The brand’s radical live pricing model is an experiment in demand-driven, accessible fashion.
Aside from attending auctions or haggling in a marketplace (in-person or online), it’s a given that one must pay whatever price is set by the brand. Well, not according to Telfar. The NYC brand became famous for its unisex monochrome shopping bags, emblazoned with the now-highly-recognizable TC logo – the initials of its founder, Telfar Clemens. Though it carries products from cable knit sweaters to durags, the so-called “Bushwick Birkin” made the biggest impression on pop culture: on the arms of celebrities from Bella Hadid to Oprah, and even featured in a Beyoncé lyric last year. (“This Telfar bag imported…”) Despite its covetable status, the brand’s signature shopping bag ranges from $150 to $257.
For its next drop on March 27th, the brand has decided that the cost of the items will be determined by a live pricing model. Starting at wholesale price, they will slowly climb until they sell out. (Reportedly, at around a cent per 20 minutes.) The product’s price at the time of selling out will then be carried on to future drops. In short, the most popular items – the ones that sell out fastest – will be the cheapest. Until April 24th, new items will be released weekly using the same format.
The pricing model flips the common retail strategy on its head, whereby “hero” products are often more expensive due to popularity, with prices inflated as high as customers are expected to pay. Clemens told Fast Company, who broke the story, “Many brands use price as a barrier to entry. I never wanted that for my brand.”
It may sound too good to be true, but the move is intended to gauge demand for each item. The most popular products can be ordered in higher quantities from factories, thus allowing negotiation for a lower price per unit. It’s also perfectly in tune with the brand’s ethos, its motto declaring: “It’s not for you, it’s for everyone.”
The idea was conceived with Telfar’s creative director, Babak Radboy when he and Clemens were trying to price an upcoming collection. A Telfar hoodie, they realized, could go for anywhere from $100 to $600. “If we charge $600 for the hoodie, then only one class of person would buy it,” Radboy explained to Fast Company. He continued, “The more we thought about it, the more it became clear that the pricing model in fashion doesn’t make any sense.”
Clemens founded the brand in 2005, but it exploded during the pandemic, with bags selling out almost instantly whenever they dropped. During this time, Telfar bags became notoriously hard to get and often ended up on resale sites at inflated prices. This incensed fans who couldn’t get their hands on the bag, especially as Telfar’s ethos was about affordability and accessibility. The brand’s response was to create the Bag Security Program, which allowed customers to pre-order bags months ahead, a business strategy that ensured factories were producing according to demand while positioning the brand as one that listens and caters to its customers.
Some may have exploited this newfound status by hiking up prices, but Telfar remains focused on its community. Or, as Clemens said, “I want people who want my clothes – and will look cool in it – to be able to get it.” It does pose the question, will the famous bag decrease in popularity if it’s less exclusive? The same question was asked when the brand staged an event at the low-priced clothes store Rainbow last September. Apparently, the queue went on for three blocks. At the time of writing, all signature shopping bags are sold out on the Telfar website and many other styles. The price does not dictate the Telfar bag’s exclusivity, but its frequent limited drops, which means that one can get ahold of it, but only through paying attention to email alerts and the brand’s social media channels.
Whereas some brands will look to working-class queer and black communities for inspiration and then regurgitate these styles at a price point that shuts them out, Clemens clarifies that his brand is for the culture – as ubiquitous on the A Train as in paparazzi shots. And, clearly, his customers love him for it.
Images courtesy of Telfar.
