Did You Really Get A Good Deal From An Outlet Store?

I have been writing about shopping in several of my blogs lately, so why not continue the trend? 

ONU has been on Fall Break, which continues through today, Tuesday. Yesterday, I had the opportunity of going to an outlet mall in Michigan. I was not particularly looking for something to buy, but how could I resist not buying anything when the items are heavily discounted from the normal stores pricing because it is last season or discontinued.

Though, when I went into the Gap outlet, I was looking for a particular style of shirt I always buy at the normal Gap stores. I could not find the style of shirt anywhere, but just thought the shirt must have not come to the outlet stores yet. However, when I got home, I decided to do further research into outlet malls and found surprising facts.

According to the post by Chavie Liber from the blog “Racked,” many stores do not have its clothes from the main stores passed down to the outlet stores. In fact, the stores have clothing lines specifically made for the outlets by having the main designers “water down” their original designs with inferior materials and production methods. Sometimes the designs are not even similar. Two of the stores guilty of this are Nordstrom and Gap. Gap says they do not try to hide that they do this, but then why was I not aware?

The average buyer probably does not research clothing and outlet stores before they shop and the stores do not offer a huge sign stating how the outlet clothes are made. Therefore, how is anyone to know the true production of clothing at outlet malls? According to the article, historically, outlets offered excess inventory and slightly damaged goods that retailers were unable to sell at regular retail stores. Though, today analysts estimate that upwards of 85% of the merchandise sold in outlet stores are manufactured exclusively for these stores. Outlet merchandise is often of lower quality than goods sold at non-outlet retail locations. While some retailers use different brand names and labels to distinguish merchandise produced exclusively for outlets, others do not. Therefore, consumers do not always know what they are purchasing from the outlet stores.

I am always excited to get a good deal from outlet malls, but perhaps my purchase is not as good of a deal that I think it is. Do you think it is okay for stores to be doing this to consumers?