Luxury goods were once built to last, but not any more | The Express Tribune

When New York-based model and influencer Wisdom Kaye went shopping at the Italian fashion label Miu Miu and returned home with a haul of clothes he says he spent $18,000 on, he didn’t expect some of the items would fall apart in front of his eyes.

In now-viral videos posted to his TikTok account, where he counts over 13 million followers, Kaye can be seen unveiling his purchases from the brand. In the first clip, posted to the social media platform in early September, he calls himself a “big Miu Miu fan” before launching into a scathing blow-by-blow of how some of his new purchases fell apart as he was unpacking them, saying: “As soon as I get home, everything broke.”

Among the garments he had purchased that day, one of the gold buttons on a denim vest jacket “came off the instant I opened it,” he said on the video, demonstrating how he had unbuttoned the sleeveless garment. “I just opened it normally,” said Kaye.

He then held up a brown sweater, also by Miu Miu, with a visibly broken silver zip. Kaye said he had “never gone and gotten multiple pieces from a place and things are just breaking as soon as I get home. This is genuinely f**king abysmal.”

Three days later, Kaye popped up on TikTok feeds again. Miu Miu had offered him the choice of a refund or replacement of the broken items, he explained in the new video, noting that he chose the latter and wanted to unveil the new garments to his fans. However, as he began to undo the buttons of his vest, a button fell off once again. His mouth was wide in disbelief before exclaiming: “There’s no way! This is unbelievable.”

Kaye is not the only one taking their concerns to social media. In October, US-based dental hygienist Tiffany Kim shared a video on Instagram of a gray fleece jacket by Miu Miu and indicated that a drawstring had popped out of one of its sleeves. Some onlookers might immediately assume that it was natural wear-and-tear, but Kim said that she had only purchased it a month prior. While Miu Miu offers a repair service for its products, some store locations require customers to pay a fee. “It’s not even about the fee. I can pay the fee,” said Kim. “I don’t want to pay the fee because I literally paid $2,000 for this jacket and I only wore it twice.”

Elsewhere, on X, a video posted by Elena Qiu in November shows the Seattle-based designer attempting to squeeze various objects into the heel of her leather split-toe tabi boots, to demonstrate its surprisingly hollow interior. The shoe, by Maison Margiela, is one of the French avant-garde label’s most recognizable styles. In the caption, Qiu said she had purchased the shoes for $1,000 and expressed disappointment that the heel wasn’t made of “stacked leather” but “hollow with plastic.”

“I felt so sad and disappointed when the shoe cap came off,” Qiu later told CNN over email. “As a fashion designer myself, I understand how laborious artisanal craft is, and I don’t expect fashion to stay pristine after excessive wear, but these shoes were not worn excessively. I had worn them less than once a month, mostly for special occasions.” Asked what she ended up doing with the shoes, Qiu said she took them to a cobbler to get the heel cap replaced, but has since become more cautious about wearing them regularly and creating further damage – “which defeats the purpose of why I bought them in the first place,” she said.

These widely circulated videos have since sparked outrage among social media users, with some questioning the value of high-end goods, especially as prices have been rising exponentially over time. Others criticized the luxury industry for what they see as focusing too heavily on branding and trends, and not enough on durability. “As fashion consumers we need to put our foot down and stop buying Miu Miu until they learn how to produce clothing that doesn’t fall apart,” wrote Odunayo Ojo, the content creator better known as Fashion Roadman, as he reshared Kim’s video. “Because it’s expensive doesn’t make it luxury if the quality is not there!” commented another user in response.

Asked whether the Prada Group, which owns Miu Miu, is aware of these videos, and what it is doing to prevent future issues with product quality, the company told CNN that “These were two isolated incidents and they are not indicative of quality issues for the brand. We handled the two cases via client service, with care, as we normally do with all our clients.” The group added that “Miu Miu’s global post-purchase return rate ranges between 0.2% and 0.3%, making it one of the lowest in the luxury market.”

Maison Margiela did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

So, is the quality of luxury fashion really declining?

The recent incidents may coincide with a broader issue in luxury fashion, where some experts believe high prices no longer guarantee a certain level of craftsmanship. They have also prompted some comparisons with high street and fast fashion brands, which are often associated with trend-driven pieces that are not always built to last. Dana Thomas, an author and veteran journalist, who spent over three decades covering the luxury fashion sector for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, noted similar quality issues with luxury brands back in the 2000s when her book “Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster” was published, suggesting a longstanding problem in the sector.