TKMax/ Outlets
A friend of mine who owns a clothes shop recently told me how he considers he was duped by a fairly well known clothing brand in the UK, into stocking their products, when they told him he would be the only stockist in quite a wide radius. He later found out that the brand is stocked in TKMaxx . When he challenged the brand about this they basically told him, don't worry, TKM doesn't get the "real deal" , they get different products which have the same label but aren't made to the same quality. Understandably he wasn't best satisfied with this answer.
I wasn't surprised to hear this because I know how outlets and TK Maxx work but it was apparently news to him.
Anyway it got me thinking about what other brands do this and how widely understood the practice is. Has anyone ever seen (or made) a list or guide to which labels do this sort of thing? TKM is often packed with PRL for example, but often the products look cheap or poor quality compared to what you see in proper PRL stores.
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This is generally a pretty well known thing that brands sometimes make specific products or runs for outlets, lots of major brands that have dedicated outlet stores do it.
Yeah I know... I was wondering if anyone ever made a list of brands that do this? One other weird thing about it is that some of the products like this actually have an RRP listed on the TKM website. They shouldn't have this, if they've never actually been sold at that price. Unless the brands run some sort of scam where they put products on sale at an inflated price in a very limited way or something, just so they can then ship them to outlets/ TKM and claim they are heavily discounted legit products.
I dont think any kind of list exist, I would just look it up on a brand by brand basis, but really lots of brands that have many outlet stores are probably stuff made specifically for them. Some brands its just older season items.
The fake RRP is also a pretty common thing among shops like this the "real" price is almost never something anyone would pay as there some sort of sale going on.
are you talking about diffusion labels?
because it is extremely common to have a diffusion line but that's different from something being fake.
Yeah ... Not talking about fakes!
https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1350498782810341541 we did this a while ago
Not sure where you live but here in the UK there are actually pretty strict laws about stating RRP and discount prices. That's why if you go into most outlet stores these days you won't see them listed as RRP/ discounted. They just say "outlet price". Again, this might not apply outside UK.
Yeah I’m pretty sure in the us they can do whatever
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_line
there's an incomplete list of diffusion lines. it's common for larger brands. mid size --> smaller brands generally don't have diffusion lines because they don't really need to.
functionally they have to have diffusion lines if they want part of their brand to be accessible to the masses. designer brands can't make it on just selling high end luxury alone, so they have diffusion lines that are made of less premium material, and maybe the design process is simplified so there's less r&d spend. functionally the end product is something that is more mass market and a significantly cheaper price point. it's the same reason brands do fragrance and make up as well.
this doesn't necessarily make this a bad thing, there are diffusion lines that just explore different ideas away from the mainline brand. there's plenty of diffusion lines that do notably interesting stuff that's worth exploring.
i would say this practice is fairly well understood.
This list is useful but I will say it leaves out some brands like coach that make the same bags specifically for outlets that are knows to be lower quality
Interesting thread, thanks!
Or j crew factory
And others that have made for outlet lines under the same name
You may think it's well understood but I live next door to a big outlet shopping center and you would be amazed by how many people just look at me blankly when I tell them the Armani Exchange and Boss they buy there are not the same as they would get if they go to a flagship store in London.
I mean we are working on the context of this because a fashion server
should be well understood asterisk, within fashion circles
sorry, yes to clarify, within people that know it's well understood.
i don't think most people care. the brand name is the brand name, and from that perspective, the strategy works
True. I actually wasn't specifically thinking about diffusion lines when I started this, though. I was thinking more about brands that make at two level without making explicitly clear. The example I mentioned in the OP was actually Folk. They don't have a diffusion line, they just sell a cheaper version of their clothing through discount stores (TKMaxx). (Or you could say it is a diffusion line, but it's a stealth one, I guess). Others that I know also do this are PRL (part of RL Corp which also has diffusion lines, of course, but also makes different grades of its "mainline" PRL label). I feel less people know about this than know about Lauren RL/ Armani Exchange etc.
Look at this fedora I bought recently. It's from Mr Porter but labelled Anderson and Sheppard. Is it really made by the world-renowned clothier to King Charles and assorted royalty? Or is it made by a sub-contractor for Mr Porter to sew a heritage label into it? As far as I can see there's no way of knowing (short of walking into the A&S haberdashery with it and asking them, which is what I probably will do at some point).
dawg what
mr.porter putting a A&S label on a hat would be them making a fake product
A&S having a line of hats made somewhere else that they sell to stores like mr.porter is a normal thing they can do
I meant with their permission after licensing it, not just faking it.
Messers Anderson and Sheppard, haberdashers for the royal family don’t have better things to do than make hats for Mr Porter?
haberdasher is the fakest fuckin word bro
They don't have better things to do than make money 😉
I guess my point is what’s the problem
Do you like the hat?
It's ok.
anyway
no they did not make that hat in the same place they make the kings suits
its pretty clear if you read thier site the RTW and Savil row bespoke are different things
one contracted out to makers they like
My main point being while there are diffusion lines like those of coach, prl, j crew. that pass closer to the main line and are clearly meant to be similar to the original products there is always a way to tell. the coach bags have a diff logo, the j crew tags are different. Its just a different made for outlet line, its meant to trick people for sure and is a bit shady but like :shrug: its not like they are committing a crime
you might want to make a QnA thread
cause this threads not a fit for #fashion-discussion and might get zapped
also it was listed under Anderson and Sheppard https://www.mrporter.com/en-us/mens/product/anderson-sheppard/accessories/fedora-and-trilby/cotton-canvas-fedora/1647597337992599
and mr. porter is a luxury retailer
tehy are committing a fashion crime with their cuts that don't follow their mainline designs