Rapha, nice but a bit pricey?

Am I the only one who thinks that £400 for a designer jacket that has just been released sounds about right?

Also for some weird reason I'm sure it was £350 on Friday... but then maybe Not the Dude doing a Derren Brown on me.

Is Rapha 'designer' though? It's brilliant kit (I have the classic softshell as well as shorts and other bits and pieces), well enough made and it certainly looks good. As you say, well-made sports kit that will last always comes at a premium, but there is always a sneaking suspicion that Rapha is priced high, possibly for 'aspirational' purposes, rather than a need to achieve a certain margin.

At the end of the day something is worth what people are prepared to pay for it. Margins applied by retailers are often arbitrary and are not tied into want each product needs to achieve to make required profit levels. Pricing is more about market-postioning, competitors [prices or simply what you think you can get away with. Sometimes prices are aritificially inflated simply make future discounts look better.

Rapha clearly market themselves as a luxury, aspirational brand and the high prices are part of that, so for what they are I do believe these products could be cheaper, something re-inforced by the fact originally the bomber jacket was released at £350 them quickly bumped up to £400. Its as if something applied the say 50% margin the company is looking to make on all its products and someone else came along and said, actually we can get £400 for that, chuck an extra £50 on it