Europe versus US

lol, from my xp Diesel is much more cheaper in US than in Europe (speaking about Czech republic). Also season sales are more often in US than in Czech republic. Also if ANY sale / promo / whatever is available for Czech republic (Diesel online store).

Not sure about future, but I doubt about it.

Everything is cheaper in the US.

When I was in Europe (Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Holland, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Czech...etc) this year, I found Germany the cheapest... However the numbers were bout the same, but in Euros instead of $.

It's worse in Asia.

Korea/Japan price are about the same: $300-$500

I hear aftermarket Thanaz 73J's gets sold for even $800+ in Korea~

Why is it more expensive in Eurasia than in US?

I imagine things cost more in Europe because wages are higher in Europe. People have more money to spend. It will balance out.

Wages are higher in Europe than in the U.S.?? Somehow that is surprising to hear, if true.

It's not significant since the price of everything is higher. The cost of living is higher so wages must match that.

Just as an added data point, the Diesel stores in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil sell their jeans for R$1,000-1,500 (US$581-872), and I know for a fact that a US$80,000/year salary in the US will pay US$25,000-30,000 (equivalent IT job)....

I lived in Europe for a year back in 07 and noticed that prices were much higher for Diesels (and all other higher end brands) than in the US. In general, people make around the same money as we do here (I am comparing IT jobs) but tend to spend much more on clothes and accessories. They seem to care more about how they look than people in the US, in general. Granted, I lived in Sweden so this especially holds true but I traveled to numerous countries and noticed the same thing everywhere.

The main reason for the higher prices is the sales tax, or "VAT" (value added tax). The rate is much higher in most European countries and the tax is figured into the price automatically. Some countries (like Sweden and Norway) have taxes as high as 25%. It also takes quite a bit more money to open a store, and income tax is through the roof so they have to make up for it. I did get two pair of Diesels in Stockholm at a high end store for around $125 (when converted), which was 60% off the original price.

Just my $.02.....

That's crazy.... and someone care to inform me what "value" a 25% tax will add to things? Maybe "value-added" is code for "we're the government and we're going to rob you blind because we can"... sounds nicer. 

Haha, pretty much. In Sweden, the government is completely socialist. Everything is paid for (health care, a college education, etc) and that money to fund that has to come from somewhere, ie higher taxes. Businesses (in this case a retailer who sells jeans) has to pay much higher income tax (Sweden and some other European countries can be as high as 60%) and other taxes to keep the government from shutting them down, so they have to pass this cost on to the consumer in the form of much higher prices than we see here in the US. Imagine making $100k a year and only bringing home $40k. Unfortunately, we are headed in this direction and most people don't even know its coming....sorry for the political stuff....

Anyways, VAT is different than sales tax and has arguments on both sides. In theory, regular sales tax (like we have in the US) and VAT would be equal but this is not the case in the real world. Our sales tax in the US is a one time deal, and it is paid when the consumer purchases the goods. VAT is different in that in each step of the manufacturing process, a tax is imposed and passed on to the end-consumer. The seller charges a VAT to the buyer in each stage of manufacturing, and the seller pays the charged VAT directly to the government. One note though: if the buyer is not the end-consumer (like me buying a finished pair of jeans to wear), the VAT can be deducted from the tax that it imposes the goods sold and the government gets the difference. So the VAT is only paid on the gross margin for each transaction in the manufacturing/purchasing process except the last one, where the final good is purchased by the end-consumer.

Sorry to get all technical...check out the Wikipedia entry for more info.