Day: November 8, 2025

• Luxury brand The Row is as hot — and as expensive — as ever.
• One of the brand’s more affordable items, a white cotton T-shirt, costs $520.
• Here’s how a wardrobe staple can end up costing more than some laptops.

Last month, hundreds of people lined up at The Row’s Sample Sale — or paid linesitters as much as $40 an hour to do so — for the privilege of spending $130 on a plain white T-shirt designed by Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen.

That price, more than 10 times the price of a classic Hanes V-neck, is a steal for an item from The Row. The brand’s classic Tori tee — a 100% midweight cotton shirt with a ripped neckline — typically costs $520.

If a $130 shirt didn’t beg the question, a $520 one does: What makes one of a closet’s simplest items worth more than a round-trip flight from New York to San Francisco or some laptops?

There’s no logo, no cashmere, no silk. To the untrained eye, the only distinction is a straight line of stitching running down the back.

It’s emblematic of how expensive luxury goods have gotten. From 2019 to 2023, the prices of some handbags rose by as much as 100%, according to a September report from Morningstar, which called the increases “excessive.”

But excessive may be in the eye of the shopper.

“True luxury customers, specifically for these brands, are price-agnostic,” retail analyst Hitha Herzog told Business Insider.

Determining the exact price of a luxury item, whether it’s a handbag or a white tee, is more of an art than a science. Unlike with mass retailers like Gap or Zara, it’s less about the price of the materials and production and more about perception.

“Nobody needs a $500 T-shirt,” Nicole Marra, the founder and CEO of brand consultancy Fixer Advisory Group, told Business Insider. “They’re selling a dream.”

‘All cotton T-shirts are not created equal’

Most mere mortals have not seen a T-shirt from The Row up close, felt the cotton, or investigated the stitching.

If you did, chances are you’d be a little impressed.

“All cotton T-shirts are not created equal,” Marra said.

The process for creating a better one is more expensive at every step, starting with the design.

To achieve The Tori’s shrunken fit — “one that’s more luxe and hangs just right,” Marra said — The Row may have its (expensive) designer create and order a dozen (expensive) samples, each of which has to be sourced and produced.

Then, like with any item of clothing, there are materials and manufacturing costs.

In the case of the Tori T-shirt, that means expensive, extra-soft cotton and manufacturing in Italy, where labor costs more than in countries like China or Bangladesh, which produce your run-of-the-mill white shirt. Luxury clothing in Italy is made in small batches and hand-finished using the finest fabrics, Marra said.

“You can see the craftsmanship that goes into it,” she added.

That refinement — along with the brand’s marketing and retail experience — is baked into the cost. The Row’s boutiques are located on ritzy stretches of New York’s Amagansett and Upper East Side with top-of-the-line salespeople. And, while The Row doesn’t have flashy magazine ads or celebrity billboards, it does invest in fashion shows in Paris, photo shoots, and gifting for loyal customers.

“That’s all built into the price of that shirt,” Herzog said.

Those costs mean that even at $520, the margins are likely only slightly higher than average, Shikha Jain, the lead partner for consumer and retail at advisory Simon-Kucher, told Business Insider.

“A T-shirt from fast fashion could also still have a 50% margin versus a high-end T-shirt,” she said. “But the dollar value, that’ll be different. So 50% on $20 is $10; 50% on $500 is $250.”

The price of perception

While materials and production account for part of the cost, the remainder is less tangible.

The brand could probably sell its $520 T-shirt for $400 and still maintain a healthy profit margin, or $600 and still find a buyer.

“A product is more than just its physical attributes — especially in luxury,” Jain said. “We’re not just talking about the raw materials, the labor.”

That’s when the art of pricing comes in.

The merchandising, product, and finance teams set the product’s final price based on brand as much as — if not more than — the cost of actually making the goods.

After all, brand is perhaps what The Row is selling above all else — and its brand has value. The fashion label was the fourth hottest brand of the third quarter, according to The Lyst Index, which measures the popularity of luxury brands.

“A $500 tee from The Row is not priced based on cotton and stitching, but on meaning, emotion, and perception,” Daniel Langer, CEO of the luxury strategy firm Équité and Luxury Professor at Pepperdine University, told Business Insider.

Competition helps shape that perception. Pricing can be a crucial indicator of a brand’s position within the luxury ecosystem.

If one of The Row’s competitors, Khaite, say, were to sell its cotton tee for $300, customers might think The Row’s is a rip-off. If Khaite was selling a $700 T-shirt, shoppers might assume it’s better than The Row’s.

Scarcity, or as Herzog called it, “the brand’s ability to create a FOMO on a product,” can also play a role in the strategy. The Row’s $620 Ama slides — think Adidas shower shoe — were produced in a limited quantity this summer and swiftly sold out.

But there is still a real finger-to-the-wind quality to the exercise.

“It’s often still a gut feeling, looking left and right,” Langer said.

Then again, to the luxury buyer, the price may not matter all that much.

“If you can afford to be in on the coolest, most beautiful fabric, hottest T-shirt, that’s going to look perfect under your blazer,” Marra said. “Why not?”

And, to put it in some perspective, it’s a lot cheaper than The Row’s other T-shirt options. A cashmere model? That will cost you $1,050.

• Job seekers can access free resources and support to land a job in a tough market.
• Nonprofits and government programs offer free career coaching, clothing, and transportation.
• Zapier recruiter Bonnie Dilber shared numerous free resources from Lyft and other companies.

Unemployment has been steadily creeping up over the last two years, with many corporate and tech companies limiting their hiring and conducting layoffs. As a result, many people find themselves either seriously underemployed or unable to find an opportunity.

Unfortunately, this job market has also left job seekers vulnerable to scams or companies with predatory practices. When someone puts up an “open to work” banner on LinkedIn, they are flooded with comments and offers from résumé writers, career coaches, companies offering AI services, and more.

There are other job seekers who struggle to navigate job searching because, after months or even years of unemployment, the expense of childcare or transportation can be a barrier for them.

But here’s the truth: You do not need to spend any money to land a job. As a recruiter, I suggest the following free resources and services to job seekers.

Job seekers can gain access to free transportation and clothing

For those struggling with transportation, Lyft offers a free program to provide transportation to and from interviews, and even to your first few weeks on the job.

If you’re unsure of what to wear to an interview or your new job, nonprofits like Dress for Success, Career Gear, and your local Goodwill offer free clothing. There are lots of local nonprofits that offer similar services.

Beyond clothing, Goodwill is an incredible resource for job seekers, with many offering career centers where job seekers can get everything from bus vouchers or gas cards to feedback on their résumés.

Career coaching doesn’t have to cost 

While you will find no shortage of résumé writers and career coaches selling their services for hundreds or thousands of dollars, you can also get completely free support.

The nonprofit Pay Forward Coaching will pair you with a career coach or recruiting professional for a complimentary coaching call. Additionally, they have a Slack channel where you can receive support from coaches and other job seekers.

Never Search Alone is another organization that will pair you with a team of job seekers in your field so you can support each other through your job search.

Careeronestop.org is sponsored by the US Department of Labor and has resources for job seekers ranging from résumé advice and templates to tools for navigating specific challenges, such as job hunting as an immigrant or re-entering the workforce after spending time in the justice system.

Organizations provide a wide range of job search help

For immigrants, Upwardly Global is another nonprofit that offers a wide range of free support, including career coaching, courses to develop in-demand skills, and job placement support. Mid-career professionals, on the other hand, can lean on the Rework America Alliance for similar resources to support upskilling and navigating a job search.

Another organization that can provide resources for a wide range of needs is 211.org. Its services include resources for food, childcare, and healthcare needs.

Don’t underestimate the importance of community during the job search process

Finally, I would encourage job seekers to lean on their local community. Your neighborhood Facebook group could be a great place to connect with others who are searching for work.  You can build relationships and support one another, whether that’s through transportation, childcare, or identifying other community resources.

Community groups can also be a great way to find additional support from the local community. Some of the examples I’ve seen include:

• Dry cleaners that offer to clean interview clothes for free.
• Restaurants that will offer meals for families who are unemployed.
• Assistance with meals or transportation.
• And of course, referrals, résumé feedback, and job opportunities.

We all need support sometimes

In the US, independence is ingrained in us, and many of us may find it difficult to ask for help or let our community know when we’re having a hard time. However, there are tons of resources and people around who are ready to help.

Unemployment can be an extremely scary time, but know that you’re not alone.

Bonnie Dilber is the business recruiting team lead at Zapier and regularly shares free updated resources for job seekers here.

• Alexis Ohanian, a cofounder of Reddit, has his eye on the “next wave” of social networking apps.
• Ohanian’s VC firm, Seven Seven Six, recently announced it backed social music app Airbuds.
• Business Insider spoke with Ohanian about where he thinks the internet is headed.

What’s the future of the internet going to look like?

Alexis Ohanian, one of the cofounders of Reddit, thinks there’s an opportunity for a new generation of apps to shake up how we’re connecting online.

“The most potent form of social today is basically in group chats, which is obviously not new technology, but what it’s highlighting is the fact that that’s a trusted group of people who you actually know, who are verifiably human,” Ohanian told Business Insider in a recent interview. “This next wave of apps — Airbuds is a great example — is going to be about that.”

Airbuds, a social music app gaining traction with teens, recently announced that Ohanian’s venture capital firm, Seven Seven Six, led its latest $5 million investment round.

How younger generations are using social apps is “one of the best bellwethers” for understanding internet trends, Ohanian said.

“This generation coming up has learned, and has a preference for, a less gamified version of life,” he said, opting out of the chase for followers or likes. “They’re choosing a healthier type of paradigm for social.”

Earlier this year, Ohanian also revived the social network Digg with its original founder, Kevin Rose.

It’s not just younger users who are yearning for a new social media experience, Ohanian said.

“Everyone, especially if you’re a geriatric millennial like me, you’re kind of tapped out,” Ohanian said. “You’re looking for that next wave. There’s a real hunger there.”

The next wave of social companies

Some new social media startups are challenging the attention economy with technology designed to get us out into the real world. Others are building platforms that evoke nostalgia for older versions of the internet, or are focused on connecting people with their closest friends rather than millions of people.

“We just have a chance to do it better, to build more thoughtfully, and to really build something that ultimately has us feeling better when we get off of it,” Ohanian said.

In an era when artificial intelligence is infiltrating nearly every social media feed — yes, I’m talking about AI slop — true human connection online is starting to feel more scarce.

It’s why some tech executives like Ohanian and even OpenAI’s Sam Altman are talking about the “dead internet theory,” which attempts to explain what would happen in a scenario in which the internet is more AI than human.

“I think you are seeing increased value in these more closed networks,” Ohanian said. “I’m not saying we’re going back to AOL walled internet garden, but my hunch is it’s going to be less about how do you get to growth and billions of users … and more about: How do you really build a tool that allows communities to emerge and drive tremendous engagement?”

New internet companies will be able to monetize this experience, too, he added.

“It’s not about needing to get to billions of users and just selling them ads,” Ohanian said. “There’s going to be much more creative and constructive ways to monetize that’s sustainable, and hopefully actually ends up aligning the goals of the userbase with the goals of the platform, which is something that we’ve seen at odds in all the predecessors.”

• Overwhelmed mothers are increasingly using ChatGPT to help with parenting tasks.
• Lilian Schmidt and her fiancé balance full-time work with raising two kids together.
• She said ChatGPT helps with organizational tasks like meal planning and creating to-do lists.

For the first few years of her daughter’s life, Lilian Schmidt remembers bedtime as a daily battle.

She and her fiancé spent about three hours every night trying to create a calm environment before bed, leading to power struggles and tears.

Then, Schmidt got some parenting advice from an unlikely source: ChatGPT. It suggested the opposite: letting her daughter jump around and exert energy before bed. The first night Schmidt tried it, she said her daughter fell asleep in five minutes.

Since then, she started using ChatGPT to help with everything from organizing to-do lists to tweaking meal-prep recipes. “I’m definitely feeling so much calmer,” Schmidt, 33, told Business Insider. “My brain has finally stopped running.”

Schmidt, who makes TikToks about using ChatGPT prompts and sells a “vault” of pre-made ones for other parents to use, said she uses her spare time to exercise, read, or just enjoy moments with her daughter and stepson without worrying about parenting logistics.

Schmidt isn’t alone. Parents have been using AI tools for everything, from homework help to activity ideas.

“Parents are being pulled in a lot of different directions with sometimes 10, 15 emails from the school per day, job stressors, just keeping those different tasks organized, ” Lorain Moorehead, a licensed therapist and Arizona State University professor, told Business Insider. She said she’s seen more parents use AI tools as a “great support” for tasks like maintaining schedules for their kids.

As more parents use AI for help, it can be a handy tool — when used correctly.

The tightrope of working and parenting

For many parents, balancing childcare with a full-time job feels untenable. They also don’t feel like they have any other choice.

Schmidt and her family live in Zurich, the 5th most expensive city in the world. In addition to a very high cost of living, daycare for her 4-year-old daughter is about 30,000 Swiss francs a year — over $37,000.

“Almost everyone I know works,” Schmidt said, while moms also feel pressure to be more present at home. “It’s like ‘You need to work, but actually, it would also be really nice if you stayed home.'”

This lifestyle brings up logistical challenges. Like many parents in the US, Schmidt and her partner live hours away from both sets of grandparents. Outside of daycare and school, they are solely responsible for their daughter and Schmidt’s 14-year-old stepson.

Moorehead, who said a lot of her clients use AI tools for co-parenting, said a common prompt is asking for scheduling help. One example is: “Create a sample schedule for a child who has 30-45 minutes of homework, is home at 3:30 pm, and is in bed at 8 pm. Bath time takes 20 minutes, and they need to rinse the dishes after dinner.”

She recommends the prompt to parents because “as soon as they’ve executed it, there might be a change in the schedule.”

Schmidt said that ChatGPT is especially helpful for families like hers, where her kids have a huge age gap and require completely different schedules and care. “They’re in different universes, basically,” she said.

Tools like ChatGPT can quickly tweak the schedule to accommodate baseball practice starting later, rather than a frustrated parent doing it on their own — and burning out in the process.

An on-demand parenting coach

Moorehead said she generally recommends prompts like these that “are clear, stick to the facts, and don’t use phrases like ‘what do you think?'” or seek reassurance. The best use is to look at examples and options when you’re stuck as a parent.

“As a busy mom, I find meal planning to often be a mental drain, especially when trying to cater to selective eater,” Ijeoma Nwaogu, a mother of three, wrote in an essay for Business Insider. An example of a prompt she uses is “I have picky eaters that don’t like spicy foods. Meal needs to be delicious for kids. I have chicken, rice, seasoning, oil. Create a recipe.”

For example, Schmidt said she uses ChatGPT for to-do lists or meal-planning — running an inventory of everything she has at home, to generate lists of cheaper ingredient swaps or factor in discounts from a nearby grocery store, and to tweak existing recipes to accommodate every family member’s dietary preferences.

Moorehead said these kinds of prompts are generally OK. She advised against asking ChatGPT to weigh in on a parenting scenario, because AI tools are likely to be very biased. She also recommended looking into AI platforms like Perplexity, which are known for citing their sources.

Of course, AI is not a substitute for a real-life pediatrician or mental health professional.

“De-identifying the kid or the school seems like a good safety practice, just as we’re learning more about these models,” Moorehead said, adding that a good rule of thumb is never to include information that would make your child trackable if it appeared on another platform.

Freed up for more quality time

Prior to using ChatGPT, Nwaogu felt like she was being a good-enough mother.

“I found myself trapped in a cycle of questioning whether I was doing things right, whether I was doing enough,” she said.

Schmidt felt she couldn’t give her kids as much attention as she wanted to. “I’m the kind of mom who wants to make their childhood feel magical, and that they remember me in a very positive way,” she said. “But for the first three and a half years, I was stuck in survival mode.”

Schmidt felt that instead of spending time with her daughter, her priority was managing the household and her job. She said she often gets similar feedback from other parents, most of whom have very young children.

“I hear ‘I’m trying to be a good wife, I’m giving it my all, and I still feel like a complete failure,'” Schmidt said. She feels like parents just don’t have enough support, and that AI isn’t just a productivity tool: it’s a permission slip to do less, so that parents can focus on fully showing up for their kids.

Moorehead said that when parents are trying a routine or parenting technique, it often takes a few tries and reconfigurations to get into the groove. But they might give up quickly when it doesn’t work out. AI can be great for making real-time adjustments or offering quick alternatives.

“If we can eliminate some of that fatigue with AI, then that can have a really positive outcome,” Moorehead said.

Schmidt said days with her kids feel more special, now that she’s not simultaneously thinking of her to-do lists. She recently took her daughter horseback riding, with Schmidt holding the horse. Before bedtime, she asked ChatGPT to write an age-appropriate story in the voice of a published author, recounting the day. It included her daughter’s first name and the emotions she felt, like pride or courage.

“When you’re old and your kids are all grown up, what will they remember you for?” Schmidt said. “Probably not for writing the perfect grocery list. They will remember you if you were present with them.”

• AI expert Ethan Mollick said the technology can help young job seekers with “task distribution.”
• The skills people gain to work with AI can quickly become irrelevant since the technology evolves.
• Mollick said AI can help with tasks that employees struggle with, freeing up time for other duties.

If you’re a young person trying to land a job in the age of AI, one expert says you should focus on mastering tasks, not skills.

Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, a prominent figure in the AI revolution and author of “Co-Intelligence,” said that a lot of the skills people learn related to AI aren’t all that useful, because the technology evolves and quickly makes the skill somewhat irrelevant.

“It would be helpful for young people to think more about what tasks they’re actually really good at, because that’s where they stay ahead of machines,” Mollick told Business Insider. “And then you can find a job where the machine helps you with the other pieces of your task.”

Every job, he said, requires many tasks, and it’s unlikely that a single applicant will excel at all of them. AI can help with “task distribution” and help in the areas where applicants struggle. Knowing how to provide clear instructions is crucial for maximizing the benefits of AI as it completes tasks.

“Being able to be an expert enough in something to know whether it’s good or bad turns out to be really important,” Mollick said about judging AI’s output.

He also advised that young people should focus on gaining broad knowledge and developing expertise in specific topics. Since AI machines are trained on such a wide array of information, having a strong base in the humanities is useful, he said.

AI is threatening entry-level jobs across industries, making it especially hard for Gen Zers to find work. Mollick — who has consulted with JPMorgan, Google, and the White House on AI usage — told Business Insider that he’s most concerned about whether we’re tackling the question of how to restructure jobs with enough urgency.

As AI automates some technical abilities, soft skills are newly crucial for job applicants. Communication, leadership, and organizational prowess were among the top skills identified by Indeed’s Hiring Lab. Some leaders who celebrate the promise of AI worry that employees could lose the ability to complete certain tasks.