Jeans are worn by billionaires and homeless people alike. They have been around for 150 years and are more popular than ever today. People not only wear them as an everyday item, but to formal functions and on the red carpet. “If you’re buying high-end jeans, you’re paying for the fit, fabric, and finish. Every little detail affects the overall price. The most obvious factor is the pure fabric cost. For jeans that sell for, say, $39, [the designer] is spending around $2.50 to $3 per yard in fabric, whereas premium fabrics go for $8 to $12 a yard. Right there, you’re tripling your costs.” (http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionables/70968/) “ For those who want exclusivity, there are custom couture jeans with prices that are even higher. "For the most part our jeans are in the $150 to $225 range, but there are, in designer, some very expensive jeans, and it's because they're highly embellished and have treatments that really bring the price point up," says Colleen Sherin, fashion market director at retailer Saks Fifth Avenue. (http://www.forbes.com/2005/11/29/most-expensive-jeans-cx_sy_1130feat_ls.html) “As with all fashion, a big part of the price of luxury denim is in the multiple profit margins taken at each level of production. Most any piece of clothing contains parts and services from potentially dozens of providers: from fabric and button makers, to designers and seamstresses, and wholesalers and sales agents. After all this, designers and retailers say the typical retail markup on all fashion items, including jeans, ranges from 2.2 to 2.6 times cost.” (http://atlantapost.com/2011/07/08/why-jeans-cost-so-much-premium-denim-makers-justify-markups/) So the high price points on jeans can be blamed on domestic production costs being higher than that of internationally getting the denim made as well as the mark up that the designers make in order to turn a profit.
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