One of the places I buy skin care products from does this. Almost every weekend there is a two day sale and 100% of holidays including stuff like Halloween there is a sale. Varies from 25-45% off. It is a terrible strategy since it takes no time to realize the pattern and so get your stuff always on sale,

ebay bought paypal many years ago. That was when PayPal pulled out of the gambling market (at least in North America -- I believe they still act as a payment processor for gambling in some countries).

When it comes to the really high-end brands they are never have sales and they certainly don't have factory rejects. For the high-end designer stuff most of what you see sold online comes from a website called TradyKeys.

For **** brands there might be factory rejects. Also the stuff you buy at Outlet Malls are no deals. The Outlet Mall in the States is a scam. The clothing is especially manufactured for the mall and is of less quality than the stuff you buy at retail.

There are exceptions to the above -- Harry Rosen outlet store in Mississauga and Holt Renfrew Last Call actually do sell the same quality as their retail stores but unless you are an odd size the pickings are slim. Good deals can be had but it is a lot of looking for a little finding. I assume Nordstrom Last Call in the States is the same way but I have no experience. Also when I say stuff is discounted I mean high-end brands but not the highest. Most of the best quality labels have policies of never discount under any circumstances.

A lot of haters itt. Thrift shopping is absolutely fine. You obviously have to be a little careful with what you buy though.

I have been in a thrift shop a few times -- always looking for something for a costume. There is no way to buy the garbage they sell and look good.

There are consignment shops that sell used but nicer clothing but these seem to be exclusively woman's clothing. When they have a man's section it is usually pitiful.

Well, agree to disagree. The nicer things obviously go quickly, but there are nice stuff to be find.

henry, who are your favorite designers for men's clothing?

yo wtf you sold me 2 brooks brothers shirts!!!!

Those were literally worn like once or twice each, if that much.

I'm also thrifty. I routinely buy "defective" high end ties (even Hermes) for like 20 bucks at places like Marshall's or tj max . Sometimes the defect is like a letter missing on the tag.

Thrift stores are the nuts for costumes for halloween/themed parties and mixers

ralph lauren most certainly falls into your **** brands category right? what about gucci?

Can someone offer more info as to why some clothes are so expensive, e.g. a gucci belt being £205, is it simply a matter of materials/craftmanship? obv branding must make up a certain % too but id just like to get a better understanding.

I disagree, a company like Allen Edmonds, although I guess you consider ****, has seconds that they sell for considerably less. Their standards for something becoming a second though is pretty strict and can even be just a minor scuff.

Other companies also have similar things, not quite rejects but will sell certain clothes they deem imperfect at a decreased price.

Well its materials, process in which its made, brand recognition, and craftsmanship(which sort of falls under process and materials).

The details that make something high end vary depending on article. Pants rely more on materials, shirts have a lot to due with not only how they are made but the fabric etc. Suits have a ****ton to do with materials and cuts. Shoes is more to do with design as well as craftsmanship as any shoe worth their weight is hand made.

I never understood how belts gain their prices, I mean I get nice leather is nice, but belts serve as a compliment to shoes, and are never really a major focal point. A gucci belt being 208 is probably the quality of a 60-80$ belt with a gucci name tag on it.

I see, I've been under the impression that hip-hop/rap music/music videos have a strong influence on the price of Gucci belts.

Fwiw my father works with shoes and really understands them. He has seen a lot of expensive, brand name shoes that he considers absolute crap (esp italian brands).

J Lindeberg belts are dope, I think I own like 12 of them.

You can't make bold statements like that because these companies have so many brands.

Ralph Lauren / Polo was my preferred brand in high school but that was long enough ago that things could have changed. The purple sub-brand is very high quality -- look at the dress shirts and they are pretty much perfect. The normal Polo line last time I looked was pretty good as well. Certainly not even close to their purple line but for shirts in the $100-$125 price range they are better than the vast majority of shirts in that price. The negative about Polo is the huge logo they started using five or six years ago. That makes their clothing unwearable.

Gucci is a leather goods company. Again it depends. A Gucci watch is pretty bad but then again they are fairly inexpensive so you sort of expect that they will not be good, That is usually a good way to tell. If a brand that is excellent at one aspect of fashion tries to use that to leverage sales in other areas you need to be suspect of the new stuff until they establish themselves.

Quality of materials and stitching are still major factors in belts although because they are simple items there are obviously considerably less things to consider than say a dress shirt or a suit. The price of a quality belt is easy to justify because they last for a very long time. Unlike cheaper belts they don't start to crack and ****. I have belts that are at least 15 years old that are only starting to show wear now. I bought one belt at the department store and it looked worn in a year.


This happens. Big conglomerates buy fashion houses and ruin them. The brand gets to keep selling stuff at huge profits because now they sell crap for the expensive prices. They get away with this for year until they blow out the reputation of the brand. This phenomenon isn't limited to fashion -- what was one of the best moisturizers got bought out by a huge company and the formula changes. Pretty sure people are now paying $350 for a little jar that is worth $30. There was a brand of premium pet food that got bought out and while it is still better than average it is much worse than it used to be. That is why I said brands are training wheels until you learn how to identify quality.

ok another question, when looking at sites like ralphlauren.com, do you ever look at an item of clothing, and ofc you see the model sporting an outfit, and think who in the world dresses like that?

i was browsing thru the purple label collection and wondered what they look like on a guy who isnt straight out of a 1950s fraternity composite

was also tilted that none of the models wore a belt

when im rich and in better shape im going to have a collection of those shirts

When it comes to couture lines sometimes but rarely for the normal stuff. That being said I don't like the stuff that is a little more out of the ordinary. Stuff like that is very fluid so it will be out by next year or two years at the most. It is also very memorable so you can't wear it very often. The end result is that you end up paying a decent amount of money for something you can only wear a handful of times. Unless you have buckets of money that isn't a good use of resources. When I was starting out I bought some pieces like that and it was a mistake.

I thought a lot of the models on ralph lauren purple looked silly....basically whenever they had something on underneath the shirt.

First you need to understand your face shape, then pick out based on this

I personally like ray bans and Oakley.

Looked at chart and thought "Oh those Cockpits look sick". Go to look them up and discover they are the ones I own and wear on a daily basis. Sweetness

A post by Henry advocating some form of frugality? Cannot be real.

I think it is a misconception held by many but I am not actually against saving money when doing so has negligible or no impact on the outcome. I am against being cheap and making up imaginary reasons to rationalize cheap behaviour as acceptable. Most people do fail to understand the distinction but it is a real one.