Normally, hardly anyone would come to a luxury brand store just to make trouble. After all, if they had no intention of buying anything, why would they deliberately cause a scene?
Unless they weren't normal people!
So when An Wuyang said he still wanted to look at shoes, Jack knew this sale was basically a sure thing.
"For shoes to go with this casual suit, we have two recommendations: casual shoes and lace-up shoes." Jack made his recommendation.
"Sir, please come this way and try on the casual shoes and lace-up shoes. You can see which style you prefer before making a decision." Jack made a good recommendation without overstepping his bounds.
An Wuyang nodded. "All right, I'll try both."
Actually, An Wuyang was more inclined toward the lace-up shoes. Although lace-up shoes looked more formal, Zegna's casual shoes were so ugly that anyone who saw them would shake their head. Seriously, what were they thinking?
With Jack leading him, An Wuyang arrived at the shoe section. He first tried on the casual shoes, then immediately blacklisted them.
Because Zegna's casual shoes were as bizarre as ever!
An Wuyang tried on the lace-up shoes again. This time, he chose a pair of brown Oxford shoes.
The Oxford shoes had an excellent shape, while the brown color avoided the overly formal impression of black. After putting them on, An Wuyang tested their fit and how they felt when walking, then decided on the brown Oxford shoes.
As An Wuyang secretly made his choice, he silently calculated the price.
The dark beige linen Crossover casual suit had cost 26,300 yuan. The brown Oxford shoes cost 11,900 yuan. Together, they came to 38,200 yuan.
An Wuyang had previously obtained a Beginner Consumption Cashback Card through a food reward. It could provide a random one-to-five-times cashback reward on up to 50,000 yuan in spending, and he planned to use it at Zegna.
After all, there was no reason not to use a reward he had gotten for free!
So An Wuyang added, "Let's take a look at your belts as well."
"This way, please." Jack immediately led the way. In fact, he had already guessed that An Wuyang would probably buy a belt.
After all, he had already bought a suit. How could he not buy a belt too?
After some careful selection, An Wuyang chose a Hemp Gray Suede Belt. The combination of hemp gray and suede gave the belt a casual style, preventing it from clashing with the casual suit.
The Hemp Gray Suede Belt cost as much as 4,900 yuan. One had to admit, these luxury brands really were expensive!
An Wuyang secretly calculated that 6,900 yuan remained on the Beginner Cashback Card. What should he buy?
The amount was neither high nor low, making it seem rather useless.
Should I buy a wallet? An Wuyang thought with a hint of complaint.
Sir, this is Xia Kingdom in 2021!
How many people still used wallets in this era?
Couldn't mobile payments handle everything?
Even if he really wanted to buy a wallet, he wouldn't buy a Zegna one.
An Wuyang ruled out wallets. Clutches and backpacks were out too, because they exceeded his remaining budget.
Zegna was a luxury brand!
Clutches could easily cost more than ten thousand yuan, while backpacks and crossbody bags could easily exceed twenty thousand. A budget of 6,900 yuan simply wasn't enough.
In the end, An Wuyang decided to prioritize practicality and chose underwear and socks.
Zegna's Modal boxer briefs cost 700 yuan per pair. Summer Cotton boat socks surprisingly cost 250 yuan per pair, while Cashmere and silk blend cotton socks cost a full 1,200 yuan per pair.
An Wuyang picked six pairs of Modal boxer briefs, totaling 4,200 yuan. He then selected one pair of Cashmere and silk blend cotton socks as dress socks for his Oxford shoes, which cost 1,200 yuan. Altogether, that came to 5,400 yuan.
With the final 1,500 yuan, An Wuyang chose six pairs of summer Cotton boat socks. He could take them home and give them to An Huchun. An Huchun was a Zegna customer too, anyway.
After all that choosing, An Wuyang finally reached the full 50,000 yuan.
While An Wuyang was selecting underwear and socks, Niu Fenjin completely accepted that An Wuyang was a rich man.
Because An Wuyang had actually chosen underwear and socks at Zegna!
Someone who wasn't genuinely wealthy simply couldn't do something like that.
There were three tiers hidden within luxury consumption.
The lowest tier consisted of classic luxury-brand bags and cosmetics. These were things ordinary people could afford if they gritted their teeth.
For example, quite a few ordinary white-collar women had managed to buy LV's classic monogram bags after gritting their teeth, then squeezed onto buses and subways just to fulfill their luxury-goods dream.
However, in the eyes of rich people, such behavior was—
As long as they were happy, there was nothing to comment on!
The second tier was buying clothing from luxury brands.
Although classic bags from luxury brands were very expensive, they could be used casually for many years after purchase, even several decades.
Taking their service life and price into account, they offered excellent value for money!
Luxury-brand clothing was different, however, because much of it was time-sensitive.
For example, LV's new-season T-shirts released in the summer of the current year might cost only a few thousand to around ten thousand yuan, but would one still wear them the following year?
Even if one wore them the next year, would one continue wearing them the year after that?
If one continued wearing them the year after that, knowledgeable observers wouldn't see the style and status of luxury-brand clothing. Instead, they would think the person was trying too hard.
After all, it was already a style from three years ago, yet they were still forcing themselves to wear it. That meant either their family had fallen on hard times or they were desperately pretending to be rich.
Therefore, in luxury consumption, clothing ranked above classic bags.
There was one exception, though!
That was Hermes!
Because Hermes had a quota-based purchasing system, its clothing was overly abundant, and its discounts were extremely steep.
Therefore, in the luxury world, although Hermes bags ranked first in the world, the tier and price of its clothing were even lower than those of LV's clothing.
The third tier—the highest tier—was spending on luxury-brand underwear, socks, pajamas, and other products meant to please oneself.
The most important value of luxury-brand bags and clothing was displaying oneself through the brand, letting others know that one used luxury goods, and thereby gaining a sense of psychological satisfaction.
This showy social quality was indeed the core competitiveness of luxury brands!
It was also the reason behind the brand premium on luxury goods.
But underwear, socks, and pajamas couldn't display a luxury brand's value at all.
It wasn't as though one could imitate some reporter and wear one's underwear on the outside, right?
Moreover, luxury-brand underwear, socks, and pajamas were extremely expensive and offered very poor value for money. Therefore, anyone who bought them was absolutely someone who didn't care about money.
Otherwise, at the same price, buying clothing and bags would be a much better way to show off.
Before you continue