that Chanel is having yet another increase in May, I sat back and thought about why women keep buying bags that nearly double in price every year and how they can afford it.

Chanel seems to quietly increase their prices about three times a year. Iin Sept. 2006, a classic medium/large caviar flap cost $1595 US. Today, that same bag costs $2,350 US ($2,500 CAD) plus tax. And yet women still flock to the stores and buy several bags a year. Recession? What recession? Instead of being turned off by these increases, women stock up on the bags they want before the increase hits and keep doing that every time there is an increase, arguing that they are getting a good deal now. So Chanel easily gets away with this because they know that women won't stop buying bags.

Now, I am a total bag addict and I admit that I too have bought a bag earlier than I would have liked in order to save pre-increase. But what I really should be doing is stop buying at these stores because the prices are ridiculous for a product whose quality doesn't get any better (and from what I've been hearing from other purse addicts, the quality has actually gotten worse.)

The problem is, they keep making new bags that I want really badly and feel that I can't live without. It really is an addiction but I don't know the cure for it.

So Louis Vuitton is marking up their prices just before the S/S collection hits the stores and the waitlist for the limited edition bags is very long. But will the price increase deter women to buy the bags? Hell no. Thank you gluttonous corporations for taking my cash.
(Photo: Chloe Tejada)