The Rest of the Price

The Row’s $620 rubber slide comes with a complete description. The price is the only detail it cannot explain.

The Row. Ama Slide. Lightweight rubber. Contoured footbed. Seamless construction. Made in Italy. At $620, rubber invites closer inspection. What does seamless construction involve? How much does being made in Italy reveal about the work behind the sandal? The product description begins to read like a defence.

The comparison changes when the work can be seen in the object.

A classic Loewe Puzzle takes about nine hours to make. Its geometric leather panels are individually cut, finished and assembled so that the bag can fold almost flat before opening into volume. Jonathan Anderson described the design as an attempt to find a new way of building a bag.

A Loewe artisan assembling the Puzzle bag. The classic model takes approximately nine hours to make.

Another bag can use equally good leather without being built in the same way. For someone who wants a Puzzle specifically, its workmanship cannot be separated from its form.

The construction makes the labour visible. It still cannot tell us what the bag should cost.

By 2025, Bain and Altagamma were tracking the like-for-like prices of iconic bags at roughly 1.5 to 1.7 times their 2019 level. Compared with 2016–19, the number of new “hero bag” launches had fallen by approximately 70 to 80 per cent. Familiar designs were carrying higher prices while fewer new ones were arriving.

Like-for-like prices of iconic bags rose by approximately 50–70 per cent between 2019 and 2025 YTD, while new hero-bag launches fell by 70–80 per cent compared with 2016–19. Source: Bain & Company.

Gucci moved in the opposite direction in 2026. The price of its Mercato Tote fell by an estimated 20 to 25 per cent in some markets. Nothing about the bag changed. The same leather tote carried two official prices within a season.

Gucci Mercato medium tote in black leather, Spring/Summer 2026. Its price was reduced in some markets without a change to the bag itself. Courtesy of Gucci.

Hermès makes a different case for what can surround a luxury object. The house accepts leather goods for repair and restoration long after they have left the boutique. Its craftspeople replace handles, mend seams and restore colour using techniques related to those employed in the original workshops. The repair may bring another bill, but the owner can return years later to the skills required to keep the object in use.

An older Hermès Kelly bag being examined for repair. The house accepts leather goods for restoration long after purchase. Courtesy of Hermès.

Nine hours of construction and access to a repair workshop cannot determine a retail price. They give the buyer something specific to point to when the price needs explaining. The Ama Slide offers less. Its material, form and manufacture fit into a few lines, leaving desire to carry more of the difference.

Luxury has always charged beyond the object. The rest of the price becomes harder to defend when only the name remains.

Opening image: The Row Summer 2027, Ama Slide in black rubber, $620. Courtesy of The Row.