Ken Fashion Avenue
Ken Fashion Avenue
Sample Sale: Thriving outlet stirs a debate
Although they do not contribute huge amounts to the bottom line, they have become an important outlet for excess stock, manufacturers say, and are often — although not always — preferred to alternatives, such as off-price merchandisers.
“Sample sales have become much more important to designer sportswear companies,” said Ken Merlo, chief financial officer at Charlotte Neuville, Inc. “They’re much more prevalent. It’s like a cottage industry now.”
There are firms that for a percentage of sales will run a sample sale; publications that carry listings of sample sales, and a telephone number (212-, 718- and 914-540-0123) a bargain-hungry consumer can dial for a weekly schedule of sample sales here.
Some vendors still hold true sample sales but the term is now largely a misnomer on SA, where several sample sales offer hundreds of stock units over the course of a three-day event.
Among the more prominent sportswear houses that have held sample sales recently — ranging from the small, employees-and-close-friends-only events to large stock sales — are: Anne Klein & Co., WilliWear, Charlotte Neuville, Patrick Kelly, Basco, Perry Ellis, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Harve Bernard Isaac Mizrahi, Tahari, Isaia, Patricia Clyne Dianne Beaudry, Gordon Henderson, The Moses Collection and French Connection.
In addition, scores of lesser-known companies, many of them concentrated at 1411 Broadway, 1441 Broadway and 1466 Broadway, contribute to the steady stream of samples sales held each week around SA.
Despite their burgeoning popularity, sample sales remain a sensitive subject for retail and manufacturers. They seem to be viewed as a necessary evil produced by a variety of market forces, including retailers’ demands for long lead times and manufacturers’ reliance on imports, which have combined to create large amounts of excess merchandise.
Industry opinion is split into two camps. On one hand, there are retailers and manufacturers who refused even to discuss sample sales because they see them as a particularly delicate topic. Officials from Lord & Taylor, Bergdorf Goodman and Abraham & Straus were among those who would not comment. Said one spokeswoman, “It’s a little too controversial.”
“Sample sales have always been a touchy subject for us because we don’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” said a manufacturer who holds sample sales but requested anonymity.
On the other hand some executives, while acknowledging the potential threat sample sales pose to retailers, believe they can exist without cutting into retailers’ business, provided the sales and their accompanying promotions are limited to SA.
“If a manufacturer made a big splash with a sample sale, with [consumer] advertisements, for example, it would perhaps pique our tempers,” said Missy LoMonaco, vice president of fashion merchandising at Bonwit Teller. “But if they keep it low key, the way they have been doing, it won’t affect our business at all.”
Executives said regular-priced stores are not in danger of losing customers to sample sales because they attract two distinct groups of shoppers.
“The sample sale customer is very different from the Saks customer, so I don’t view them as competition,” observed Ellin Saltzman, senior vice president and fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue. “They appeal to a different audience.”
Jim Tinijero, president of Anne Klein and Co., which holds small sample sales four times a year as a benefit for Anne Klein employees, agreed: “The customer who is spending $1,200 for an outfit at retail isn’t going to shop around for price. Some sample sales don’t hurt the retailer and others do.”
Manufacturers are mindful of the fact that as sample sales become more popular, a vendor could undercut his or her own business with retailers. “We don’t want to disturb our retail distribution in New York City because it’s an important market for us,” said Tinijero.
Like a few other manufacturers, Bern Conrad, president of Dag Merchandising, Inc., here, which produces sportswear under the Bern Conrad label, has dispensed with sample sales since opening an outlet store in Secaucus, N.J., in April 1988. The sales, he said, had begun to get “out of hand.”
“The original thought was to sell samples or slightly tattered merchandise you couldn’t sell to stores,” he said. “But that has all disappeared. It has become a very big business.
“I would like to continue my sample sales because as a manufacturer you’re always trying to keep distribution as clean as possible, but if you’re not careful you’re running a retail business from your showroom and the Saks Fifth Avenue customer is buying from you at half price.”
SA executives said they avoid direct competition with retailers by offering only off-season goods or merchandise that has been on retailers’ floors for months.
In fact, said several of them, if the sales are promoted in a low-key manner to a limited market, far from being competition for retailers, they resulted in a healthier sportswear business overall because they are a better alternative than off-price stores.
“As part of revenues, sample sales’ contribution is negligible, less than 1 percent,” said Laurie Mallet, president of WilliWear, Ltd. “They are more important for solving the problem of space.
“One thousand pieces of anything is a problem. Instead of giving them to charity why not recover some of that?
“I think it’s a great system,” she said. “We need the stores but we also need the sales because we have to deal with this problem.”
WilliWear cleared 90 percent of 4,000 to 5,000 units offered at its June sample sale, held in the basement of 1466 Broadway.
Like other manufacturers, Mallet said sample sales offered several advantages over off-price merchandisers.
“We try to go directly to the consumer. This way we can recover at least our cost,” she said. “Sometimes it seems the offers from discount operations are not reasonable.”
Manufacturers can keep more cash for themselves going the sample sale route. “I’d rather have a sample sale than sell people off-price,” said Gordon Henderson, whose sportswear collection, here, is produced by World Hong Kong, Inc. He held his first sample sale this month in the line’s warehouse at 315 West 39th St. He plans to hold them two or three times per year.
“When you sell off-price you have to sell 50 percent below wholesale or less,” he said. Henderson’s sample sale offered merchandise at 10 percent below wholesale. “The more we can sell at regular wholesale, the stronger our business is,” he noted.
Even those sportswear firms that do not hold sample sales, such as Donna Karan and Calvin Klein, agree that the increase in sample sales is necessary to the business and a better choice than discount stores for selling off excess stock.
“A lot of places having so-called sample sales are overruns of real stock,” said Julie Stern, president of Donna Karan, whose overruns move to Loehmann’s.
“When you have overruns you have to get rid of it,” he said. “A lot of companies run [sample sales] and it cuts into 50 percent to 60 percent of the excess merchandise.”
Nevertheless, for now Stern will continue to sell excess stocks to off-price channels because he believes that practice is more acceptable to its accounts than sample sales are.
However, Merlo at Charlotte Neuville argued that the reality is far different from the perceptions of some industry executives: “When you’re going the off-price route, it’s a much more visible route and you do hurt your regular customers.” By choosing sample sales over discounters, Merlo said, manufacturers “preserve the integrity of the business.”
Furthermore, sample sales help get consumers interested in the line, he said.
Charlotte Neuville hires Simply Samples, Inc., here, one of several service businesses that have sprung up recently in response to the increase in sample sales, to conduct its biannual sales.
A sample sale for Patrick Kelly merchandise, held June 1 and June 2 at the firm’s 485 Seventh Ave. address, featured samples from fall 1988, spring 1989 and fall 1989. Most were size 6.
Mary Ann Wheaton, president of Patrick Kelly said that while she is able to limit sales exclusively to samples because the Patrick Kelly collection is cut to order, other manufacturers must contend with large overruns, a result of the production commitments they must make before actual bookings are in.
“Sample sales are a growing development which evolved as projections have become more demanding,” said Wheaton.
“One of the reasons sample sales have become so important to manufacturers,” said Roberta Saft, “is because of all the offshore production coupled with the shrinking retail stores.” Saft worked in piece goods for three decades, most recently as vice president at Warnaco, Inc., before launching Simply Samples eight months ago.
Saft and partner Doris Schulman have coordinated eight sample sales since the company’s inception. For a fee of about 27 percent of the value of merchandise, they will organize a vendor’s sample sale and hold it at their facility at 150 West 36th St. The space also is a fulltime shop stocked with samples and overruns sold at 10 to 25 percent below wholesale.
Another entrepreneur profiting from the new interest in sample sales is David Sacks, who owns off-price stores here and in Los Angeles. He has held about 20 sales for 12 or 13 different vendors since he started BFD Productions a year ago.
Revenues from the firm’s first year in operation were close to $3 million, said Sacks. “If I could spend full time on this business, it would do better than my stores,” he claimed.
Vendors are turning increasingly to sample sales as opposed to discount stores because it puts money in their pockets immediately or in the case of credit cards, a week later, he said.
Sacks generally advertises his sample sales using flyers distributed around SA. In addition to flyers, other vendors also use ads in trade papers. However, one of the most popular advertising vehicles is the S&B Report, a monthly booklet published here, which goes out to 7,000 subscribers every month.
Elysa Lazar, a former banker, published the first issue in December 1986 with 80 sample sales listed. Today a typical issue carries 230 listings of fashion industry sample sales. She has also raised the subscription price, beginning with the June issue, from $32 per year to $40 per year and plans to launch a California edition of S&B in October.
“Sample sales are a big business now,” she said. “It has become a way for young designers to build a following. It’s become much more organized. More and more designers are taking credit cards, where we didn’t see that before. Manufacturers are aware of holidays, for example, planning sales around Christmas or Mother’s Day. We are getting calls now from people reserving space for December.”
About the Author
Founded in 2006, Higgins’ electronics store is a product brokerage and Internet marketing company that specializes in gateway to top ranked shopping websites. With more than 3 million Preferred Customers and 180,000 Distributors and UnFranchise� Business Owners worldwide, Higgins’ electronics store is contributing to over $2.5 billion USD in accumulated retail sales. In that time, individuals have earned over $1.6 billion USD in commissions and estimated retail profits. Headquartered in Newark Nj, , the company employs over 100 people globally with international operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Through gateway of many electronic products, Higgins’ electronics store combines the Internet with the power of people, creating the ultimate online destination. As a result, we have revolutionized a brand-new industry, setting a standard by which all other businesses are measured: Built on Product. Powered by People.
NEW 2011 COLLECTION OF BARBIE DOLLS INCLUDES FAIRY SECRET DOLLS
|
|
**Barbie/Simba Highchair & Baby Seat**Ideal For Shelly Type Dolls** £0.99 |
|
|
Barbie Favourites NEW DVD £28.36 |
|
|
Universal Pictures Barbie Favourites [DVD] (U) £33.48 |
|
|
Barbie house with doll and clothes £8.00 |
|
|
Barbie doll £1.50 |
|
|
Mattel Ken Doll From 1988 £4.00 |
|
|
MIDGES HAPPY FAMILIES SON RYAN WITH HIS DESK £3.00 |
|
|
NEW IN BOX!! Toy Story: Tour Guide Barbie: Limited Edition: Never been opened £16.50 |
|
|
Barbie & the Diamond Castle, Mary Man-Kong £2.73 |
|
|
Barbie – Princess Poster – 61×91.5cm £4.99 |
|
|
New Handmade Party Clothes Fashion Dress for Noble Barbie Doll **bab26 £0.99 |
|
|
Vintage Barbie Doll From 1976 £0.99 |
|
|
JUSTIN BIEBER JB AWARD STYLE DOLL £7.99 |
|
|
BARBIE LIVING ROOM SET – WITH SOFT FURNISHINGS! £9.99 |
|
|
Three ‘Barbie Dolls and spare clothes £3.70 |
|
|
PRETTY BARBIE DOLL £2.50 |
|
|
Barbie doll £0.99 |
|
|
Waistcoat Vest For Barbie Ken GI Joe Rapid Fire [BA069] £0.01 |
|
|
BFMC Silkstone – Preferably Pink – NRFB £87.68 |
|
|
Barbie: Jet, Set and Style Wii New & Sealed £16.55 |
|
|
Two Barbie Dolls £2.50 |
|
|
Barbie all dolled up £2.00 |
|
|
Pedigree Vintage Sindy doll and barbie etc Boxed Garden set £8.02 |
|
|
BARBIE PUPPY SWIM SCHOOL WITH POOL £9.99 |
|
|
EVENING SPLENDOR PLATINUM LABEL BARBIE DOLL !!! £200.00 |
|
|
Barbie Colouring Set £0.01 Set of 8 colouring sheets, 6 colouring pencils and 15 resuable stickers Age 3+… |
|
|
Barbie I Can Be Art Teacher Doll £10.49 Barbie est une passionnée d’art. Avec ce set Barbie professeur de dessin de MATTEL, les enfants découvrent une poupée artiste. Barbie peint vraiment, il suffit d’actionner un bouton spécial. En trempant le pinceau dans l’eau froide, des motifs apparaissen… |
|
|
Zap Barbie Mono Single Duvet £7.99 Loads more Barbie products at our store. Please click on logo for many more products. Fast shipping. Competitive prices. Great bedroom items…. |
|
|
Disney Princess -Ultimate £2.85 … |
|
|
Barbie of Swan Lake [DVD] £3.49 … |
|
|
Barbie In The 12 Dancing Princesses [DVD] £2.84 … |
|
|
Barbie – Rockin’ Back to Earth/Out of This World [VHS] £9.99 TWO EXCELLENT ADVENTURES………… |
|
|
Rumble in the Bronxs [VHS] [1997] £9.98 In Rumble in the Bronx Jackie Chan plays a visitor to America who agrees to fend off a biker gang’s designs on his uncle’s market in the Bronx. If you can get past the Vancouver skyline substituting for the New York City neighbourhood, and the cheesy dubbing job, this is another of Chan’s startling, balletic takes on martial arts action. (It’s also his first breakthrough American film.) Even if yo… |
|
|
Barbie & The Rock Stars – Out of This World [1987] “Hi I’m Barbie. My group the Rock Stars, and I are taking off to ‘Out of this World’ in our very first video! Ken, Dana, Diva, Dee Dee, Derek and I are going where no group has gone before.. into outer space! Now our music is rocking the outer limits because we’ve launched into an adventure that’s totally ‘Out of This World’. So strap yourself in for action , because the countdown has just begun! … |
|
|
Barbie Wallpaper Border £28.00 Wallpaper Border (not self-adhesive) - Width 12 cm, length 17 m. - For a better and convenient stick, the border us cutted in 70cm pieces and used together. The pattern fits together exactly, infinitely expandable. The special, hard-wearing paper with elevated white clay has the strength of 120g / m². The vibrant colors make aware the perfect color scale…. |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for HTC Desire S £8.95 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for HTC HD2 £8.95 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for HTC Wildfire £8.95 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for iPad £16.99 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for iPad 2 £16.99 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for iPhone 3G 3GS £8.95 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for iPhone 4/4S £8.95 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for iPod Classic £6.95 |
|
|
LEAD POLAR BEAR USED CONDITION SOMETHING DIFFERENT LOOKS QUITE OLD SEE PHOTOS £20.00 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for iPod Touch (Gen 4) £8.95 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for Amazon Kindle 4 New Generation £14.99 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for Kindle 3 3G wifi £14.99 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for Nokia N8 £8.95 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for Samsung Galaxy S £8.95 |
|
|
PAWS Toy Bear – Grey £0.99 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for Samsung Galaxy S II £8.95 |
|
|
Good Bear cover skin for Samsung Galaxy Tab £14.99 |
|
|
SUZUKI RM125 N/T/X/Z/D/E/F/G/H 79-87 STEERING BEARING SETS £34.95 |
|
|
AUDI A2 REAR WHEEL BEARING AND HUB 2000-2005 £22.00 |
|
|
STEIFF Hoppi dwarf rabbit Brand New in Free Steiff Gift Box EAN 270116 £46.00 |
|
|
I Love My Bear Cotbed Quilt, Bumper And Fleece Blanket. Excellent Condition £13.90 |
|
|
LOVELY PINK HELLO KITTY ARMCHAIR BY BUILD A BEAR. £6.00 |
|
|
BNIB Hyundai Excel Transmission Bearing 4321221300 £7.28 |
|
|
LEAD POLAR BEAR USED CONDITION SOMETHING DIFFERENT LOOKS QUITE OLD SEE PHOTOS £22.00 |
|
|
Noddy McDonald’s Tessie Bear Figure £1.00 |
|
|
Prince Lionheart Original Slumber Bear – Cream £19.97 Invented by a doctor, and effectively used in hospital nurseries for over 25 years! The Original Slumber Bear contains the ONLY actual intra-uterine, recorded womb sound to help lull your Baby to sleep in minutes! Sound and motion sensors re-activate recording when Baby cries or jostles bear. Additional hook and loop straps allow you to secure the removable audio box to crib rails, strollers and m… |
|
|
Character World Me To You Bear Shaped Plush Cushion £7.50 Loads more Me To You products at our store. Please click on logo for many more products. Fast shipping. Competitive prices. Great bedroom items…. |
|
|
Mustard Jelly Bear Jelly Mould £5.20 The Jelly Bear jelly mould has been designed especially for fans of jelly bears. This mould enables you to create a giant wobbly jelly bear at home in the colour or flavour you like. With such wobbling jelly bears every kinder party will be unforgettable. The mould is manufactured from hard, clear, food safe plastic…. |
|
|
Driving Towards The Daylight – Ltd. Digibook £8.99 … |
|
|
El Camino £7.60 … |
|
|
Locked Down £7.95 … |
|
|
The Jungle Book (Disney) (1967) [VHS] [1968] £9.34 Disney’s 1967 animated feature seems even more entertaining now than it did upon first release, with a hall-of-fame vocal performance by Phil Harris as Baloo, the genial bear friend of feral child Mowgli. Based on fiction by Rudyard Kipling, the film goes its own way as Disney animation will, but the strong characters and smart casting (Louis Prima as “King Louie” of the Apes; George Sanders as th… |
|
|
Kissyfur 1-Bear Roots [VHS] £7.99 Running time 30 minutes. They call him Kissyfur because they can’t pronounce his real name, Christopher. You’ll simply call him irresistible!… |
|
|
Little Bear’s Book [VHS] [1993] £6.99 Great video, 3 enchanting stories from the Bafta award-winning series, fast dispatch, UK SELLER… |
|
|
Bear Grylls Survival Series Fire Starter £11.25 Bear Grylls Survival Series Fire Starter… |
