If you pay attention to the news, you know there’s a lot going on in the world. What you may not realize is how much that can affect the ways we do business and how it contributes to the final price you pay. It’s something we think about all the time - how to make a great product at a price that makes sense.

While we were thinking through how to explain some recent price changes (see Part One: Labor), we realized that many of you may have wondered why our prices are the way they are at all. So we thought - why not shed a little light on the most significant costs in making what we make - costs that are sometimes beyond our control?

There’s so much to talk about, we’re going to be spreading this out over several weeks. Below is one facet that we’re going to be diving into today - our fabrics.

We think a great fabric is essential to a great piece and is often worth telling a story about just on its own. If you’re up on our fabric page and in-detail posts, you know how proud we are of using amazing fabrics, often from the best and oldest textile mills. As you can imagine, this sort of fabric can cost quite a bit - and this is often the biggest cost in our costliest pieces.

In one way, it’s pretty simple - the more expensive the fabric, the more expensive the piece - right? But that doesn’t really explain why we’d want to use that fabric in the first place.

A great example of this is our Campus Jacket from this season. Weighing in at a retail price of $368, it’s not hard to see why some of you might perceive this jacket as expensive. If you only saw a picture of it on our website, it might be difficult to differentiate it from a basic Coaches Jacket that sells for a fraction of its price. So we wouldn’t be surprised if you questioned the price we’re asking for it.

If you saw it in person though, we bet you’d think about it in a completely different way. Our Seaside Cotton elevates the jacket from a cheaply made staple to a genuine classic - one worth keeping for years. The fabric is unreal - it has the breathability and comfort of cotton, and combines it with the weather resistance and lightweight durability of nylon. It’s also hard to explain the way it feels when you touch it - nylon was basically invented to replace expensive imported silk, and when blended with cotton in this precise fabric, it’s heaven to touch.

This is exactly why fabric is one area where we refuse to sacrifice. A lot of companies spend a lot of time and money trying to develop cheaper fabrics that may look great in photos, but ultimately fails to live up in terms of performance and feel. We opt to use something great and great things costs more money - it's that simple. It's for this reason (and others that we touch on in this series) that Noah’s garments will never be the cheapest option out there. It’s not something we want to hide - we’re proud of what goes into our product.

Sewn up with superior Italian construction, our Campus Jacket looks and feels simply perfect and will last much longer than one you might find for half the price. If you don’t believe us, try it for yourself and let us know. We don’t normally offer free return shipping but would be more than happy to if you order this jacket and aren’t pleased.

We hope this gives you insight into what it takes to do what we do, and helps answer some questions you may have around our pricing. As we continue this series, we’ll talk about how our fabric and manufacturing choices have a hidden cost.

One of our favorite things about the journey we’re on is the great response we’ve received from people who share our values. Thank you for reading this, and above all, thank you for paying attention.