Have you all checked out this site? Judging by the prices and the lack of brand names, I assume they sell knockoffs, but why are they so expensive compared to the average knockoffs? I mean, their Arne Jacobsen Series 7 chair is just under $300. A real one is $433. A Chinese knockoff is about $80. Are these just better copies? It seems a little dicey to be selling blatent copies (including names) of these items.
Just curious what you all think.
fm
Bait and Switch
This is the worst case scenario of knocking off a good design: the company tells you the whole story of the designer and leads you to believe that they are selling the authentic product. You check it out on other websites and their prices seem comparable, but a little bit higher. So you think you've got a great deal. then your chair falls apart six weeks later, or you try to return your coffee table to Herman Miller and you find yourself up the proverbial creek.
Many similar sites.
Your doubts got me interested.
A Google search looking for bauhaus furniture manufactured in Italy returned many locations, on both sides of the Atlantic, seemingly selling the same range of furniture. Interestingly one of the producers in Italy had a disclaimer as to where certain designers were sold.
What I know.
Hey! I recently called them inquiring about the Gerald Summers chair and this is what they basically said... they sell items in which the patents have expired. Their chairs, etc. don't have any distinguishing marks on them. I don't know why prices are so high on certain items tho. Also, this is the cheapest and one of the only places that I know that is selling the Gerald Summers sculptural chair. If anyone else knows another place that I can purchase a new one, I would appreciate it! Thanks!!!
matter of time
I guess some were waiting for me wade in on this subject... since i do some what preach about it . It is getting to the point that most reproductions are made in China, sorry to say cause I am not a fan of China for there Human rights issues and there
work ethic , but they are sewing up the designer modern furniture market on a daily bases.
There are now 10 major factories around China and I have the list of the factories makeing this furniture and distributing it all around the world.
This bull crap of stores saying it is made in Italy for our company and shipped to our show room is just not true .
They can not compete with the cheap Chinese labor. if they want to sell this kind of furniture cause there is a little markup in it the way the Internet stores are selling it. example a Barcelona chair wholesales for 465.00 with shipping sells on the Internet 699.00 shipping free. not much of a profit but if you are not a brick and morter store, and have no overhead, not bad for taking a order from your customer for Alphaville furniture and a drop shipment from Culver city Ca. or New Jersey. Now the ones who have a warehouse like Furniture Fancy they take ownership of the furniture at there warehouses and then ship out to the customer . they buy from Alpha ville at even a lower prices and still make a slim margin .
There is a wholesaler for the life of me
I can not figure them out. There name is Gordon and they are out of NYC and they are a wholesale seller to the Trade my question why ?
Why would any one pay top dollar from a store for a reproduction with no major name on it like knoll HM Fritz Hansen, Cassinas , at best it is what it is a knockoff of a original .
If they are making them better cause they say they are having them made in Italy, that is great, and say that is why they have to charge more. if it were truly a
correct statement, but at the end of the day it is what it is a reproduction and doesn't matter where it is made in China Italy or down the street from where you live.
I know every one on this forum does not like the repo stores cause they are afraid of the cheap product some are good and some are bad . that is up to you to research there feed back and do not buy unless you are comfortable with them .
I am not that impressed with the Hive, DWR,and several other that sell only the originals cause they charge full full Retail and no discount . They really should give us poor design addicts a break they could do twice as much business if they drop those prices and we would all be so happy!!! and not have to have discussions about stores on both side of the ocean that sell cheap knockoffs.
The reason why it's so...
The reason why it's so expensive compared to the original is because LOWER priced classics don't have the margins in the reproduction world.
A Barcelona chair makes sense to sell for a reproductoin company because the original is nearly 4k. But anything original under 1k is going to be tough for a reproduction company to dramatically beat on price
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