[cooperadymas]

Am I misunderstanding, are are you actually positing that nearly any American woman would think $350 is a rational price point for a bra?

Because that would be one of the best examples of the risk of wealth imbalance in our country that I've yet seen.

[Spooky23]

If they are driving a $60k car, yes.

Many women have hard to fit bras. My wife probably spends 2-3 hours per bra in acquisition time as inventory of odd sizes are tight and size fit varies dramatically. The cost would need to come down for her, but there’s definitely a market need.

[WhompingWindows]

"Pretty much any woman" does not drive a $60k car. $60k cars are for the wealthiest of the wealthy. The rest of us drive beaters or a slightly used car in the 5-20k range.

[Skunkleton]

I mean, it's one banana, Michael... What could it cost? Ten dollars?

[Spooky23]

A median income female is buying a $15 bra at Walmart.

An upper middle class DINK/DIWK living in the burbs buys fancy stuff.

[dragonwriter]

> A median income female is buying a $15 bra at Walmart.

I'm not even a woman myself, and I've known several median (and substantially below) income females to buy much more expensive bras at Lane Bryant and other places, and to express willingness to pay substantially more than that if they could find better fit.

Location on the income distribution may not be the key factor here; if the quality is there and they can scale this into an operation that is local across the country, even at the $350 price point, there's a decent size market.

[foolsgold]

Then why do I see a lot of lower income guys driving, bright shiny, pampered $65K pickup trucks? You don't live in a trailer and drive a $65K because you are the wealthiest of the wealthy.

[gowld]

Are you saying that only products affordable at median income are suitable for rational businesses? That premium products are irrational?

[e40]

You've got to be kidding, right? I see people go into debt all the time to buy $60k cars, that they truly cannot afford.

[saagarjha]

…but that is not most people.

[dragonwriter]

> "Pretty much any woman" does not drive a $60k car.

Yes, and the claim wasn't that any woman could afford a $350 bra but that they would see the price point as rational independent of whether they could afford it.

> 60k cars are for the wealthiest of the wealthy.

No, $200k+ cars are for the wealhiest of the wealthy. $60k cars are more targeting the modestly wealthy rather than the wealthiest of the wealthy.

[rconti]

I agree with you, rationally, that a $60k car driver should be happy to spend $350 for a proper fitting of something you wear every single day.

But leaving aside where on the bell curve of society a $60k car driver fits, I don't think rationality comes into play here. People have price points for various products, and even though $350 is a miniscule fraction of that $60k, if you're used to paying (say) $40, it can be hard to overcome that hurdle.

The example I used to make, back when computers were expensive, was that people didn't think twice about dropping $2k on a new desktop computer every 3 years, but expected the same $400 TV to last 20 years. There must be a term for this that I don't know, but there's some psychological bias in terms of what people spend money on based on perceived value, perceived use, and perceived market cost, and very little of it seems to have to do with what they can technically 'afford'.

[cooperadymas]

A whole lot more goes into it than this, but a big part of what you're talking about has to do with price anchoring. (Which is in itself a subset of anchoring[0], as theorized by Daniel Kahneman).

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring

[rconti]

Thanks. I'll go to my local brewery and have a $6 beer and enjoy it. And not think twice about trying a few, then going home with a growler full, and suddenly I just paid $50.

But then I go to the grocery store and the $20 bottle of wine seems expensive.

I notice things like this every day.

[Spooky23]

I’m not a woman so it’s difficult to describe why, but I know that if you are a difficult to fit size, being able to reliably source a bra is worth a lot.

I’ll tell you from my perspective, I wear a size 14 shoe that is wide but not wide enough for a wide size. My dress shoes cost about $500, which is completely out of character for me.

When I find a sneaker/hiking boot that fits well, I’ll buy as many as I can find.

[ansible]

Have her check out https://reddit.com/r/abrathatfits for the measurement and fitting guides. She may end up ordering from UK vendors, but it will be worth it.

From what I (a man) understand, most women are wearing the wrong size.

[kaitai]

I just searched this page to see if anyone had mentioned this subreddit. It is really useful. Follow the measurement guide carefully and look at recommendations of brands. I did so, ordered four styles, and had 2 solid wins, 1 ok, and one 'depends on the day'. That's way better than average.

For discussions of price in this thread, I consider a good bra a worthwhile luxury and will pay up to $100. For most of the bras I bought using the reddit guidance, I paid about $67 on sale. I will not pay more than $100 at this point; that just doesn't fit my priorities. Double my salary and I'd consider it.

[irrational]

That's why when my wife finds a bra that fits well she buys a ton of them so that she only needs to go bra shopping a few times a decade.

[js2]

I do this with running shoes which can cost $80-$250 and last from 300-500 miles. $350 for a bra which lasts how long, years? doesn't seem terrible.

[thisone]

Bras don't last years. Setting aside the fact that bodies change faster than your feet do, the bra itself wears out by simple usage.

(I am rather shocked you get so little usage out of your running shoes though, are those race shoes or training shoes?)

[irrational]

I knew some runners in college that was putting so many miles on their shoes that they would have to get new ones every 2-3 weeks.

[ryanmercer]

>If they are driving a $60k car, yes.

You realize federal minimum wage is $7.25 (and this is the minimum wage for many states) right? And that the median HOUSEHOLD income in the country is 59k, right?

[Tade0]

My SO spent an amount roughly proportional to the respective GDPs per capita of the US and my country on a bra.

She bought two eventually. I think it was $70 a piece or so.

[Holybeds]

I wonder the same thing.

I'm not sure I agree with your second paragraph though. Could also just be an example of the risks with stupidity and ignorance.