Replica Nation

[GrumpyGregry]

Perhaps they like the Rapha ... but they just can't afford it? Are you saying only people who can afford Rapha's inflated prices should be allowed to wear the stuff?

That's sort of how the market in premier brands works though innit?

You want Rapha-esque quality and style without getting all spendy you buy Tørm surely?

Though I've the odd bit of Rapha bought second hand or in sales, I'll stick with Shutt myself. British design and British manufacture. And I suspect, as a result, much lower profit margins than Rapha.

 

[jonny jeez]

Not exactly so. You are often looking to purchase the quality and/or the design that comes with a certain brand..

You can do that without buying a product that has a brand plastered all over it. What i'm saying here is that i find the image of a wealthy person covered in branded bling just as repulsive as an unemployed person wearing fake bling from "darn the market".

Both are as daft as each other.

I do totally take on board your point about buying quality and buying "into" a brand. I think this is an excellent thing but i took your OP to mean branded stuff and fake branded stuff.

 

[MrJamie]

I don't tend to go for designer labels in clothing, not that I really had the option when I was bigger. Some of the sportswear branded stuff seems really good though, my Altura fingerless gloves are really comfy, my Skins winter gear is utterly amazing as are a few other bits, my Asics running gear is so much better quality than Nike and other stuff.

Sometimes, but not always. Some labelled stuff is no better made than relatively cheap stuff... I had a couple of pairs of Primark 3/4 length trousers that saw me through two summers of cycling, including hundreds of miles of touring in France, and cost £3 each.

And with food, you're often buying the same things with different labels. I gather Nabisco make Weetabix, and then they make Wheat Bisks for supermarkets. Much of the 'Basic' or Everyday Value stuff in supermarkets is the same as the 'normal' own brand, just repackaged as a loss leader.

I went to Primark for the first time a couple of weeks ago, I bought a couple of plain T-shirts partly out of curiosity, figured for £2.50 each I'd just use them to clean my chain if they were rubbish, but they're better fitted and more comfy than a typical £15 T-shirt I'd buy. You could argue the fabric is less 'fine' close-up but it seems more hard wearing and stands up much better to cat claws I find the value stuff a bit confusing as some of it is pretty gross, but some is the same as normal and to add to confusion, some branded things in Tesco's are actually Tesco's brands pretending to be an independent.

 

[Fnaar]

I buy ersatz Lidl cycling gear from a sweatshop in Bangladesh.
Or was it a sweet shop in Birmingham?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

You're right of course, Greg, but the OP is one of the nicest definitions of snobbery I've seen in a long time. I think a certain brand with a sort-of-tweedy image got very uppity when some undeserving types started favouring their look not that long ago?

Snobbery! Amongst cyclists? Surely you jest?

You'll be claiming they're image- and body-conscious and generally self-obsessed next! Outrageous.

 

[Arch]

Perhaps they like the Rapha ... but they just can't afford it? Are you saying only people who can afford Rapha's inflated prices should be allowed to wear the stuff?

Our volunteer coordinator was talking a while back to some of the kids who come to do conservation tasks from a private school in the city. One of them was apparently trying to decide what to do with some clothes he didn't want any more - Jack Wills stuff. She suggested a charity shop, and he said, no way, then someone might get it for £5, and they wouldn't deserve it because they wouldn't have earned the money to pay for it new.

 

[Marshmallow_Fluff]

Perhaps they like the Rapha ... but they just can't afford it? Are you saying only people who can afford Rapha's inflated prices should be allowed to wear the stuff?

Allowed or not, the fact is that the people that cannot afford to buy Rapha, they are not wearing it anyway. They pretend they do.

And, no, I am not a snob. I wear whatever I can afford and I find it that suits my needs, or my vanity even. I'm just as comfortable wearing Lidl as well as Rapha. I just don't see the point of pretending I am (or I have) something that I am not (or have not).

 

[RedRider]

Maybe people like the way the fake stuff looks?

 

[Marshmallow_Fluff]

Maybe people like the way the fake stuff looks?

Touché!

 

[Marshmallow_Fluff]

[QUOTE 2325496, member: 1314"]...that a real Batwoman outfit you're wearing, Fluffers? [/quote]

No! It's the Rapha's classic jersey with a bat glued on the chest..

 

[Pat "5mph"]

When I need better quality stuff, like shoes (I destroy cheap shoes in a couple of weeks) I go the TKMax way.
Don't see a problem with people buying fakes - are branded clothing copies not illegal, btw? - to each his own.
Only thing is if you mix with people that can afford the real thing and know the difference, you are rumbled

 

[Fab Foodie]

No! It's the Rapha's classic jersey with a bat glued on the chest..

Good wingspan ....

 

[Marshmallow_Fluff]

 

[Headgardener]

IMHO some branded items do not equate to quality and the advertising media will tell you anything if they think you will believe it.

 

[musa]

Why is Rapha always linked to snobbery and stuff? I've never been able to understand
This is just out of curiosity does the same to apply to Assos?