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Sample sales used to belong to fashion insiders, with many turning into a grab-it-before-it’s-gone frenzy for fresh-off-the-runway bargains. Now, a certain TikTok-era energy has taken over, with attendees competing over items they can flip online and filming as they rifle through racks to share with their followers. With more demand, there’s less clarity over whether or not the inventory is truly overstock, or new items selling at a good price. As they reach a fever pitch, have sample sales lost what made them special?
Saheedat Abdul is a veteran sample sale-goer and content creator who began attending sales for brands like Prada, Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik and Khaite in 2017, using them to build TikTok content. In Abdul’s experience, sample sales have generally mixed previous season’s remnants with actual samples that are usually gone by the time VIP clients sweep through early access. Now, she says, the sales have become larger and less insidery commercial events.
To her, it’s also the consumer that has changed. Abdul speaks about the community she used to find in line at sample sales, passing off pieces she ended up not liking to other sale-goers and even helping one line buddy find their wedding shoes.
“The resellers weren’t as vicious as the ones I’m seeing now. When I say vicious, they’re vlogging live from the sale and trying to sell products to some of their clients, live and direct. Resellers in the past would just pick up products that they knew would be great and resell them afterwards.”
With the publicity of these sales blowing up on social media, many attendees and influencers have begun to consume sample sales as fast as they’re consuming content on their TikTok FYPs, creating thousand-person Whatsapp groups and Instagram broadcast channels to boost the sales and their personal content. Community promotion and content creation have risen in importance. On TikTok, more than 18,900 videos are accompanied by the #samplesale hashtag. Creators share their wait times, give stock reviews and vlog their hauls — with some going viral.
TikTok content
But proponents in the space say that the more widely available the sample sale, the better. The popularity of sample sales — and their ability to reach mass audiences — has catapulted an industry that runs independent sales for multiple labels, when previously, it was typical for brands to host their own.
260 Sample Sale has run sales for brands like Acne Studios, Maison Margiela, Bally and Todd Snyder, and frequently offers VIP previews to loyal customers hoping to snag runway pieces. The new-found interest online has become key to the sample sale strategy, says head of marketing and creative Laura DiGiovanna.
“The types of brands that use this have grown, not only using this as liquidation but also as marketing and activation. There’s a tonne of different ways that people are thinking about sample sales now,” DiGiovanna says.
While this can lead to confusion for some customers, ultimately, if they’re getting a discount, brands are likely to reap the prevalence. “More often than not, deploying the term ‘sample sale’ is an effort by retailers or brands to convince potential customers of the rarity of items being offered, rather than to actually describe what’s being sold,” says Jesse Hudnutt, a merchandising and brand consultant.
Those on the sample sale circuit also believe it’s a good way for brands with vast sizing to get in front of the right audience.
TikTok content
Rebecca Shinners, a freelance editor and content creator, has partnered with 260 in the past, reporting on stock from the VIP preview to her 84,300 followers in exchange for gifted garments. When reporting from the sales, Shinners says that she’ll review extended size availability for popular pieces — an upside to the move away from solely selling samples. DiGiovanna adds that these partnerships are not uncommon: 260 will also often post open-casting calls on its social media for its 450,000 followers to connect about collaborative posts.
Discounts in the name of sample sales are not going anywhere soon — but the industry should watch out for savvy customers who catch on when deals aren’t as good as they’re positioned to be. As sample sale content becomes as trendy as the sales themselves, there’s also a risk of burning out.
DiGiovanna believes that now, the sample sale is more of a misconception. “We think of our events as true partnerships,” she says.
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