/fa/ - Fashion

>>6447145
Yes, that's an apt metaphor, but keep in mind allsaints embraces far more aesthetics than just our lauded 'gothninja'. They also dumb down heritage workwear and military surplus. Men have it worse: the women's department usually has more finds and more variety.

>>6447115
I've said it before and I'll say it again - Allsaints makes their dollar on people who have taste without supporting knowledge. Perhaps taste is the wrong word, it caters to a mindset that gravitates toward dark, distressed and precious things but either doesn't know where to find them or hasn't been exposed to the real mccoy. That's a lot of people, actually.
What AllSaints does is curate to these people, do the legwork for them and then dumb down the result for good measure and low overhead. They charge a premium that reflects their mass market risk in producing arguably avante-garde offerings on a large scale but their markup is so extreme and their materials so middling that this risk is mitigated. Even sold at 50 percent off, AS is making a profit. Their unified supply chain and gradually cheapening contractors ensure this, as do the prominent locations and stunning design of their stores.
They've done some very interesting things with finishes and distressing, but those things just don't keep their shine, as it were. Too much of it strikes me as carefully engineered to hide the true quality.
AS has taken an unfortunate niche - dressing up the mediocre - blended it with a fair amount of art and slapped a laughably inappropriate price tag on it. Dollar for dollar, you're being severely robbed on their big ticket items, but people will buy them because they've no idea the garment being aped even exists, let alone where to find it.