The Unknown Fate of Sample Sales (And Loro Piana's Sky-High "Sale" Prices Aren’t Helping)

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?

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Posted by Staff Writer at 04:19 AM
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