Hi everyone! As what is already firmly established from my other posts, it is a goal of mine to educate others and spread knowledge about the fashion industry. This blog post is about how to be a smart and wise consumer of fashion goods by correctly shopping off-price and discount stores. In this post I will explain brand licensing and third-party manufacturing, how outlet and discount stores are not always giving you the better deal, and how to properly shop these stores for the actual best deal and goods.
Most of my friends prefer spending their money at off-price and outlet stores like Nordstrom Rack and Ross. These stores offer a variety of affordable prices of name brand goods. Sounds like a great deal, buying expensive brands for reasonable prices.
But there’s a secret to why these off-price stores and goods are so affordable that many consumers do not know about, and I am writing this blog to inform y’all about how to correctly shop on a budget.
Many off-price stores will sell products that may have a name brand label, but are not actually a part of that real brand. Big clothing companies will license out their name to third party manufacturers, and these manufacturers will receive most of the profit while the big clothing company receives a percentage of royalties. These manufacturers will produce goods that are not as great of quality as if the actual brand were to produce them. And these said products made by third party manufacturers are what fills up most of the Nordstrom Racks, Ross’s, Marshall’s, TJ Maxx’s, you name it. These brands and products with “such great markdown prices” are not made as well, and do not last as long, and by slapping a label and a name to a product not officially from that company, these manufacturers and discount stores are basically ripping off the general public without them even knowing it.
This may sound confusing, so let me give you some examples I’ve encountered when shopping discounted and outlet prices while looking for a good deal.
Sometimes the difference in quality and manufacturing comes from the textiles. When I walk into a Macy’s department store, and shop for Betsey Johnson handbags, the leather is a soft and durable pebble leather that is easily malleable and well worth the $100+ the handbag is priced at. Walking into a Stein Mart, however, and finding Betsey Johnson bags there for a fraction of the price than found at Macy’s may seem like an amazing deal, but those handbags at the discount store are made with a stiffer hatched leather and the stitching is not as well-enforced. This is a perfect example of real name brand manufacturing and retailing and third-party licensing sold through an outlet retailer for a cheaper price.
Sometimes brands will just produce off-names or lines from their original clothing line to offer cheaper prices and cheaply-made garments while still keeping that name and brand royalty. Good examples of this are CK by Calvin Klein, Z by Zella, alexanderwang.t, and basically anything that has an association with a big name but has a change of label. This even occurs in department stores when luxury designers are trying to appeal to regular shoppers (i.e. alexanderwang.t). All of these brands may officially stem from those big parent clothing companies, but they are not truly that brand, and more people need to understand this.
So, how do you shop for a good deal on that real real? Watch out for off-brand labels stemming from parent companies and look for official clothing labels. Another good tip is to shop the “clearance racks” at outlet stores. More than likely, these one-of-a-kind goods were not created specifically for that discount store and were shipped there from their full-price store as clearance items and are true markdowns (Nordstrom Rack has a whole fixture for Z by Zella, which is a discount brand, while actual Zella workout pants may be found on the sales rounders with only a couple pairs of one style).
Thank you for reading through this rather lengthy blog post of mine, there was a lot of information I wanted to express this week and I hope these tips help you guys to be better shoppers and start getting your money’s worth out of the items you shop for.
Lorraine