I remember about a decade ago my cousin from Europe wanted me to get them Caterpillar, Polo, and Abercrombie clothing because they were considered higher end brands over there.
This surprised me at the time but now I wonder what American fashion brands are considered high end now?
What about brands such as Patagonia or North Face?
15 comments
It’s hard to think about any. Paragonia is seen as a high quality hiking gear. But you can also get stuff as that in Europe, especially Norwegian brands can be pricy. Or Italian. But not really considered luxury.
When someone says luxury I imagine Gucci and stuff as that, but can’t remember usa brands, but I am sure there are some. Definitely has to be something in New York.
People know American fashion designers, but the French/Italian fashion houses usually snatched them, such as Vera Wang or Tom Ford.
So I am going to answer Vera Wang, I think she has her own label in NY.
Some jean brands are considered high quality like Levis and Tommy Hilfiger but I can’t think of a brand that’s considered luxurious.
[editing just to say, this is from my personal experience. It could be different from others]
Not a single American brand is considered luxury. Maybe just coach.
Europeans dont really like American fashion because its too expensive to look normal/casual. The issue is that because of taxes and importing clothes, brands can jack up the proces ridiculously high. For example here is Spain, Zara is cheap, and when I saw the prices outside of Spain it made me laugh because its a genuine rip-off. in Spain You can buy two shirts and a pair of pants for 40€ (from the latest collection and shit), Zara is incredibly cheap, and outside of spain the clothes are double the original price.
You also need to understand that casual in Europe is the equivalent of looking nice for church in the U.S.
So those brands are not higher end because it looks good, Europe has a lot of “fancy/posh” brands already. The thing is that any brand that is not European (and is imported internationally) like Polo, Holister, Billabong, Quicksliver, Apple, etc can make the prices higher to make up for the loss in money from shipping.
That is why your European cousin will ask for polo, Holister, etc. Because in the U.S those brands are local and therefore cheaper.____
Last time I went to Australia (15+ years ago), I bought like 20 t-shirts from Billabong and other surf/skate stores because it was almost 3 times cheaper than buying the same t-shirts in Europe.
And last time a family member of mine went to the U.S, they bought loads of stuff because its just cheaper.
Its all because of taxes, not luxury. Because like I said before, brands like Polo, Holister, etc are considered casual. Polo would be the closest to a posh casual “I go to church because im a good Christian” asthetic.
As for luxury, the only brand I know is Coach.
Nobody considers North Face or Patagonia luxury. They can be expensive, but that’s not luxury.
I think really luxury might be smaller designer like Vera Wang and not huge fashion brands.
As an American now living in the UK, I’d agree that it’s more about price and less about luxury. When I’m in the US I buy lots of clothes, especially Levi’s jeans, because they’re half the price.
I don’t know much about clothing brands, but I do know some stuff about watches. And I’m gonna say that counts as fashion. Now there are people who think a watch isn’t luxury until it costs more than a house. I’m not one of those. So for luxury American watch brands I can think of Ball, Hamilton, Bulova, and Jacob&co.
Hamilton is kind of cheating because while originally being American and making watches for the US military during WWII, they’re now owned and operated from Switzerland. Bulova is similar but now owned by a Japanese company. Jacob&co are the only one that exclusively make luxury watches. Prices start in the 10s of thousands and go up to the millions. Warning: don’t look them up because you’ll probably be disappointed and think “money can’t buy good taste”
Ralph Lauren Polo + Dockers boat shoes is the typical rich daddy’s boy summer outfit in Europe. Typically paired with Ray Ban aviators, but unlike the first two, Ray Ban is considered a pedestrian brand.
Tom Ford is definitely higher end in Europe. Lots of men rave about their fragrances too.
Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Coach, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein could be considered mid-tier shopping mall luxury.
North Face and Patagonia are indeed on the more expensive side, but not considered luxury. They are quite popular in the 30-50yo sporty life style demographic.
Canada Goose is very expensive, but mostly known as a more-money-than-brains brand.
There are no well-known brands from the US that are considered *luxury* by the average consumer.
Due to people in my life being tapped in with fashion, I am pretty confident to say tho that this impression does not extend to people that are serious about this stuff
Idk about luxury, but brands like Gant, Ralph Lauren and Lexington are very popular among wealthier people – the SUV, yacht, one cabin in the mountains and one by the sea, hillside house with a view crowd so to say.
[Gorpcore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020s_in_fashion#Gorpcore) is definitely a thing here where I live, the Pacific Northwest. Brands like Arc’teryx, Kühl, Patagonia, Marmot, and even North Face aren’t particularly inexpensive, and many who wear them do it purely for fashion purpose, – the same reason they drive expensive Subarus without ever taking them off road.
Let’s be real, RL & Abercrombie ain’t Gucci, but they are certainly considered a bit higher-end or upper middle-class vibes at the very least, in the US. Especially RL, Abercrombie has vastly waned in popularity in the US (I think, maybe I’m too old and don’t know shit).
In my opinion, I’d say they’re seen on relatively similar level by Europeans on the whole…
Edit: Again, I’d say North Face & Patagonia are seen on a similar level as they are in the US (not Gucci but very upper middle-class vibes).
I’d say the better examples of what you’re asking about would be Carhartt & Levi’s, though I think even the former has gotten an upscale marketing makeover in the US too.
Polo RL and Tommy Hilfiger – Not a luxury, more like a good reliable brand.
North Face, Caterpillar and Patagonia – nope, not really, they exist on the market, but there’s nothing special about these, at least not that I’m aware off…
Wrangler and Levi’s – once again not a luxury but a reliable brand for jeans products. I would say they can be considered a premium brand, compared to some others, but that’s not the same as “luxury brand”.
Brands like Levi’s, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein,…etc, are popular. Patagonia and North Face are popular too but I consider those sporty brands rather than luxury… All of these are rather just upper level than straight up luxury brands. Most people in Europe think of Prada, Gucci, Dior or Louis Vuitton when you say ‘luxury brand’.
I didn’t know those brands were considered high end, I just kind of saw them as Uniqlo level of not being H&M, but still not something to brag about.
The high end outdoorsy brands aren’t exactly my space, but Arc’Teryx is a Canadian high end outdoors brand that is kind of associated with luxury.
The only fashion brands that I think of as luxury from the US are probably Coach and maybe Rick Owens.
The only really popular luxury brand from America I can think of is Tom Ford. Next to that there are many smaller brands not everybody might have heard of which have similar price points like the big fashion houses from France and Italy like Fearofgod or Amiri. Those sell more street style oriented clothes.
A step below which is considered good brand quality are many larger brands from the US like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Coach, Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs for example.