You’re going to hear it from everyone these days: MOST products at outlet stores are NOT formerly-retail items marked down at insanely steep discounts. They’re NOT cut-offs that didn’t sell at a brand’s full-price stores properly. In fact, they’RE specifically-made-for-outlet products designed in low-cost factories with lower quality materials to meet certain price points.
Cue the angry meatsacks and red faces everywhere. But as somebody who very painfully learned this lesson years ago through many many hours of trial and error – and spent WAY too much money in the process – I feel obligated to pass on what I know. Let’s take a trip down memory lane.
When I learned what outlet shopping REALLY was. Flashback to circa 2015: I had recently graduated college and was six months into my first professional job in Chicago.
My girlfriend at the time (let’s call her Sarah) convinced me that we should take a day trip up to the Premium Outlets about an hour outside the city.
My wardrobe was still pretty slim on “adulting” essentials – having subsisted primarily on clothes from my parent’s closet that weren’t wrinkled enough to wear in college – and we would have “so much fun!” There were “loads of brands I’d always wanted to buy for years but were way too expensive” that we could find at probably 70% off at the outlets. Ralph Lauren, J.Crew, Banana Republic,… We tossed some things in my car and made the trek up to Downers Grove. I remember racing heartbeat as I pushed open the doors to the glossy Ralph Lauren shirt polo warehouse (outlet malls have always had some sort of primal effect on me).
Polos galore. Colours were great. Little tags on everything saying things like “Compare at $89.
Our Price $39.99.” Finance guy math immediately began coursing through my veins – *oh god I’m gonna have a heart attack from how good of a deal this is*. Ecstatically, I grabbed three Polo shirts in different colours, sure that I had hit the jackpot. Sarah picked up some stuff as well, and we began to stroll through the store congratulating ourselves on our savvy shopping abilities.
It wasn’t until I got back to my flat that day, Polo still draped over my shoulder, that I realised something felt off. My roommate had what was basically the exact same Polo, except he bought it full-price at Polo. The material on mine felt cheaper.
Lighter. The stitching on the collar wasn’t as tight. It wasn’t quite as “ Polo” if that makes sense.
The Polo player embroidered logo on my Polo felt – cheaper? Warblier? I awkwardly laughed this off in discussion with my roommate. “Oh haha yeah man thats how outlet clothing is.
Made specially for outlets. Totally different stuff.”* WHAT?!?!?! ? My brain could not process what I had been told.
Sarah and I had spent hours researching HOURS before coming to the outlets, cramming comparable app sales into Instacart prices so we could bring our phones into stores and strut out with the biggest “savings.” This Polo was likely one of the first things I bought when I walked into the Ralph Lauren store that afternoon. If what my roommate said was true, I had spent my whole life unwittingly being fucked over. Long story short, I began doing some serious digging.
Purchased John Raspails’ revered Outlets Revolution and read it from cover to cover. What I learned shocked my consumerist soul. There are two lines of merchandise pouring through America’s outlet stores today – the “mainline” stuff (AKA stuff you would normally find at full priced retail stores) and made-for-OUTLET merchandise.
MFo (as we’ll refer to from here on) merchandise is manufactured at MUCH lower costs domestically (hello cheap Chinese factories we all love to hate), with fabrics and hardware that meet quality specs for certain price points. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing! You’re obviously paying less for that Ralph Lauren brandname stitched onto your shirt if it was produced at an outlet-exclusive factory.
But brands aren’t advertising that fact. Those tags you see above will proudly proclaim “compare at $89.” What they don’t tell you is that $89 is likely never what that item actually retailed at *ever*. It might be what a similarly styled shirt retailed for – but most likely not what that shirt specifically sold for previously.
Brand marketers have done extensive research into what convinces you, the consumer, to spend money – and that magical “compare at” price is simply there to anchor you into thinking you’re getting the best deal. Me and the MMD team dove deep into how outlet stores operate behind the curtain, and there are definitely true steals to be had if you know what you’re looking for. Estimates are that around 85-90% of goods flowing through outlet stores today are MFO merchandise.
That leaves 10-15% of real estate to hunt for overstock retail merchandise that you can actually score savings on. With that being said, how do you actually tell the difference? Curious to find out… Like I mentioned before, the easiest way to distinguish real deals from outlets is by arming yourself with copious amounts of brand knowledge.
Each person who helped me learn this trick swore by it. When brands release new product each season, the styles, fabrics, and retail price points are published online for the world to see. Once you have a general idea of those price points and what REAL products should look like – it becomes abundantly clear when something just isn’t the same quality as the retail version.
What to look for when you walk into an outlet today, with your newfound MFO-knowing eyes: Fabric: Feel the weight. Look at how the garment is stitched together, and where those stitches are placed. Single needle stitch?
Double stitched, flat seams? Cheap shirts will have chain stitching that looks like little jagged zigs. Real leather will smell and feel like leather.
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Faux leather is plastic. Tags: Irregulars that have been rerouted from retail stores to outlet stores will sometimes have markings on the labels. A dot from a sharpie, a cut corner, or maybe an “irregular” stamp.
J. Crew Factory (the outlet version of J. Crew) adds a star on the label to denote Factory merchandise vs “regular” J.Crew clothes.
Details: Buttons? Hardware? Stitching density?
Do they feel cheap? Brands will utilise high-quality buttons that match their sew patterns on retail items. Cheap zippers?
Fake leather. Plastic buttons. Patch pockets instead of kangaroo.
These things are subtle, but you’ll start to notice the differences once you know what you’re looking for. I learned this lesson the hard way. Got really into “only wearing high-quality clothing” about a year into my job and thought, like a dummy, that the outlets were going to be my shit.
Ended up spending close to $800 over the course of 8 months on clothes that I thought were amazing deals. Sure I was “saving money” by shopping at outlets. But I could’ve found the same (if not better!) products elsewhere at full retail on sale for a hell of a lot cheaper.
And shopping sales at outlets takes time. If you’re not spending an entire day there, you’re rushing through your shopping trip and probably missing deals. Outlet stores are designed to make you spend money.
From the second you step foot in the doors you’re bombarded with yellow signs telling you how much you’re “saving.” We all get warm and fuzzy inside when we save money – even if we weren’t going to spend that money in the first place. I’ve left outlets feeling uber proud of my shopping abilities only to cheque my bank account weeks later and wonder where it all went. But you walk into an outlet mall and everything is a STAGER.
You park far away from stores just so you can hike passes-thousands-of-square-feet-of-retail-space to reach them. That walk from your car is draining dollars out of your brain. There’s no where to sit.
No where to eat that doesn’t charge you an arm and a leg. So they make you buy over priced gelato from the food court. You’ve already spent so much money and time getting there, you *might as well* buy that jumper, right?
Larry Ollett worked at an outlet mall in California for eight years and told me that most customers lost all price sensitivity the longer they spent at the outlets. “You could throw stuff in their carts and they’d buy it,” he said. “A gentleman one time literally sat in his cart and cried because he didn’t want to leave but had spent so much money.” Outlet stores know this – and exploit it. Moral of the story: Be strategic when you go to the outlets. Enjoy the things you find.
Don’t expect to find insane discounts. And for fuck sake don’t quit your job thinking you can find a $10 Michael Kors bag in mint condition. Shopping at outlets CAN be fun, and actually fills me with joy if I go in with the right mindset.
Make a list of things you want before you leave the house. Look up prices of those items online so you know what you’re looking for. A lot of department stores have seasonal sales that rival outlet prices on legitimate, formerly-retailed merchandise.
Time your trip with those sales and go during off-peak hours (weekday mornings are best) so you can leisurely browse the racks. You’d be surprised how many hidden gems you’ll find. *TRUST ME ON THIS* returns at outlets are sketchy. Many don’t honour online return policies that are posted on their websites.
A lot of outlets don’t allow returns at all unless they’re at the specific store you purchased from. That means that J.Crew Factory shirt won’t fit? Too bad, you’ve gotta keep it.
Know a store’s return policy before buying – that way you don’t have to rely on the nice associates to inform you of it after you already committed to a purchase. When it comes to finding steals, I’ve found that timeless pieces worth buying. We all love a trendy shirt, but throw it in the wash once and you’ll regret it.
That won’t be the case with a simple jumper, classic-fit button down, timeless pair of chinos, or slim fit wool trousers. Staple pieces. That navy Brooks Brothers peacoat I bought two winters ago?
Outlet buy. Same material and construction as their uber-expensive regular coats, just marked irregular. 70% off retail?
Yes please. *I can’t tell you how many times I felt I found a great deal at an outlet only to look inside my closet months later and realise I could have bought the exact thing full retail for cheaper six months prior. We live and we learn. Accept the victories that slip through your fingers and use the experiences as teaching moments.
The more patience and knowledge you have, the easier it will be to crush the outlet mall around you.
