“Aesthetics matter. Attractive things work better,” Pink wrote. Emily Oberg’s creation is one of the best example of this. She created a clothing line “Sporty and Rich” where one of the most important features of her product is design. In all clothing, design has at least some degree of importance. Functionality plays in when it comes to clothing specific for climates and activities. However, even when looking for functionality in clothing, design is at the very least in the back of one’s mind. Most clothing lines make an effort to make their clothing look attractive or trendy, even if the clothing has any functional value other than preventing someone from being naked. Oberg however, took this emphasis on design to another level. As you can probably tell by the name of her clothing line—”Sporty and Rich”—Oberg’s goal was to make her aesthetic sporty and rich. Oberg made her brand expensive for the sake of being expensive. She used athletic and minimalist clothes where she made her brand mean “these clothes are what rich people wear.” Her clothes look normal, but what makes them expensive is that the brand is expensive and it’s a way of showing other people “I have money.”
Even though I do not like the idea of clothes being more expensive just because of the brand name, it is impressive how successful Oberg is. The brand name plays a significant role in how a brand is perceived.
This was actually very smart of Oberg because, as my marketing professor teaches, as long as the value of the product equals or is greater than the price, customers will buy the product. Customers see her clothes as highly valuable, so they are willing to pay high price for them. Since Oberg knew this, she was able, in a way, to take advantage of customers and make big bucks!