Who doesn’t love a good sale?! A chance to snag high-end designer items at great prices? Yes, please! So, how do you make the most of sales? Narrow down the plethora of offerings into an attainable wish list? Read on and I’ll share my tips for shopping sale-savvy, along with a few of the sales I’m currently shopping!
In order to start your sale-shopping journey, let’s talk about the most important part: Finding the Sales. Sale events often come and go quickly, especially sample sales (which are usually full of one-off runway/editorial/concept pieces that were either never made or made in a very limited run), so how do you even know when one is happening? That’s where social media comes in! Throughout my time creating for MDM, I’ve gotten to know about so many brands mainly through Instagram alone! If you’re new to the social media game, I recommend starting by following a few fashion influencer accounts, and going from there! Check out tagged brands, suggested accounts, and your Explore tab, and follow the brands that you like. I’m a really visual person, and I love to see how items are being styled, so I found that seeing pieces on an influencer or in an editorial shoot on a brand’s page spoke to me a lot more than browsing through conventional department store websites!
So now that you’ve found some brands you love, how can you score something special? For a bit of background, sales (especially sample sales) usually take place around the end of the season (i.e. when brands are transitioning their stock to the new season and they are trying to clear out last season’s goods). In general, the main seasons for new collection releases are Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, though you will also often see smaller collection drops that break it up even further: Pre-Spring, High Summer, Pre-Fall, Resort/Cruise to name a few. These can get a little tricky, but they’re basically there to ensure brands have well-rounded, new stock available at all times of the year for all possible occasions. With high-fashion brands like Gucci and Chanel, you’ll definitely find more collections to choose from than just Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter, but smaller brands might only offer these seasons (and some will even space out their stock drops over the course of a season), so it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the structure your favorite brands follow!
Whew, that was a lot of info! Stay with me!
A lot of brands are now leveraging social media, sometimes exclusively, to promote or even have their sale, so it’s definitely worth it to pay attention and set your post and story notifications so you don’t miss out! Many sample sales (like the Brother Vellies one I mention below) happen through a brand’s Instagram stories, where you either reply to the story post or screenshot and email the post to customer relations in order to secure your favorites. Payment is exchanged through various virtual channels, but platforms like Venmo or PayPal are popular ones that I’ve seen. (Do channel your good judgement here to ensure you don’t give out sensitive personal information like bank account or credit card numbers directly through DM or other unsecured avenues!) Not all sales happen through social media, but they are almost always promoted there, so be sure to actively engage with your favorite brands to ensure you’re staying up-to-date!
Okay, so now that you’ve got the lowdown on how to find these tantalizing opportunities for style snagging, how do you pick and choose what you want so you don’t completely blow your budget for subsequent seasons? You guessed it, by making a list and checking it twice! (Kind of out of season for July, but hey, it works!) Start off by setting a budget for yourself that you can financially accommodate, but that also allows you to satisfy your cravings. This has been a really big thing for me, as I’ve totally fallen victim to the Carrie Bradshaw-esque habits of overspending due to my emotional attachment to unattained items. Next, gather yourself a list: on your phone, on a notepad, or if you’re like me, have your spouse keep track of each item along with a link and price in Excel (don’t look at me, he loves him some Excel and lives for opportunities to use it!). Then, though I know it’s hard, really make an effort to prioritize your list. Here are some of the things I ask myself when whittling down a large fashion it-list:
I will say that I’ve totally succumbed to that whole *gasp* “it’s the last one” fomo, but try to not let that silence the voices of reason when deciding what to buy! (Side note, I’ll also do a Splurge vs. Save post soon to talk more about the potential pitfalls when shopping, so stay tuned!)
Now, for a few final pointers before getting to the sales I’m currently shopping!
Yay, you made it! Here are a few sales happening now that you won’t wanna miss along with my picks from each! (Be sure to check out my Instagram, @musadellamoda for links to specific sales!)
Xx Tabi
