So where do all the little coats go at the end of the season?

[deadheadskier]

I stopped into the Columbia outlet in Kittery today. The 'how you look' thread inspired me to check out some new duds. Specifically, I was looking for a mid season Black jacket with powder skirt, good strong seams and a hood. Pretty much just a heavy duty shell as I prefer wearing 3-4 layers underneath over a heavily insulated jacket.

Anyways, they had some killer deals. Jackets that listed for $230 were on sale for as low as $80, $140 jackets for like $50...plus they were handing out $10 off coupons at the door for any purchase over $50.

Walked away with Zilch. I flirt between a large and and an extra large depending on the coat. In ALL colors, there was exactly 1 large jacket and 2 extra large jackets in any of the seven or so styles they had, but there were probably 60 smalls, 15 mediums and 5 or so XXL/XXL.

For my entire adult life of buying Large jackets, almost 20 years; this has always been the case with spring sales. Tons of small coats and not much else. Doesn't matter the brand, the store, it's always been that way.

So my thoughts are....

A. What moron is in charge of ordering jackets for all these companies?

B. Perhaps he's not a moron and the surplus of tiny coats get shipped back to Asia where the average male is significantly smaller than here.

 

[riverc0il]

Working in retail, I can attest that we truly have morons buying clothing more often than not. Any retailer that is not independently managed generally has home office buyers that do purchasing for a significant number of stores. The benefits of this is that these buyers are pros at what they do, get lots of education about the newest product, have their fingers on the pulse of what people are buying, and can leverage the benefits of job specialization.

The biggest problem, though, is they often do not understand regional differences. Certain parts of the country have more people of different sizes than others. More smalls and mediums would be needed in a metro area in which people are more fit and exercise more frequently versus rural parts of the country that see a higher number of couch potatoes where exercise is not a big culture thing and no one walks any where due to the way towns and services get spread out. Another issue is womens versus unisex products competing against each other. When women's products do well (again, locations where women tend to be on average more slim and fit the typical women's cut), smalls and mediums are overstock because women are shopping gender specific clothing. But when women's products do not so well, there is a run on smalls and mediums.

I will tell you this though, regardless of store or location I have worked at, I have NEVER seen a XXXL or XXL go on a clearance rack and XLs a usually only the worst sellers. Happens ALL the damn time. To a customer, this is a bummer. To a retailer, this means missed sales and lower margins as Smalls and Mediums go through multiple clearance cycles while you don't even have XXLs at full price and XLs rarely make it to the clearance rack.

Any ways, long story short, buyers may not be morons. But they often do not understand the differences between various stores and markets and often times implement a one size fits all purchasing plan for multiple stores resulting in the trend you noticed.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

Any ways, long story short, buyers may not be morons. But they often do not understand the differences between various stores and markets and often times implement a one size fits all purchasing plan for multiple stores resulting in the trend you noticed.

or, thanks to that factory in China, the sample size doesn't fit at all like the serial production. Or, a brand like Spyder where a size L jacket in the venom collection fits my 6'1 200+ frame pretty well, baggy even....but the zip in liner that comes with it fits like a M and the matching pant won't even go over my thighs let alone close around a 34" waist despite the tag saying 36-38. Its not always the buyers, lots of time its the clothes. Other issue is suggested size charts that some vendors/buyers use were developed in the 1800s when the avg american was smaller. I used to buy logo clothing for several resorts and if I had used those charts I'd have run out of XL and L men's tees in Dec and had plenty of mens S and M left in April to fit your 8 yr old boy.