Loro Piana

As editors, buyers, and celebrities escaped to Milan this week for the Italian Spring 2018 Fashion Week, and retailer executives returned from the National Retail Federation Conference at Shop.org, both ends of the industry spectrum were preoccupied with the same question: how does a brand embrace innovation and save itself from extinction?

Turns out it’s a question we should be asking too, dear shopping extraordinaires… because these industry changes will likely affect the way we shop. (How much longer till we drop?!)

Here’s a highlight to shed some light on our potential answer: Gucci has emerged as a success story, having been able to captivate the minds and wallets of millennials. As a consequence, Gucci has decided to follow suit (or in this case, bag?) of Louis Vuitton by eliminating presales, private sales, all sales—making everything full price always. Even the overstock inventory will be sold through other channels, mainly their outlet. Of course, they still have a wholesale division (unlike LV), which means they can’t control everything. So there is hope: you might still be able to get your latest biannual Gucci style on sale from a retailer. And—please don’t shoot the messenger (us)—but should this experiment work for Gucci, it is only a matter of time before other brands will follow.

Sigh. That means it’s also only a matter of time before all of us are actively preoccupied with another universal question: why aren’t we rich? Full disclosure, though: we were already asking that question last week when we visited the Loro Piana sample sale, and pined for a $1769 pair of slippers.

So before you worry about striking it rich, focus on striking while the sales are still hot; Cinzia Rocca, an Italian luxury designer known for its (reasonably priced) outerwear, is hosting a sample sale this week. Throw in the Hanky Panky Warehouse Sale and the Diesel Sample Sale, and maybe you’ll be shopping enough to save fashion’s future singlehandedly…

Cheers!

We understand that procuring cashmere is labor intensive; combing a (baby) goat can’t be easy.  So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a good quality cashmere sweater is going to be expensive. The bottom line: it’s hard to get a quality sweater at 50 dollars (impossible) and you will mostly get what you pay for, should your wallet allow you to spend more. I’ve learned this the hard way from purchasing bargain cashmere sweaters that looked soft and luxurious at the beginning, and turned into fuzzy, shapeless… things after a couple of visits to the dry cleaner.  Brands like Pringle of Scotland, Loro Piana, and Brunnello Cucinelli are leaders in the field, with indisputable quality and retail prices to prove it.  Having said that, I think the Loro Piana sample sale was a reminder why sample sales fail to attract more people, and achieve their marketing goal. The huge Soiffer Haskin space was almost empty today, excluding the many sales people, and a few security guards.  For hard to comprehend reasons, Soiffer Haskin continues to have a no photo policy (really, what’s so secret about a sample sale?) so you will have to take my word for it.  The discounts were clear: 50% off from the retail price (highest price) on the ticket. While this might be a decent discount for a more earth bound sale, in this case it did little to attract new, aspirational Loro Piana customers, like myself. A soft like butter shearling short cape got my attention, but for $2,800 was hardly a bargain, or something I would buy.

What can you find? Scarves, shawls, knitwear, stoles, shoes, bags, men outwear, suits, men shoes and bolts of cashmere and wool fabrics for suits, jackets and outwear, even a few sneakers

WHEN: 9/24 – 9/28; Sat-W (9-6:30), Th (9-5)

WHERE: Soiffer Haskin
317 West 33rd Street
(Just West of 8th Avenue)
New York, NY

Phew—UN week is behind us, as is the awful traffic that comes along with it. OK, fine… we can afford to be a little inconvenienced while they’re busy saving the world, but hey, what kind of New Yorkers would we be if we didn’t complain just a little? Nonetheless, let’s put grievances behind us now too since this week marks the start of the Jewish High Holidays Season. Shana Tova! Now we can hope for a more peaceful stretch of days or—OK, call us greedy, too—weeks.

Something else to make us greedy? This week’s Loro Piana sample sale. If you’ve been to a Loro Piana sample sale in the past, then you know why we mention greed. At the last sample sale, we drooled over a silk/cashmere blend scarf lighter than air and festively printed for  $1085. We licked our chops at the sight of a perfectly-autumn dress, striped with oranges and greens, and crafted in deifying satin for $2265 (down from $3750). And… at those prices, that’s about all we could afford to do. Nonetheless, we will most certainly stop by this upcoming sample sale to educate myself; Loro Piana is a brand famous for obsessing over using the finest fabrics and reinventing casual wear.

While we are excited about the upcoming sample sales (Desigual and Maje are also in next week’s mix), we confess we’re also a little worried about the future of sample sales overall. Flash sale websites once rose to glory, slowly burned out, and now most of them have disappeared. Could sample sales meet a similar fate? While sample sales and warehouse sales have always been a fixture in New York, they became ubiquitous only about 10 years ago. Countless articles and blogs about them surfaced, and it seemed like everyone was showing off some incredible item scored at a sample sale. We’re not seeing that energy and excitement anymore. There are fewer sample sales and fewer people online at the sales. Want us to prove it? Take a peek at the pics we took at the Charlotte Olympia sample sale last week. How could you explain these images without questioning how shoppers are feeling about sample sales?