Sample sales in New York have changed from shopping therapy at exclusive events to chaotic combat zones. A 2024 Versace sample sale ended with police intervention after 1,000 shoppers mobbed the entrance and started physical fights. Dedicated shoppers now hire professional line-sitters because queues stretch three blocks long at coveted events like The Row’s semi-annual sale.
Social media’s influence, especially platforms like TikTok, has crushed one’s chances of finding real deals at these events. Aggressive resellers control these sales by hoarding merchandise and streaming their purchases live to their followers. The sample sale experience has vanished completely, and both shoppers and brands are looking for solutions.
TikTok Resellers Transform NYC Sample Sales
The digital spotlight drew a new breed of aggressive shoppers who saw profit opportunities.
Livestreamers Disrupt Traditional Shopping
TikTok resellers’ ruthless tactics follow a calculated plan – they pay others to wait in line, systematically hoard merchandise, and run livestream sales right from the events. Shoppers must now make their way through chaos as resellers guard their accumulated piles and block others from reaching merchandise [2].
“They hoard these piles, take pictures of everything and shoo people away that try to get near the racks that they’re at,” a frustrated shopper explained in a video that reached more than 460,000 views .
Versace Sale Shutdown Revealed Growing Tensions
A Versace sample sale showed these tensions dramatically. Social media posts hyped the event with promises of 80% discounts, which prompted dedicated shoppers to camp out from 2 a.m. More than 1,000 people joined at the Metropolitan Pavilion, and chaos quickly followed.
Fights broke out among shoppers desperate for luxury items, forcing security to call NYPD for help . People pushed and shoved aggressively at the entrance and inside, as captured in various videos, until authorities stepped in. The organizers shut down the event and posted a closure notice where an advertisement for irresistible discounts once hung .
Shoppers Confront Aggressive Tactics at Sample Sale Events
Designer sample sales in New York have turned into battlegrounds where aggressive tactics rule the day. Regular shoppers struggle to compete with professionals who use everything from paid line-sitters to merchandise hoarding and sometimes resort to physical intimidation.
Line-Sitters Command Premium Fees
Line-sitting services have become the new gatekeepers to these coveted sales. Same Ole Line Dudes LLC, a leading line-sitting service, sets their rates at $25 for the first hour and $10 for each additional half-hour. The company raised their minimum fee to $50 for up to two hours, while sample sales cost $65 for up to 2.5 hours. Night shifts between midnight and 7 AM come with a $15 premium.
Hoarders Block Access to Merchandise
The challenges don’t end at the door. Inside, shoppers must deal with merchandise hoarders who block others from reaching the products. A shopper’s TikTok video that spread widely showed how “They hoard these piles, take pictures of everything and shoo people away that try to get near the racks that they’re at“. Regular customers end up squeezed into “a few inches of rack space at a time” .
Physical Altercations Erupt Over Limited Items
Competition for scarce items often turns violent. Police had to intervene at an Alice + Olivia sample sale when two women fought over a leather jacket – one woman scratched the other’s face. The Manolo Blahnik sale at the Warwick Hotel has earned a reputation for bringing out “the worst in New York’s most cultured, stylish buyers“. The scene inside gets wild: “Inside, there are screams, bags being ripped open and shoes soaring over shoppers’ heads” . Security guards can’t always maintain order. One shopper watched helplessly as “one woman snatch a pair of shoes out of another woman’s pile and refuse to give them back”.
Brands Struggle to Control Chaotic Sample Sale Environment
Major sample sale organizers in New York faced unprecedented chaos at their events in 2023 and 2024. They’ve since put strict measures in place to restore order and control. These efforts have only partially worked as the traditional sample sale shopping experience seems to be gone, at least for now.
Sample Sale Organizers Implement New Policies
260 Sample Sale hosts events for premium brands like Acne Studios, Maison Margiela, and many others in NY, LA, MIA, CHI, DAL and Online. The company has put several policies in place to curb disruptive behavior. The rules now limit customer purchases and shopping time “to ensure traffic is moving.” The company’s loyalty program gives subscribers VIP previews and organize online events.
Luxury Labels Retreat to Invitation-Only Events
High-end brands are moving to invitation-only models because of the growing chaos. The Hermès sample sale runs as a private event. You’ll likely need an official invitation to get in.
Luxury labels want to protect their brand image and shopping experience for their most valued customers. They limit access and create controlled environments. This approach lets them test new products and services while getting feedback from a selective audience.
Will Shoppers Abandon Once-Beloved Sample Sales?
Many longtime sample sale enthusiasts have simply walked away. College students and aspirational shoppers who relied on these events to get luxury brands now find themselves priced out completely.
The community aspect has disappeared along with affordability. Regular shoppers remember when attendees would pass unwanted items to others in line and help fellow customers find perfect pieces. That friendly spirit has vanished. Abdul, a veteran sample sale shopper, describes today’s environment as “vicious.”
“The resellers weren’t as vicious as the ones I’m seeing now,” she noted. “When I say vicious, they’re vlogging live from the sale and trying to sell products to some of their clients, live and direct” .
Many once-loyal customers now feel the experience isn’t worth the hassle.
Industry Experts Propose Solutions to Sample Sale Crisis
The New York sample sales experience is at a crossroads, and industry experts suggest different ways to bring back order and make sales accessible. Their ideas range from tech solutions to complete business model changes, though each solution comes with its own set of challenges.
Some Brands Think About Abandoning Sample Sale Model
The mounting challenges have pushed some luxury labels to think about dropping traditional sample sales completely.
Other options include switching to digital platforms only, creating invite-only events, or building specialized sample sale spaces. Sensoria, a New York startup, offers “art-directed sales” for emerging designers that create experiences “as unlike normal sample sales as possible.” The company’s photographers and stylists present last season’s items in fresh ways to avoid the chaos found in traditional events.
The experts agree that the current model just isn’t working anymore and that TikTok’s influence changed what used to be a unique New York shopping experience.
Conclusion
Social media exposure has turned NYC sample sales from exclusive events into viral sensations. TikTok has changed the shopping scene, pushing regular customers away as resellers take over. Brands now struggle to protect their products and their image while these sales become more chaotic.
Determined resellers keep finding ways around security measures and buying limits.
Luxury brands can’t decide what to do next with NYC sample sales. Some brands now only run invite-only events or sell online. Others have given up on sample sales completely. This retail crisis raises bigger questions about keeping fashion’s discount market fair and sustainable.
Sample sales need major changes to stay alive. Brands must find the sweet spot between making sales accessible and keeping them under control. They might need better verification or completely new ways to sell. The next few months will show whether these beloved New York shopping traditions can survive or if they’ll become just another retail memory.
Christian Siriano kicked off the NY Fashion Week Spring 2022 edition on Tuesday night with a colorful (some called it over the top) collection. Siriano remains the same sassy, creative genius we first met and fell in love with during the fourth season of the Project Runway. He is the man who famously wrote Dresses to Dream About, a television star himself who dresses celebrities like Michelle Obama, Oprah, Rihanna, and Heidi Klum for star-studded events. It seems only natural for him to err on the side of opulence after such a long break from the runway. “We’re getting the most insane requests,” said Siriano, talking about client demands and what inspired him to be more “fierce” than usual in this particular collection.
A sign of the times we live in and proof of how much we’ve changed in these 18 months was Vogue editor’s review of the collection and her suggestion for Siriano and implication for all of us that the sensible thing to do might be to exercise restraint when faced with the temptation of being “extra”. Great advice at any time, but in the current economic situation, it was particularly auspicious and surprised us only because it came from Vogue:
Last year marked a defining moment for the fashion industry. The social justice movement that followed George Floyd’s murder forced a difficult introspection into an industry riddled with inequities, racism, and elitism. Brands and magazines rushed to express their unflinching support for the BLM movement, hired and promoted new black employees, released statements, wrote apology letters (see Anna Wintour) and sold a lot of slogan T-shirts. There were also initiatives like Black in Fashion Council and 15 Percent Pledge that we hope are here to stay.
The Siriano show opened and closed with Precious Lee, the first black curve model to appear on the pages of American Vogue. This was not the first time Siriano featured diverse models, in fact, throughout his career the designer built a reputation for supporting inclusivity and diversity by dressing actresses and models of all sizes and ethnicities, and actresses that other designers won’t dress. He was famously once the only designer willing to dress Leslie Jones for her Ghostbusters premiere and later on was one of the first designers to cast “curve” models. While his “People are People” mantra shows Siriano was ahead of the curve in terms of body positivity and inclusivity, the industry has had some catching up to do. In addition to designers like Siriano, companies like Savage X Fenty and SKIMS have successfully introduced body positivity and the industry has no option but to follow at this point — if it hasn’t changed yet, it has to.
Before the pandemic, we were questioning the validity of a wholesale business model and the importance of traditional media in this context. While these problems haven’t necessarily been solved we are faced now with the reality of an industry more aware of its excesses and past injustices and prejudices and hopefully honestly willing to make amends.
Image credit: Daria Golubeva via iStock by Getty Images
Victoria’s Secret has been busy during the pandemic doing some damage control, quite necessary for a brand affected by years of poor management and a toxic, albeit third degree, association with Jefrey Epstein.
The company was founded in 1977 by Roy Raymond who got the idea for a lingerie store while shopping for his wife. Forty-four years later Martin Waters, Victoria’s Secret new CEO decided to dramatically change things. He told the New York Times “We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want.”
After years of customer complaints the company decided to reduce the super skinny models in half-clothed attires.
In an Instagram post last week Victoria’s Secret shared “We are proud to announce an exciting new partnership platform, #TheVSCollective, designed to shape the future of Victoria’s Secret. These extraordinary partners, with their unique backgrounds, interests and passions will collaborate with us to create revolutionary product collections, compelling and inspiring content, new internal associate programs and rally support for causes vital to women.”
The first partners are Priyanka Chopra Jonas, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, mental wellness supporter Adut Akech, equality activist Amanda de Cadenet, skier Eileen Gu, body advocate Paloma Elsesser, and LGBTQ activist and model Valentina Sampaio.
Image credit: FashionStock.com via Shutterstock
The only thing I knew for sure about my clothes prior to the pandemic was that they were tangible and that they could be reliably found cramming my closets. It turns out that I was wrong. As life moved online during COVID-19, so did our clothes. And our artwork, if we are a little posh.
The news buzz about digital fashion for the benefit of “commercial growth and marketing activation” turned into a lion’s roar about digital fashion “overtaking physical stores” to further “consciousness and identity shift.”
WOW! Talkabout COVID-19 accelerating trends! As fashion brands cancelled runway presentations, they had to come up with projects to get their vision across. Ballenciaga created a video game and Gucci entered into a digital collaboration with Pokemon for the player’s avatars. We are starting to see the formation of a market for these projects and their designers need to receive credit and be paid, which requires a special technology that protects ownership. This past February’s first ever Crypto Fashion Week was an example of such a platform that couldn’t exist if it weren’t the blockchain technology.
As proof of ownership is one of the fundamental properties of cryptocurrencies, the traditional high end fashion industry is also becoming increasingly interested in blockchain technology. Louis Vuitton, Cartier, and Prada have built Aura on blockchain technology to fight the counterfeit goods war.
Despite this avalanche of adoption, crypto fashion is still in its infancy. It is a complex field that goes beyond NFT’s into gaming, metaverses and augmented realities. Natalia Modenova, co-founder of the (exclusively) digital fashion retailer DressX thinks that “it’s going to take leaders in the market to push mass adoption.” It will be interesting to see what happens and if the push will come from the fashion industry or somewhere else.
So far the biggest news splash was made by Andreessen Harowitz and its $8 million investment in the virtual fashion platform RTFKT, which specializes in digital sneakers and other virtual accessories. I personally find it hard to believe it’s just coincidence that Marc Andreessen was also one of the first investors in bitcoin. Remember how we discussed that the future of bitcoin depends exclusively on whether there are reasons for it to exist? I believe Marc Andreessen and his investment in virtual fashion just gave bitcoin a stylish raison d’etre.
Image credit: 3DSculptor via iStock by Getty Images
A media mogul and his fashion designer wife gifted the city of New York a 260 million dollar park floating on the Hudson River. How the city received the gift says a lot about the current New York State of mind.
Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller are behind Little Island, the 2.4-acre public park designed by Thomas Heatherwick on the site of the formerly derelict Pier 55.
With an amphitheater, observation sites, eating area and a landscape design that incorporates 270 varieties of grasses, perennials, vines and bulbs, the place is described as charming, even by its detractors.
In The Wall Street Journal article “How Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg Built NYC’s Little Island” you learn that the family foundation gave $260 million to build Little Island and has committed another $120 million over the next 10 years for maintenance. You also learn about the politics of building a public park, and some difficulties they faced building it.
In the Washington Post “Seeing the wrong kind of green In New York City’s Little Island” you hear a different opinion, one that builds on the idea of rampant inequality and sees the gift as a tax deduction and a showy form of philanthropy.
Whatever side you are on, enjoy the place and try to step out of this never ending cycle of debates.
Image credit: CHOONGKY via Shutterstock
Crypto is creeping into fashion. If you don’t know this, you should. Bitcoin was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and it has been defined as: a protocol, a currency, a payment system, a technology platform, or an open source software.
Venture Capitalists like Mark Andreessen understood the technology quickly and were its early adopters, but regular investors were slow to warm up to it.
Bitcoin’s high volatility, large number of scams, and reputation for being the preferred currency for criminal activity did not help the adoption process. Despite its ups and downs, its market capitalization continued to climb and recently reached one trillion dollars.
As of today, investing in it is still very risky and determining the exchange rate is almost impossible. Governments don’t back it up and it has no fundamental value. An interesting theory states that what matters in determining the exchange rate is the payment transaction volume and its continuity:
With all the problems Bitcoin has faced in its short existence the question remains: Bitcoin, fad or future? It looks like the answer depends exclusively on whether there are reasons for it to exist.
In the next installment of this article we will try to understand whether crypto fashion, NFTs, and crypto fashion shows have intrinsic value or are just serving as Bitcoin’s much-needed raison d’être.
Image credit: xpoint via iStock by Getty Images
If you are Team Android you will be delighted to find out that the wait is almost over and Google is finally opening up its first store in New York City in just a matter of weeks. Unlike the competition, the Google store will be divided into furnished functional areas that will accommodate products where they would normally be used. The store is located in the Google building in Chelsea, at 111 Eighth Avenue.
The large windows that stretch between 15th and 16th Street allow people to preview the products on display. The result? People are eager to get in.
Image credit: rblfmr via Shutterstock
Okay, this might not have the allure of a Jimmy Choo sample sale, but still, it’s a great sale, so you have to go prepared, because you are a bargain connoisseur and a deal is a deal, no matter where you find it. Looking at past events we expect to see great discounts on most Amazon devices. Should you need an Echo, a Kindle, or even a TV, exercise patience, and we predict you will save a lot of money on Amazon Prime Day. To take full advantage of the sale make sure you:
– Are a current Amazon Prime subscriber-only prime subscribers enjoy the discounts
– Know what you need and know what you expect to find.
– Have downloaded Amazon app on your phone
– Read the fine print before the event, see how you can qualify to collect bonus credits
Happy Shopping!
Image credit: dennizn via Shutterstock
For anyone who doesn’t know Halston’s story: poor Iowa-born boy becomes milliner to Jackie O., transitions to legendary fashion designer, conquers NYC, revolutionizes luxury fashion. One of the first to understand and use the extraordinary influence of celebrities he develops friendships with Liza Minelli, Elsa Peretti and Andy Warhol.
A symbol of the extravagance of the 70’s and 80’s, his ascension is cut short by multiple excesses, bad business decisions and questionable taste in men. A Faustian deal offers money but dilutes his brand. Another business deal leads to the loss of the asset that he valued the most: his name. He dies young of AIDS without ever regaining the rights to use his name.
While Halston asks himself “Am I a businessman or an artist” Ryan Murphy, the producer seems to have decided that neither options were very important for the designer and presents him mainly as a 70’s gay icon. Roy Halston Frowich’s family called the show an “inaccurate, fictionalized account” of the designer’s life.
For fashion lovers this show is a joy and a disappointment. Watching Ewan McGregor chain smoking, wearing those stylish black turtlenecks as he drapes models is such a powerful image I will forever associate it with bias cut long dresses. But fashion is rather atmospheric and not the main theme of the show, which is a shame, because Halston’s deceptively simple dresses were after all the quintessence of the flamboyant 70’s.
Fashion lovers will particularly appreciate the episode named Battle of Versaille, the fundraising event that had American designers compete against French counterparts. The event gave American fashion an international recognition and transformed the industry forever.
Halston, the show, is also a cautionary tale for creative people who consider bringing in investors. “Am I a businessman or an artist” will be asked again and again by designers slowly sacrificing creative control for financial independence.
Yes, it’s not a great show, the image is beautiful but the dialogue is predictable and the peaceful “walk into the sunset” doesn’t quite match such a turbulent life. And yet, we’ll watch it, probably more than once, because Halston story is not unique to him.
Image credit: “Halston & Models 1977” by Sacheverelle is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Bloomingdale’s limited-edition collaboration between the “Queen of Print” and the retailer’s best selling exclusive brand is finally here. AQUA x Mary Katrantzou is an 18-piece collection in flower and animal prints composed of summer-ready dresses and separates all at affordable prices. Here is a sample of what the collaboration looks like.
Image credit: Bloomingdales.com