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When you’re on a budget or generally try to be sensible with money, most people think that owning designer items is just out of the question, however, money blogger LottyEarns, who specialises in ‘luxury on a budget’ shares her tips on how to bag a designer bargain.
Go to an outlet for designer items
There are plenty of designer outlets all over the UK, and this is the best way to get yourself cheap designer items whatever the time of the year (no waiting for January sales!).
There are lots of McArthur Glen’s out there, but the biggest and the best is Bicester Village which is an hour outside London. I went there a few months ago and spotted a beautiful Michael Kors bag for £105 down from £330 and Ralph Lauren polo shirts for £25 down from £120.
To maximise the discounts at a designer outlet, you want to find the sale section, within the outlet store (to get a discount on a discount), and if you can find a store with a percentage discount off the whole store on top of that (which is pretty standard), you’re going to bag yourself a massive discount on designer items.
Use discount codes
Now, generally if you’re getting designer items on the cheap – it’s because you’re buying them out of season. However, there are times you can get designer items that are in current season if you shop at a place that stocks lots of different brands in one store such as Harrods and Selfridges.
Harrods has events all through the year, with discounts across the brands – including designer items.
A big discount day designer hunters wait for is the 20% off day at Selfridges that tends to happen in November in-store AND online.
Buy designer in high street stores
You don’t need to go to Bond Street to get your hands on a designer items as there have been loads of designer collaborations with high street stores – meaning high street prices.
Some past collaborations include Alexander Wang at H&M, Marques’Almeida at Topshop, Christopher Kane at Topshop, Lavin at H&M, +J at Uniqlo and Valentino at Gap. In America, HUGE designers collaborate with super cheap shop, Target. I recently was in the states and managed to pick up Victoria Beckham items for $30 each (and her stuff in the UK is pricey). The best bit, you don’t have to get on a plane to shop at Target, they deliver the items to the UK.
If you do plan on shopping at a high-street store, there’s an extra way to get a cheeky discount at a gift voucher marketplace.
Sample sales
Sample sales are a fashion industry trick to get rid of all their excess stock and can give 70%+ discounts on items taking up room in the shops. After all, posh shops on Oxford street don’t want to be seen to still have stock from three years ago.
As you always have to go in person, getting into a good one depends on where you live – with the best ones being in London (although there are plenty all around the UK).
Sample sales can be more aggressive than a rugby match, with plenty of pushing and shoving to get the best deals. They’re not held in stores, but hotels or warehouses instead. Be warned though, some items may be damaged and they rarely accept returns, so make sure you check the items you are buying carefully before handing over your cash.
I’ve been to a good few in London and my favourite one so far is Mulberry where some bags were 70% off.
I love reading Charlotte’s blog, LottyEarns, and you can find Charlotte on Facebook and Twitter.