In some societies, clothing may be used to indicate rank or status.
In ancient Rome, for example, only senators could wear garments dyed with Tyrian purple.
In traditional Hawaiian society, only high-ranking chiefs could wear feather cloaks and palaoa, or carved whale teeth.
Under the Travancore Kingdom of Kerala, (India), lower caste women had to pay a tax for the right to cover their upper body.
In China, before establishment of the republic, only the emperor could wear yellow.
History provides many examples of elaborate sumptuary laws that regulated what people could wear.
In societies without such laws, which includes most modern societies, social status is instead signaled by the purchase of rare or luxury items that are limited by cost to those with wealth or status.
In addition, peer pressure influences clothing choice.
"What we like is the social interaction is powerful and they have worldwide appeal. We have inbound interest from the U.K., Australia, they just have opened up to those geographies. We think over time they can leverage their strength and interesting style," said Hans Tung, managing partner at GGV Capital.
“They’re heavy and they’re hard to ship, and you want the option to be able to take them back. That’s a class of products, kind of like food that’s perishable, that the online retailers struggle to make inroads to, whereas clothing and books and music are things that people are comfortable buying online,” he adds.