Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
At recent trips to the Van Heusen/IZOD outlet and Stein Mart, I have noticed some differences with the shirts sold at those stores vs. those sold at the department stores and Amazon. I noticed that the markings on the backs of the shirts are different, and those sold at the outlet were even missing the color name on the factory tag. This seems to be evidence that those sold at outlets and off-price retailers are not the same as those sold at department stores. However, I am not sure if the quality is inferior as well.
Has anyone else noticed such subtle differences between clothes sold at department stores vs. outlets/off price retailers.
This varies largely, brand by brand. It is fairly widely known that plenty of brands make direct-to-outlets and retailers versions of their brands (some are identified on labels or markings, some are not). Other brands do truly ship off excess merchandise from their prime stores to be sold at other retailers or outlets. For women's clothing, I know for a fact Free People sends stuff from their prime stores to retailers, not lower quality lines.
In my experience, the direct-to-outlet versions from most brands are noticeably lower quality.
Last edited by Sunbather; 03-26-2018 at 02:18 PM..
I've noticed a trend among some retailers, like Coach and Dooney & Burke, toward setting up "outlet" sites online, to clear out their unsold post-clearance-sale items. You can get Coach handbags on their outlet site for $25-$40. So this raises the question: what are they selling at the Coach outlet stores? There's one in my town, and I've noticed that some of the items there are not of the same quality as the "regular" Coach items. Some of the items are of the same quality, though. I don't know why they'd pay for a bring-and-mortar location, if it were competing with their online post-clearance "outlet", so they must be using their outlet stores to sell a cheaper/lower-quality line. That's all I can figure.
I know for a fact that Chico's Outlet has completely different clothes than the regular Chico's store as they told me. I had always assumed outlet stores carried last season's items or things that didn't sell well. Some actually do but for some outlets it's completely different merchandise and frankly, I don't find the prices all that much better.
I know for a fact that Chico's Outlet has completely different clothes than the regular Chico's store as they told me. I had always assumed outlet stores carried last season's items or things that didn't sell well. Some actually do but for some outlets it's completely different merchandise and frankly, I don't find the prices all that much better.
I know at the Van Heusen/IZOD outlets, the IZOD merchandise that I saw wasn't the Fall 2017 collection; it appeared to be the Spring 2018 collection but with different markings on them and with different factory tags (notably the color names were absent).
Outlet clothing is very different from what is in the stores in many cases.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
