$150 shirts are reasonably priced?

Compared to the $600 ones.

I don't find it surprising that the New York store is unprofitable. Shanghai Tang is still in the midst of building its brand name. Brand has nothing to do with the distinctive style itself. To illustrate this point, consider the Loius Vutton bag that became famous by using its LV logo all over the bag. Now, I'm not fashion expert by any stretch of the imagination, but that thing looks to be the ugliest bag around. Yet, women buy it like hot cakes. It's the ability to be seen as someone with status from a mile away (Apple has the same power with its white head phones). That's the strange nature of style, and until more Americans know more about Shanghai Tang, I doubt it will become more popular.

Uh...What's with the lines of dashes running through all but the first line of the comments?

Uh, in addition to that, it is strange that all comments are posted at exactly the same time. It is 7:53 PST now but I'll bet this comment will post almost 11 hours ago. Relativity might explain it.

Tangential, but I wish some of the European hipermarchés would open -- heck, in London, let alone in the US. Imagine half a supermarket aisle of whole Jamon Serranos, the other side of the aisle consisting of every sort of cured sausage imaginable. A Walmart sized isle of cheeses, a half an aisle of red wines, half an isle of whites, an aisle of turrones, toblerones, and other excellent sweets. Unfiltered cidre (alcoholic) sold in liter bottles! All at volume discounter prices.

Man, I miss the Continent.

$80 for a freakin' t-shirt. You damn well better be a branding expert.

This is what I get for buying all my clothes from LL Bean and Land's End. I thought Shanghai Tang was related to the Chinese space program somehow.

I hope Virginia Postrel isn't reading this, or she'll think I have no style, or no substance, or something.

I work on the manufacturing side of luxury products, and would like to share the following details. Although Richemont has many brands in several countries, its CEO and most of the brands' centers are in Paris.

We subdivide luxury brands in three main segments: Middle, Middle-high and High. Each brand makes manufacturing choices based on the segment in which it operates. This entails choices and trade-offs between volume and margin.

Therefore, part of the same luxury-good company there may be a very expensive brand with low volume, for which it makes sense to manufacture 100% in developed countries (i.e. Switzerland for watches, France for jewelry etc.); for another expensive brand with sufficient volume it may make sense to manufacture parts in the Far East and assemble them in Europe. For a less expensive brand it may make sense to manufacture and assemble everything in the Far East.

This is business logic that holds for all luxury groups: Richemont (owner of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Baume & Mercier among others), LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy), Gucci (owned by PPR). There are also decision elements tied to mass merchandising strategies: in the '80 Gucci embarked on a strategy of making their brand available to a much broader array of stores (to sell more of course!), but it backfired. The brand lost status and the strategy had to be reversed to regain its strength among status-conscious consumers.

I'm not a marketing specialist and can't pass judgement on what Richemont is doing with its Shanghai Tang brand of stores. However, what is high status in Shanghai may not have the same status in New York. As you wrote, "(Shanghai Tang) ... clothes and accessories are world-class and, compared to other luxury brands, very reasonably priced". But sometimes it is just the price level that makes a brand exclusive. Among the characteristics that make a consumer good a luxury good, there are not only superior quality, but also the fact of increasing it's owner image and self esteem.

We'll have to wait and see whether Shanghai Tang will be successful in New York in the long term.

I had occasion to see David Tang interviewed on HK TV a couple years ago when I was traveling through there. Tang may well be the coolest guy on the planet. Among his minor accomplishments is that he translated Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into Chinese.

I recently went to the Shangahi Store - Hong Kong airport. Customer service is very important if you want repeat business. The sales lady looked me over, decided in her mind's eye that I can not afford anything in her store and promptly ignored me. She probably mistook me for a nanny rather than a business person who prefers to travel in my oldest, most comfortable pair of jeans, t shirt and worn out running shoes. I prefer to leave my hard earned money to somebody who will wait on me with interest and a bit of a smile at least. I will buy my clothes somewhere else.

Customer service is important. Unfortunately, all over Asia I think it is not the priority we are accustomed to. In London I was treated with the utmost respect when trying on Galliano's collar in a Dior store on Oxford street. In the Dior shop on Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills CA. I was treated rudely and all but driven out of the store. Funny thing is that I probably looked like I had more money than that day in London. But would I fly all the way to London if I were in CA? No. I just send my comments along to help people improve. Help Asia, send your poor service experiences and helpful suggestions to the management.