Sample Sales In London – The Ultimate Guide
If you haven’t been to any sample sales in London and you’re wondering whether they’re really worth the effort, let me tell you everything you need to know about them.
First of all, there are a few different kinds of designer sample sales. Sometimes individual designers will hold their own designer sample sale. They may want to sell their samples and last seasons’ stock, and you’ll usually find them at much reduced prices. These may be held at their headquarters, their offices, a rented venue or one of their retail shops. Examples of these designer sample sales taking place this month are Fred Perry, La Perla and Georgina Goodman.
Then you have designer sample sales put on by retailers that sell numerous designer brands. At these events, you’ll be able to find designer brands at a fraction of the prices that are sold in stores. If you are familiar with what the retailer stocks, then you will be able to have a good idea of what to expect. Examples include the Flannels designer sample sale and the Doors Jas MB sale.
Finally, you have large shopping events organised by companies and organisations such as the Designer Warehouse Sale and Designer Sales UK. They are typically held in large rented venues around London. The amount of clothing and accessories at these designer sample sales may overwhelm you at first and you’ll have to be prepared to really go through the racks to find top bargains.
Can you try on clothes at these designer sample sales? Yes you can, but do not expect individual change rooms. Most of the time at a designer sample sale, there will just be a separate room that is blocked off by fabric with a handful of mirrors arranged around the perimeter. But don’t worry, if the designer sample sale carries both menswear and womenswear, there will be separate changing areas for men and women. And don’t be shy about stripping down to your knickers, everyone else is also stripping down and too busy trying on their pile of designer clothes to notice you. Here is a tip: sometimes people leave behind unwanted items in the change rooms. These are fair game to the rest of the people in the room!
Queues, queues and more queues! Popular designer sample sales will require you to queue to get into the sale; you will also need to queue to try stuff on and probably queue to pay for your items. I once had to queue for half an hour just to get into a sale. I then queued for 20 minutes to get into the changing area, and then queue another 15 minutes just to pay. So depending on which designer sample sales you go to, you may not be able to make it there and back during your lunch break.
Enjoy yourself and don’t buy something you only feel lukewarm about just because you feel like you have to get something at a designer sample sale. Because you don’t, and there will always be more designer sample sales.
Find out the latest upcoming designer sample sale.