Branded Shoes

I was not a very brand conscious person, perhaps at that time I could not earn enough to afford branded products! As our income increases, brand awareness was somehow created, I said created! Remember before going to Mexico and US, Levi's Jean and Reebok shoes were selling fairly expensive in Malaysia and I did not bother even to enter into such shops because such products were priced far above my perceivable market value. In the US, Levi's Jean is selling at USD30 while Reebok is about in the same range of price! Because of this price gap compared to Malaysia, I thought it was a good deal to buy them and bring back to Malaysia. Eventually more than enough of such branded products were brought home, my son and myself might have owned more than 10 pairs of Levi'sJeans, Reebok or even Nike shoes. Whenever you thought you are having a good deal, we started buying more than what is necessary! If a branded product is expensive, you probably purchase just one, but when it is 20% cheaper somewhere else, you ended up buying 5 to 10 pairs!

In China, most of these "made in China" branded products such as Nike, Levi's etc are sold almost double the price in US. What is the logic behind this? Well, in China those shops only aim for the 0.001% of the 1.3 billion population, and those products are not meant to be for the price conscious normal people. But the brand awareness created in China also drives many of the lower income group to purchase these branded high end products! The power of branding and advertisement has brain washed them, branded products become symbols of status! The quality is probably just 10% better than the normal brand, but you pay the extra 100-500% more for these companies to do the brand marketing, advertisement and also the celebrities to be the spoke persons of the brands!

During my school days time, a pair of Bata "Badminton Master" priced at RM3.90 was considered a premium for school going children both in primary or lower secondary schools! Nowadays, our income might have double or even triple, but the price of a pair of Bata shoes had gone up more than 10-20 folds, yet they are much more cheaper than a pair of New Balance, Nike, Adidas and Reebok!

I went jogging in Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur during the weekends, and I observed and noticed that 70% of the people there were wearing brands like Nike, NB or Adidas shoes! It occurs to me now that wearing such branded shoes will not make you stand out of the crowd as before!

Recently I had decided to purchase 1 pair each of Bata Weinbrenner and Power shoes at a discount sales for a total price of RM85! I think it was a good deal!