Would You Spend $700 on a Shirt?
How much is a denim shirt worth?
A couple of weeks ago I saw this post about the brand Toteme on
’s Substack and was immediately captivated by the denim shirt (coat? shacket?) in the collage image. A simple collar, nice pockets, snaps, good drape—it looked perfect. When I scrolled down to read about it, I learned that the midsize Harriet is wearing an XXS—meaning it runs very oversize. Might it be possible that a larger size would fit ME?
I clicked through to Ssense, who carries the Toteme shirt, and where according to their size guide (once again, BLESS the websites who provide garment measurements) the size large is 34.25” across the chest. According to Ssense, even the small would fit me. And the sleeves! Usually on oversized garments made for thin people, the sleeves are too small. But this jacket had a nice, wide sleeve.
I love denim shirts. I feel the most like myself when I am wearing one. But my most loved and worn denim shirt is from Target and cost… 5 percent of this price. What would a $700 denim shirt even be like? I had to know.
I had some qualms about adding it to my cart. On the one hand, I want people who manufacture clothes and textiles to be treated with respect and paid enough to make living a comfortable life possible. On the other hand, does spending $700 on a shirt ensure that? And is that price in line with my own financial and personal wellbeing? I can’t stop myself from thinking about cost per wear. If I wear the $700 shirt every day for a year (not even a possibility) it would be around $2 per wear. But the $30 Target version would be EIGHT CENTS per wear.
Yes, I ordered the shirt. And I was deeply disappointed by how much I actually liked it. It fit me, although not in the beautifully oversize way it fit the models, but I liked the style and the color and how it looked on me. I immediately began wondering if or how I could ever justify owning such an expensive piece of clothing.
You’ve probably heard of Toteme at this point? It’s a Swedish cool girl brand that is featured heavily on Fashion Substack (one of
’ Holy Trinity). Toteme was recently characterized by the New York Times as “not reinventing the wheel, but they are dressing the wheel in a way that makes her feel composed, smart and secure in her style.” Everything on the website looks very pragmatic, understated, minimal. But... in a nice way. In a “my clothes aren’t bothering me” way. They are selling me the dream that I can be both immaculately dressed and comfortable in my clothes (if only they came in my size). This jacket felt like the embodiment of that dream.But do I even like this shirt that much or do I just feel the desire to be “in the know,” to be wearing something cool girls think is cool? Do I feel desperate to take this single opportunity to wear a trendy brand that refuses to dress fat people, yet makes very, very, very oversize clothes for thin people?
I am someone who spends money on clothes. When I bought into the slow fashion dream—timeless, long lasting clothes made by people paid fairly—I made peace with spending a couple hundred dollars on a pair of pants or a coat. Still, I am definitely not in the habit of buying a single garment that costs more than $500. But that’s at least partly because there just aren’t a lot of opportunities for me to do so. I rarely have to think about whether a piece of clothing is worth that much to me because most brands in that price range don’t make clothes in my size. It’s a lot easier to think of yourself as selective, down to earth, or thrifty when those values are never being tested.
But back to the shirt itself. The denim felt pretty standard to me, though I thought the shirt was nicely constructed. The insides seems are flat felled, which cuts down on bulk and is a really nice way of hiding the raw edges of fabric. The collar has this little gusset which makes it fit nicely. The insides of the snap plackets are very wide so they lay flat, even with no lining.
I asked Leila Kelleher, Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Social Justice at Parsons and cofounder of Muna & Broad, for her take on how this jacket could be worth $700. Leila said the construction was “nice but not extraordinary.” She went on to describe how the jacket might be priced. Its retailer (Ssense) likely takes 50 percent and then its designer (Toteme) is taking another 25 percent profit, which leaves about 25 percent for all operating costs. “They probably do use better finishes,” Leila says. “But even so, they are making a good profit.”
The jacket is “made in Italy” which is often used as a signifier of quality, but I wanted to look into the ethics of this a little further. In their sustainability Social Report, Toteme says:
We strive to work with suppliers who pay fair wages to their workers, provide safe and healthy working conditions, and respect their workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively.
This all sounds great, but “fair wages” can be very subjective—what a worker and a brand consider to be fair could be really different. The lack of specific numbers always makes me wonder whether I would consider the wages fair.
I also ordered a couple other denim shirts to compare: Good American, Big Bud Press, and Target. The Target shirt fits pretty well. But the Good American and Big Bud Press shirts both have weirdly long sleeves that I would have to roll up or have altered. And they all lacked a certain je ne sais quoi. I can’t say definitively that it’s the fabric or the cut or even just the name brand, but they all left me feeling uninspired.
When I was emailing Leila about the price of Toteme shirt, she said something that really struck me: “I REALLY try hard not to buy things where I squeeze into ease but that were not made for my body.” I too have given up buying from brands that make things I can technically fit into but were clearly not designed for me, because it just doesn’t feel good. But when I looked at the photos above, I saw a different side of the same coin—I’m still trying to make the best of something that doesn’t really fit right. On one end of the spectrum I have brands that might make very oversize things for thin people that I can sometimes squeeze into, and on the other end of the spectrum I have brands that make things in my size—but not well.
So where does this leave me and the $700 shacket? I could easily convince myself that buying this one very expensive thing will prevent me from buying three cheaper things. I could tell myself it’s good to spend this money because the people who made the jacket are treated better. What I can’t imagine is telling anyone how much it cost.
If an object is worth only as much as someone is willing to pay for it, clearly this shirt is worth its high price—at least to some people. It’s sold out on many websites, especially in the bigger sizes. I bought a medium because I couldn’t find a size large in stock anywhere. But an object’s value is also personal and specific and everchanging. It feels foolish to spend that amount of money on a piece of fabric—even one I like a lot—when any day I could be bankrupted by a hospital bill or lose my home in a natural disaster. And it feels heartless to even be considering it when so many people are currently facing things I only have nightmares about.
I don’t know why this is the world we live in, where some people buy $25K bags while others go hungry. But it makes this choice feel impossible and loaded with meaning, and it makes me feel ashamed of even wanting to spend $700 on a jacket—but I do. As for whether I’ll keep the shirt or not—I’m torn. I put it back in it’s box and printed out the return label, but I haven’t taken it to the post office yet and I can feel it calling to me from the corner.
I’d love to hear what you would do: How do you decide how much is too much to spend on an item of clothing? Do you consciously make these choices or just click buy and hope for the best? How much is a really nice shirt worth to you?
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Oh this is such a rich topic! Thank you for raising it. I am an ESG exec who has worked directly in supply chain and product sustainability and human rights in the apparel and footwear sector for the last decade +. And, I love fashion. (former art school kid) I have faced pieces of this dilemma more times than I can count. I am straight sized so part of what you're grappling with doesn't apply to me, to be clear, but the dilemma around price, value, quality, ethics and pleasure certainly do.
I have recently made some purchases that raised my former ceiling on price point and made me feel both uncomfortable and thrilled. I bought 2 dresses from a designer named Julia Heuer who uses traditional shibori technique to fold and pleat her garments into fantastic shapes and volume ($850 and $1100 for transparency). I had never spent that much on a garment before and it was a months long dilemma. Technically, I can afford it, but the many questions you are swirling in were also mine. For me, it came down to supporting a small designer whose practices generally support my values and whose work is so unusual that it could be considered art. Julia's label is too small to really run an ESG program so I had to rely on material (100% recycled poly) and manufacturing location (Germany) as my two critical data points, which is imperfect but isn't nothing.
For a brand like Toteme, who is about $35M in revenue, you can gather a lot more information on their practices, which you've done. I skimmed through their report and they support most of the reputable industry orgs, have set credible goals and are working towards a science-based vision, albeit very young in their journey, which is to be expected. None of this answers whether or not this garment is special enough TO YOU to justify the expense. I sometimes like to weigh a piece like this against a truly small brand- like the sweet coat you mentioned from N-EM-CEE- to help put it into perspective and understand what you're really paying for. Toteme certainly charges a 'brand' premium that has nothing to do with rad business practices.
Lastly, will it haunt you if you don't purchase it? Is it that special? Not sure if any of this is of help but I certainly can relate! Looking forward to hearing what you decide.
I wouldn’t be able to ever enjoy it without having tried on the Large! I’d always wonder.