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Moving along, the ideas of scarcity/uniqueness are closely associated with high-price, which branch from high-quality as well (Lu, 2008). In sum, the criterion of high-quality is the heart of luxury, and without it luxury cannot reasonable exist (Lu, 2008). Be that as it may, high-quality and luxury should not be lethargically substituted. It should be highlighted that the concepts have differences but are nearly one in the same, and in essences high-quality is a luxury because it is simply not a necessity.

4. A Word Play: High-Quality, Luxury, High-End, and Premium

Now that there is an understanding between the concepts of luxury and high-quality, there must be further clarification on how these words will be used. Since, the two concepts are so closely related they will be used interchangeably within the thesis. The concepts are also described with the words high-end and premium. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, high-end refers to superior quality or sophistication and usually high in price and premium is defined as exceptional quality or amount. Nonetheless, during analysis the use of these descriptive words boils down to a mere word play since they are so closely related and serve the purpose of intentions.

5. Quantitative Approach to Quality: Using Empirical Evidence

Much of the discussion has been focused on either quality indicators or perceived quality. To switch gears, the focus will now be on the ability to translating these quality characteristics and efforts into hard numerical substance. Once again, it is difficult to directly measure the quality of a garment using a numeric scale because quality is that of complex attributes and content, plus it cannot be said enough that the final say is up to the customer.

5.1 Unit Value of Export

Unit value of export can be an indicator of quality at the industry level, which is calculated as nominal exports divided by weight. The measure is comparable to value added per worker in that is comprehensive taking in account a large array of activities that tend to increase price. The difference between the unit value of exports that exceeds the unit value of imports yields a quality premium. In this theory introduced by Aiginger, a hypothetical is developed: if exports are priced as low as imports, then exports would cost less. Hence, creating a difference between real value of exports and the hypothetical, or lower value, of exports (Stengg, 2001). That is to say, it attempts to isolate the willingness of the market to purchase on the basis of quality (Stajano, 2006).

The measurement has its disadvantages. The theorist himself notes one disadvantage when applying the calculation to the clothing industry. Clothing inherently has a low weight, which creates a higher unit value destroying some of the usefulness in inter-industry comparison (Stengg, 2001). Like value added per worker, another disadvantage includes the fact that the calculation is at the mercy of the price given to the product.

5.2 Revealed Quality Elasticity

Another measurement of quality at the industry level that was as well developed by the same theorist, Aiginer, is the revealed quality elasticity. The logic of this measurement is based on the ideas of price elasticity. If high prices are able to be charged while large quantities are in demand, then the product mush have some sort