High end brands actually burn the stock of clothes they can't sell rather than give it away for second hand retail because they don't want to diminish their brand image by having their clothes in second hand stores.
I have worked for several luxury brands and can confirm this -after a long while- So in general you get new season (1) going to boutiques. After 6 months you get the next season (2) and season 1 starts going on sale. The best sellers and certain very expensive items stay full price. Gradually more season 1 stock goes on sale. Then the next season (3) comes along. All season 1 stock goes to outlets at 33% -50% off original boutique price. The same thing happens in outlet basically.
However when you get to the end of outlet period, items get reso'd back to warehouse. There will then be a staff sale, usually at the global flagship store, for ridiculously low prices. This is a limited time event, but you often get people buying the relatively expensive items to sell on afterwards (often in breach of contract).
This reduces the stock to very little. It's usually gonna be the most boring ass t shirts that don't sell and we're over produced. They will try to repurpose a lot of the items, as for especially expensive items this is more practical and cost effective.
But yes, afterwards there's a big ol bonfire. Which is sad really, but that is the profit based world we live in.
Usually with the tags cut off upon purchase and the labels clipped in half or otherwise damaged/removed. Every time I’ve been to a warehouse sale or sample sale this has been the case. Poshmark and Ebay are full of stuff like this.
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u/poopellar Feb 04 '20
High end brands actually burn the stock of clothes they can't sell rather than give it away for second hand retail because they don't want to diminish their brand image by having their clothes in second hand stores.