In short: Dickies are expensive because of collaborations with luxury brands like Gucci and Mastermind. They are also made with thicker material, double or triple-woven.
Dickies is one of the most popular workwear brands in the world. Their work pants are not only beloved for their reliability but also adored due to social media exposure.
Here are a few reasons why Dickies is so expensive.
1. Fashion collaborations with luxury brands
The biggest reason why Dickies is so expensive is due to fashion collaborations with luxury brands. Dickies has repositioned itself as being both a streetwear staple and a luxury label.
To be fair, their most popular work pants aren’t that expensive, retailing for just under $30. It’s their collection of luxury workwear that is ridiculously pricey.
Take their Gucci x Dickies collab for example. Available through Gucci’s Vault website, you can get a Dickies Eisenhower jacket for $7,410 or work pants for $6,591.
All of the garments are quite literally classic Dickies filtered through the Gucci lens.
Gucci didn’t change anything under the surface. Dickies’ signature jackets, work shirts, and 874 pants retain their usual cotton twill construction, polyester resin buttons, and sturdy YKK zips.
A combination of world-class design, materials, marketing, and brand image is what makes Gucci a luxury brand. And when Dickies collaborates with Gucci, it becomes expensive.
2. Exposure from social media influencers
There have been countless fashion trends emerging from TikTok. The ultra-popular social media platform is home to the recent obsession with Dickies trousers.
The hashtag #dickies has gathered over 593 million views on TikTok, giving the brand unprecedented exposure and appreciation from young audiences.
One viral trend on TikTok is sizing up the Dickies trousers so that they are just too big, and then wearing them unbuttoned, but folded down.
Celebrities like Madison Beer are also rocking the trend.
Because of this newfound popularity, the price of Dickies pants have risen due to the demand. When it comes to fashion, prices will rise when there is a huge demand.
3. Tough, durable, and made to last
A quick look at Dickies’ website and you’ll see that their most popular pair of work pants, the 874 work pants, retails between $29.99–$35.99, which isn’t terribly expensive.
According to Statista, the average price per unit of men’s trousers in the United States from 2018 to 2026 is somewhere between $24 to $26, never going above $30.
So you see, Dickies pants are actually reasonably priced.
However, if you feel like they are expensive (considering you can get a pair for $10 at Walmart), it’s because Dickies pants are tough, durable, and made to last a long time.
That higher price tag is indicative of the extra quality and durability that work-specific pants like the Dickies 874 work pants provide compared to a regular pair of trousers.
Work pants are made of thicker material, that is double or triple-woven to provide the best durability while still being flexible enough to work in.
The Dickies 874 work pants, for example, are constructed from an ultra-durable twill blend (65% polyester and 35% cotton) that wears in comfortably without wearing out.
In fact, they’re so tough that some people look for ways to soften them. This just goes to show the unbelievable durability that goes into each pair of Dickies work pants.
No wonder some people consider them expensive.
4. Differences in taxes, import duties, and retail markups
You can get a pair of Dickies work pants for cheap in the United States, but you might get higher prices if you live in Europe and the United Kingdom.
“Just a shame they are so expensive to get in the UK. They cost as low as £8 in some US stores.”
– Dickies customer in the UK
According to Business Insider, some fashion items may be cheaper in the United States than in the UK due to factors such as differences in taxes, import duties, and retail markups.
Today, a Russian will pay an average of $67.94 for a pair of trousers, whereas in the United Kingdom, they go for about $10 more than that.
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