Over the past two weeks, I shopped London’s sample, warehouse, and flash sales. In this blog post, I will share my experiences and thoughts from the point of view of someone who has never attended these types of events before. Being in the fashion industry, it is extremely important to stay on top of current events and have an overall sense of how brands are performing. Sample, warehouse, and flash sales can tell you a lot about a fashion brand and provide important information for buyers and merchandisers in the industry. Oftentimes, brands will hold these types of events to sell past season products or products that are poor performers. Prior to attending my first sample sale I glamourized the idea of these events in my head and thought that girls who attended them were extremely cool fashionistas. As with most things in life, I should have gone into this situation with zero expectations. My glamorized image quickly dissolved and I was hit with the reality that the products for sale are essentially the worst products a brand has created, and you still have to pay for them. Somehow I assumed that these sales would be dirt cheap, but in reality, you still have to pay for whatever you buy.
Luxury Lingerie Multi Concession Sample Sale
The first sample sale I ever attended was this lingerie sale, and I attended day two of the event. I was extremely excited to attend this event because I have experience in the lingerie industry and wanted to see what a sample sale was like. I heard that Agent Provocateur would be offered, and I was looking forward to seeing what this luxury brand had for sale. As soon as I walked into the sale I was overwhelmed. My glamourous image of what I expected a sample sale to be like disappeared and reality set in. I would compare this shopping experience to that of shopping the Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual sale in-store. There were tables with bins of bras organized by size and you had to dig through the bins to see if you could find anything. Upon first glance in the bins, I realized that these are all the discarded bras that do not sell and they usually do not sell for a reason. There were odd colors, sizes, materials, styles, and none of them were appealing to me. With a brave face, I entered the rest of the event. The rest of the event was divided into sections by brand and each brand could display their products however they liked. Each brand displayed their prices on a poster next to their stand and the sales were nothing to write home about. I walked around the entire space and slowly became more and more discouraged. There is a lot of talk about overproduction and overconsumption in the fashion industry and walking around this sample sale gave me a clear picture of what overproduction really looks like. In 2018, Burberry was scrutinized for burning unsold products and I thought of this while walking around the sample sale. At least sample sales provide a second chance for brands to try and sell their unwanted products, but it made me wonder if this is just the tip of the iceberg. I ended up leaving the sample sale feeling discouraged, but the Canada Goose and Moncler flash sale was on my walk home, so I had to pop in and give sales another chance.
Canada Goose and Moncler Flash Sale
I attended the Canada Goose and Moncler flash sale on day two of the event, November 20th. This event was called a “flash sale” but essentially it was exactly the same as a sample sale. A warehouse-type room where there were old Canada Goose and Moncler products for sale. The discounts at this flash sale were even worse than the discounts I saw at the lingerie sample sale. A Canada Goose jacket that was originally £1,100 was selling for £800. I attended this event in search of some winter accessories (scarves, hats, mittens). However, I was not going to pay £200 for a “discounted” Moncler hat that was from an old season that never sold because customers did not like it enough to buy it when it was in-stores.
For years, Canada Goose was scrutinized for using real fur as part of its products. In 2020, Canada Goose announced that from 2022 onwards it would switch to using “reclaimed fur” for its products. I do not know the details of this or how consumers feel about Canada Goose today, but it is currently impossible to find any fur on the Canada Goose website. Canada Goose has removed all fur from its jackets and now offers these water-resistant hood trims you can add to your jacket. At the flash sale, Canada Goose was trying to sell off its remaining stock of jackets with fur-trimmed hoods. From the looks of it, fur is out and Canada Goose knows it.
Pringle of Scotland Sample Sale
On November 25th, I was walking around London and walked by the Pringle of Scotland sample sale. I did not go inside this sample sale after being discouraged by the previous two sample sales I attended. I took these pictures from the outside because they clearly depict what a sample sale is actually like. Unorganized clothes on tables or racks that customers have to sort through in search of a hidden gem.
AllSaints Winter Warehouse Clearance Sale
I decided to give sample sales one last chance and attended the AllSaints Warehouse Clearance sale which began today. This was the first time I have had to wait in line to enter a sale. I had to wait about ten minutes in line and it actually worked out in my favor because I was able to gather information from the consumers around me. There were two teenage boys in front of me that were discussing what they were going to look for inside and a group of 30-year-old women behind me talking about how a friend told them that there were super good items in the sale. The AllSaints sale was probably the best sale I have attended in terms of prices and the organization of the items. The best items in the sale are the coats and jackets. There were a lot of pieces from previous summer collections. Overall, I could clearly tell that the clothes in this sale were ones that consumers did not care for the first time around and AllSaints is just trying to get rid of them. Surprisingly, the checkout area was very busy and people seemed to be purchasing a lot of items.
I spotted this hoodie which I thought was extremely ironic and deserved to be highlighted in this blog post. While I was walking around the AllSaints sale, all I could think about was the overproduction and overconsumption that is the norm in the fashion industry today. There is a lot of buzz in the media about sustainability and consumers supposedly caring about sustainability, but walking through these huge warehouse sales makes me question whether consumers really do care.
“Buy Better, Buy Less, Buy To Last”
Shopping London’s sample, warehouse, and flash sales has been a fun experience but is one that I will most likely leave in the past. I rarely like to spend money, and when I do, I prefer to spend money on experiences as opposed to material goods. This makes me the worst type of consumer to shop these types of sales because the experience is the worst experience a consumer can have. I would gladly spend money on full-priced items just to be able to shop in a lovely store and spend money on products I actually like. I would rather spend more money on something that I loved rather than a little bit of money on a few, last-season items. I recognize that most people love to shop and have different views than mine on these types of sales, so if you are in London and would like to shop the AllSaints sale, it is going on until December 5th. You can find it at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane.
I am interested to know people’s thoughts on these sales, so if you have any comments, please leave them below!
XO, Alicia
