Memorial Day is traditionally known as beginning of the summer season but it’s also the start of sale season. As always, we will be starting our markdown roundups. Department stores usually kick-off the retail sale season and boutiques following closely behind.
Presales are akin to the “quiet period” before a company goes public. You can’t actually buy the merchandise but you can have your broker, oh sorry– sales person, hold your preferred items until the sale officially begins. Most stores take your credit card information and charge your account when the items ship or are picked up.
This week, is a big week for sales and presales. The Barneys is promoting a sale of 50% off but designer merchandise still in prsale mode. The sale officially begins May 23 but you can contact a sales person to preorder merchandise now. (Our in-store contacts are below.)
Usually Barneys offers the steepest discounts across in all departments but this season the sale isn’t as generous as usual. For first markdown, on bags and shoes are only 30% off. On the bright side, the selection is larger than usual. There is a very nice variety of Chloe bags, including the Faye in suede navy, several color variations of the Mily bag and some styles of the Drew bag.
There is also a lot of Balenciaga and Saint Laurent bags on sale, including Balenciaga’s iconic stripped shopper, the Antigona in brown and green and several suede City Bags. YSL’s Sac du Jour in gray, the du Jour with Love Patches and the Monograme Kate in a powder blue and other variations hit the markdown tables.
Among the shoe brands hitting sales racks are Gianvito Rossi, Aquazzura, Giuseppe Zanotti, Lanvin, Givenchy, Chloe, and many, many more. Needless to say, we are really disappointed that Barneys is only discounting shoes 30% this season. Nonetheless, there are some sale highlights like Aquazzura Tropicana sandals that are $599 from $850, tied ankle boots (already discounted online) and leather flats.
We haven’t seen any stock lists from Prada or Valentino yet but we expect to have them soon. Chanel, Louboutin, Dior and Alaia don’t start their markdowns at the same time as other brands. It’s usually a few weeks later. Gucci has a tradition of running a sale for just a few days at some point during the season. We’ll keep you posted on all of the above.
Generally speaking, Barneys’ sales associates aren’t always forthcoming with presales. If there is an item you want to secure, we suggest that you give your name and number to the respective brand associate and have them call you when the discount becomes available. You can usually expect a call within hours of leaving the store.
Below are a few sales people you can contact:
Artie click here to send a direct message or email May: mmark@barneys.com
