How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

Post by TulliusCicero » Thu, Apr 10, 2025, 5:52 AM UTC

marenkay wrote: post #674

ta8645 wrote: post #672

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you're advocating for a centrally planned market that allocates resources according to a grand, rational vision. A free market will by definition be messy, sometimes inefficient, adhoc, and defy any notion of a grand vision. You have to trust the free market to produce the best results in the long run, and to be the most responsive to change (opportunity).

Not really. The opposite. The current market is centralized a lot more than people want to see or admit. I had trust in the free market for a long time but it has not really materialized the best results. As can be seen by the current state of affairs. Everyone fighting over who gets to have money and production is not freedom, it's a war without guns. Just to make this clear, a truly free market would be desirable b…

Post by conductr » Thu, Apr 10, 2025, 6:06 AM UTC

blitzar wrote: post #388

audunw wrote: post #355

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On thing you have to consider is the scale at which these shoes are sold at each step. From the factory they're processed and shipped in giant containers. The overhead of handling each shoe is fairly small at that stage. When it comes to the retailer, there's a huge increase in the amount of work and overhead for each shoe sold. And the labor cost for that work is much higher than on the Asian side of the supply chai…

Real estate is insanely expensive - you have to sell a lot of shoes with your "100% markup" to make rent. The flip side however - e-commerce with its totally different cost structure and same traditional RRP as brick and mortar retail - should be - a gift from above for retailers.

Post by Symbiote » Thu, Apr 10, 2025, 6:14 AM UTC

wkat4242 wrote: post #667

smadge wrote: post #393

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The joke is that Warhammer sets are expensive.

I'm kinda surprised people aren't just buying a 3D printer. I print stuff all the time. I'm not into this kind of game but if I were I wouldn't pay that much for a piece of plastic I can print at home for 3 bucks.

Post by dmoy » Thu, Apr 10, 2025, 6:21 AM UTC

IndrekR wrote: post #695

dmoy wrote: post #570

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Lego is pure IP (both from LEGO itself, and then e.g. Disney or whoever is behind the theme of a given set). If you get sets designed in China and made at the same factories that make Lego bricks, they're like 1/3 the cost. If you get sets designed in not-China but obviously ripped off ("Star World" sets that are 1:1 copies of Star Wars legos), also in the same factories, it's like 1/10 the cost. The manufacturing is…

> If you get sets designed in China and made at the same factories that make Lego bricks, they're like 1/3 the cost. Lego does not outsource brick making. They tried it out back in 2005 with Flextronics in Hungary and got a painful lesson. Lego runs all their factories themselves now.

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 10, 2025, 6:33 AM UTC

alvah wrote: post #605

rayiner wrote: post #42

Americans need to get over their view of “Asia” as being about making shoes. When I was working in engineering in the early aughts, we mocked the Chinese as being able only to copy American technology. Today, China is competitive with or ahead of America in key technology areas, including nuclear power, AI, EVs, and batteries. We need to anticipate a future where China is equal to America on a per capita basis, but f…

"We need to anticipate a future where China is equal to America on a per capita basis, but four times bigger" Four times bigger absolutely will not happen; China's demographic disaster is already baked into the cake. Forecasts suggest China's total population will be around 1.5x the USA by 2100, but the average age / working age population will be in the USA's favour.