These days, there’s very little that you cannot find on the site Amazon, whether you’re looking for a new swimming pool, fashion accessory, or, even, American made apparel. However, shopping for clothes online always comes with its perils. For one, there’s almost no way to know for certain whether or not what you ordered on Amazon will actually fit you…But, also, it’s hard to be sure whether or not you are purchasing your reputable branded product from a reputable buyer. To help guide you, here are a few brands that (as of today) are not officially to be found on Amazon.
All brands, and luxury brands in particular, want to keep a close eye on just who is wearing and/or selling their products. No one who starts a successful business wants to see random people buying up and selling their products at a large markup. So, in order to combat this, some brands restrict their products to their own specific channels/websites. If you’re ever unsure as to whether or not a product you’re buying is being sold legitimately (meaning with the company’s approval), check the brand’s website and look for their “selling channels.”
This will list the various stores/online sites that carry their product. If the site you’re eyeballing is not listed, you can be sure it’s not being sold with the approval of the company. This can mean that you’re buying a faulty/fake product, or that you’re buying the real product–but none of the profit is going towards the brand.
For further reference, here’s an article on why a place might be anti-Amazon in particular.
Carhartt
There are a few of these listed on Amazon, though they are generally of questionable quality. Carhartt as a brand is known for producing: jackets, coats, overalls, and jeans.
American Trench
American Trench is a brand that has honed the craft of creating the classic trench coat look. There are no official instances of this brand appearing on Amazon, and the reasoning for this is unknown. (To be sure, it would be fairly hard to ensure the quality of the coats, as some of them are made from wool).
Epaulet
Epaulet specializes in men’s suits and sportcoats. Their vibe tends to be quite dapper, and they even offer custom clothing on their official website. While you may be able to find a single Epaulet shirt listed on Amazon (after some digging), the brand in general is not recognized on the site, often leading to some confusing results popping up. This slightly lesser-known brand might simply be a bit harder to find in general.
Asics
Asics is a well known brand of shoe. Though the brand’s HQ is technically located in Japan, the shoes are produced in the U.S. Asics shoes are known for their ability to last, a quality that is highly revered in runners shoes, as they may be traversing many miles–even over the course of a single week in the case of a professional runner. Lightweight and generally recommended by running coaches podiatrists generally have great things to say about Asics.
Asics also have a bit of celeb clout behind them, as even Natalie Portman has been seen in Asics, as well as Hailey Beiber.
Louis Vuitton
While Louis Vuitton is not exclusively made in the USA, some of it’s products are produced in America, thus warranting its place on this list (other places of production include France, Spain, and Italy). This very high-end brand is not currently carried by Amazon. The reasoning? They are simply too high-end! In fact, a spokesperson for LVMH once stated that: “the business of Luxury Stores at Amazon does not fit with LVMH full stop.”
What can they say? Selling on Amazon is just not Louis Vuitton’s style. And this makes a great deal of sense, as high scale fashion thrives on exclusivity, and Amazon’s site promotes a kind of easy accessibility and inclusion that might downgrade their brand’s image in the long run.
Ecomended
After a casual search of where Ecomended is produced, only Florida is mentioned. The brand, relatively obsure, is based around an eco-friendly ideal. For this reason, some of Amazon’s practices may very well go against their ethics, though this is not confirmed.
Ecomended sells apparel, accessories, as well as various grooming products. Through the sale of their products, they seek to combine sustainability and affordability. Though the brand appears to be smaller in comparison to some of the larger names on this list, Ecomended has a growing social media presence on instagram. Ideal if you want to start wearing sustainable fashion but either don’t know how to get started, or lack the funds for more traditional, cost-intensive eco clothing options . Apparel is largely t shirts with plainly pro-eco messages on them.
Link: https://ecomended.com/
The North Face
The final brand name on this list is The North Face. After a general search of “brands that aren’t on Amazon,” this result is almost always yielded right away. There isn’t much info as to why that is, available on this site.
The Grey Market–Why Luxury Brands end up on Amazon Anyways
So, why do some luxury brands end up on Amazon anyways?
Gray Market
The gray market, despite what one might think, is not filled with counterfeit items. Many of the products listed there are genuine. The real issue is that they’re being sold through unapproved channels. For example, a legit pair of Nike’s that are being sold through a third party dealer who has no affiliation with the brand–therefore, the profit is not going to Nike at all, hence why it is a “gray market.”
The reason why it’s so impossible to get rid of the gray market entirely is because of the sheer volume of people looking to sell goods behind the back of the company, as well as their persistence in doing so. It would seem that the second that one account is taken down, the same person will re-emerge not a moment later via another account in order to continue selling.
What to look out for:
In order to keep yourself far away from the gray market, it is important to
- Look up websites and see what they’re approved channels are
- Look at product reviews, to ensure quality
In Conclusion, much of what you find on Amazon (regarding higher quality brands like Rolex and Ralph Lauren) is fake–at least, for now
I’ve outlined a few apparel brands throughout this article that are not (currently) being sold on Amazon, as well as their reasons regarding why. It is understandable that many top selling products would want to keep away from a site that allows anyone to effectively sell anything.
When looking to buy clothing off of Amazon, be mindful of which brands are officially sold there, and which you may be better off buying via their official website.
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