Who Wins This One?

I think that my career and my personal infatuation for the fashion world may be getting the best of me during these tumultuous economic times. The question 'who wins this one?' has a struck a cord with me this week. For no other reason than I am the one who 'won' and the store and the designer have lost, and that has never been upsetting to me before this time.

The Story:

Last week on my way home from work I stopped at one of my favorite boutiques, Calypso, with the intention of purchasing a birthday gift for my sister-in-law... (she definitely did NOT win this one!). The sale sign in the window has been staring me in the face for weeks, maybe months now and I finally lost control and faced the racks of deals that were sure to not reflect well on my checking account. So the sales sign read... an extra 50% off would be taken on your purchase should two or more items from the sale rack be purchased. Depending on what the sale prices were... two items was sure not to be problem. Long story short, I left with 2 dresses, 2 pairs of leggings and one leather jacket totaling $227.50. I left Calypso feeling exuberant and well serviced. I had won again! Another triumphant fashion purchase! The two dresses were seasonally versatile, you can never have too many pairs of good leggings and a cute cropped leather jacket always a timeless basic... especially for this price. I had even said to the sales girl that I felt bad for the designer of the jacket. 

Here's the 'but'... had that designer ever known that the price of the jacket would ever be what it was, would she ever taken orders and produced as many as she had? Had she been paid for those orders on it yet? And how is that designers wholesale business? I ask these questions to myself because I know what it is like on the inside of that jacket's label and it's lining so to speak. I know what went into making that jacket hang from the hanger that I took off of and I had felt like I stole it. Not to mention Calypso's business plan. They took a bath on that jacket and these other items as well. Here is how the prices broke down:

This is what the original price was, the sale price and then the price after the 50% (which is the price that I paid). Note that there were several markdowns on some of these items before the sale price.

Dress #1: $275.00 Sale: $99.00 Discount: $49.50

Dress #2: $325.00 Sale: $199.00 Discount: $99.50

Legging #1: $65.00 Sale: $29.00 Discount: $14.50

Legging #2: $65.00 Sale: $29.00 Discount: $14.50

Leather jacket: $1200.00 Sale: $99.00 Discount: $49.50

TOTAL: $1930.00 Sale: $455.00 Discount: $227.50

So after I got home and explained the purchase to my husband and really looked at the receipt and did the above breakdown, I had a truer vision of just how tough our economic environment is. I spend a good portion of my work days trying to manage the wholesale business of the current designer that I work for so I am seeing these fashion troubles first hand. For some reason being on the consumer side was really more astonishing. 

With the above experience being said... I still encourage the shopping to continue! I encourage the deals to be sought out and I encourage those who need a 'pick me up' to support the economy wherever possible. There are great boutiques all over the great United States of America that need our support now more than ever and they are having sales! 

Keep shopping and deal hunting! I will too!