Sample Sale Madness
It's the most wonderful time of the year!!
The month of August is basically Black Friday for people who like fashion. At the end of summer, many brands clear out their spring and summer collections in order to make way for fall and winter stuff. This happens in the form of — you guessed it — sales.
Warehouse sales, sample sales, summer sales, back to school sales, you name it. I’ve seen it all because my email inbox is full of ads for all kinds of sales right now.
Over the past year I’ve become less of an impulse shopper, much to the relief of my bank account and my bursting closet. But there are some sales I succumb to, and they typically happen around this time of year.
I’m not immune to a good deal or the excitement of racing other customers to buy deeply discounted items from brands I normally can’t afford. It’s the ultimate dopamine rush.
Come to think of it, I’ve been chasing that high for almost a decade. When I was in high school, I’d literally count down the days to the twice-annual online Lilly Pulitzer sales. I know when you think of me and my style today, you probably don’t think “preppy.” But believe me when I say I was completely obsessed with the brand as a 16 year old.
At my private, Catholic high school, Lilly Pulitzer was a bit of a status symbol if you were in the right circles. I don’t remember how I heard of the brand, but I’m gonna guess that some of the girls in my cheerleading squad probably wore their colorful, patterned dresses to a banquet once and I found myself thinking, “I need one of those.”
But I digress. The reason I bring up the Lilly Pulitzer sale is because it taught me at a young age how to shop competitively, like it were some kind of sport.
These twice-annual sales were truly something else. I remember waking up at the buttcrack of dawn so I could get in the virtual queue on the day of the sale. They limited traffic so that the website wouldn’t crash the day of — which I imagine probably happened to other brands in the early days of big, virtual sales.
If I was fortunate enough, there would only be a few hundred people waiting ahead of me. The holding page let you know how many minutes you were expected to wait in line (I think the first year I sat patiently for an hour before I was let onto site!!)
Year after year, I got better at queuing up early and shopping as fast as I could before everything sold out, which happed within a few hours. I’ve shopped sample sales since then that sell out in minutes. It can be frustrating, but I also know it’s just a game. A silly little game to see what new digs you can lay claim to before time runs out.
I consider those Lilly sales my bootcamp training days. Like most high schoolers, I had pretty limited income so I could only spend so much, say, less than $50. Now that I’m a Big Kid with Big Kid Money, I can spend a lot more — which is amazing but also dangerous.
This month I kept my eye on my email inbox for the Big Sales that some brands only do once per year around late summer. In my experience, less frequent sales tend to mean better discounts. And they tend to be for brands that I buy from sparingly, since they’re normally cost-prohibitive.
Originally, I planned to not shop any sales this month because I’ve been trying to save money and also make more use out of the things I already have. I went a little crazy buying stuff last August, which I did end up regretting. If you chase all the pretty things all at once, you’ll always feel like you don’t have enough.
But if you only chase some of the pretty things, it’s easier to feel satisfied with what you’ve selectively curated. It pays to be picky at a time of year when dozens of companies are vying for your attention and money.
There’s also the factor of who you’re supporting with your dollar. Are you buying heaps of clothes from a brand with no transparency and questionable ethics? Or are you supporting a company that tries to do things differently by treating workers right and prioritizing things like small-scale manufacturing and sustainability?
Those are questions I ask myself anytime I shop these days. I could write an entire separate post (and probably will) about my fervent love for supporting small, independent brands in an era where fast fashion is literally destroying the planet.
But I digress again. Let me tell you about what actually happened this August: I caved and shopped two Big Sales.
One was the Flax Barn Sale, where I got two beautiful linen tops for $25 each (they normally cost over $100)! The other was the Big Bud Press Mystery Sample Sale, which led me to purchase a heap of clothing that came packaged in a bag the size of a human toddler.
Both sales were *that* kind of sale where you have to get online right when it starts and frantically add things to your cart as quickly as you can. They sell out incredibly fast.
The Mystery Sample Sale is arguably one of the most fun sales that I shop all year. Basically, you order items based on your size but you don’t know what pattern or color you’re getting. It helps the company clear out samples and slightly imperfect items that couldn’t be sold at full price from their warehouse.
I especially like the sale because of this factor. Rarely am I bothered by these imperfections, but I know by shopping the sale that I’m helping keep these items from being thrown in a landfill. Plus, Big Bud Press is one of the only places I can buy pants that consistently fit me. It’s a win-win: I stock up and they get rid of their discards while gladly taking my money.
Now, did I spend too much money at the sample sale this year? Most likely. I did, however, end up with five beautiful pairs of pants, two lounge shorts, two tank tops, and a rainbow bucket hat. I’m confident that I’ll wear them all, since I just got rid of a bunch of pants that don’t fit me anymore (and for some reason I’m terrible at buying myself shirts and accessories).
But now it’s time to take a pause. I had my fun, but August is almost over and I’m feeling the urge to pull back from buying anything new for a while.
That hamster wheel of consumerism really rots a hole in your brain. Last year I gave into it a lot, buying things on a whim to simply stuff my closet with things from brands I admired. But this year’s been different. I already own a lot of beautiful clothes, and there’s no need to keep chasing new, shiny, pretty things when I have a well-curated closet.
It’s fun to give into the excitement of a Big Sale every now and then. But most days, I’m fine just admiring what I already have.