The Outlet Store

Outlet stores, as most people understand them, are a place to get a good deal on a high-end product. And that's certainly how they started. Back in the 1930s, clothing stores offered excess or damaged goods to their employees and then later started offering those same goods to non-employees. Shoppers go to outlet stores thinking that they're going to get steep discounts, either stuff that was returned and couldn't be resold or items that weren't bestsellers last season. But the truth is that these days you're probably not getting that great of a deal. Javi Lieber, a Rack Reporter, has written about the tactics that brands use to make shoppers believe they're getting more for less. The point is, In a 2014 letter to the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, four members of Congress wrote that an estimated 85% of merchandise and outlets were specifically manufactured for outlets. They wanted the FTC to investigate unfair marketing practices that make it really hard for the average shopper to tell which clothes were never actually sold at the higher-end retail store. The ethics are definitely murky, especially when you look at how these items are priced because the labels will say, originally sold for $350, your price is $150. But in reality, if the item was made specifically for the outlet, it was never sold at $350. Last year a woman in California actually sued a Michael Kors outlet for misleading her with this tag. The truth is, these jeans were never really sold at $120. Kors agreed to pay a class action settlement. They said they would use the word value instead of MSRP on the tag and would install signs in their stores to help clarify what that means. Neiman Marcus is vice president of corporate communications, a ginger reader. She insists that the products are not necessarily inferior in quality, but she'll say that either the fabrics might be different, the buttons are less expensive. But certainly because they're made specifically for outlets, they're probably not designed by the same team that's making it for the regular price stores. Some brands will signal which items were manufactured for outlets, but you have to know what you're looking for. Cons