<p>Why is seasonal clothing always being closed out during the season?</p>
<p>For example, if it is summer (and not the end of summer), and you need some more summer clothing, you will typically find it being closed out. You may get a cheaper price, but selection and size availability tends to be lacking then.</p>
<p>So they can make room for the next season’s clothes. The store can get full price for those items.</p>
<p>Store buyers actually have a different internal clock than the rest of us. When it’s July, they think it’s October, and so on. Scientific fact.</p>
<p>And the moral of the story is that, if you’re an odd size or are very particular about what you wear, you’d better get it when it first comes out and pay full price – since there’s no guarantee the item you want will be there “in season.”</p>
<p>I used to do that (in the old days when I felt more flush than I do now) with suits for work – I’d get the jacket, pants, skirt, and the matching blouse, all at full price, so I’d look coordinated. Nowadays, things are more mix-and-match anyway, so – money aside – I don’t think I’d do that anymore. I find it not that difficult to make outfits out of odd pieces of clothing.</p>
<p>Not clothing but other items. So they can make room for the Halloween stuff. Went to CVS yesterday to buy a card. The Halloween cards were already out. Later in the afternoon I went to Costco. They had Halloween costumes and decorations for sale. Isn’t it just the middle of August!</p>
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<p>Right because people tend to buy their seasonal clothes at the beginning of the season. For example, I need shorts for the summer, I am not going to wait until August to buy them.</p>
<p>^I actually wonder if this is true for most people any more. I worked for a large retailer for 4 years and yes, this is how buyers/marketers try to push people into buying the next season’s apparel. But the patterns haven’t changed much since before the advent of the internet. And now we can buy things in “real-time” and have a much wider range of places to find them.</p>
<p>I think the level of trendiness also affects people’s buying decisions. Some want to be the first one wearing the new thing, while others take a wait-and-see attitude.</p>
<p>Years ago I stopped doing back-to-school clothes shopping for my kids until they had actually started school. For one thing, they were still wearing summer clothes for at least the first month. For another, they sometimes wanted to see what everyone else was wearing (particularly with shoes) before deciding what they wanted to get. And we ALWAYS do our school-supply shopping at the last possible minute. Target gets cleaned out quickly but we generally find everything we need (without the crowds) at Staples.</p>
<p>Back-to-school is ridiculous here. It’s almost 100 degrees right now and will be > 90 for at least another month yet the stores put out sweaters/winter pants/jackets…crazy!</p>
<p>Ohhhh…flashbacks of the winters where my kid(s) lost their boots in February and there were none to be found in the stores…ugh.</p>
<p>mom60, I’ll see your Halloween items, and raise you Thanksgiving (on display right now)! I’ll let you know when Christmas things show up!</p>
<p>What?! Thanksgiving? It’s not even Labor Day. We are still wearing white shoes!</p>
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<p>I work at a retail company. We have large scale changes every month to a month and a half. We’ve had sweaters for some time now. Unnecessary, right? Not so much. Customers look at them and buy them. Last time I checked it’s 98 degrees outside. It doesn’t matter, they think they will “need” them in the months to come.</p>
<p>With online shopping I don’t worry about as much a store running out of something. I used to buy multiple pair of shoes I like because I was afraid a store maybe out of stock, but now I can search <a href=“http://www”>www</a>. Same for snow boots or coats. D2 is going back to college in a week, she is not frantically buying her fall wardrobe because she knows she could always order it online.</p>
<p>Yes, no joke sally305–I have seen Thanksgiving items for sale this past week at a regular store–not discount odd lots or anything.</p>
<p>AllThisIsNewToMe I feel your pain! It is 108 here today and I just returned from a mall filled with sweaters and other fall clothing. Even the thought of trying on something made of wool right now is enough to make me sweat - ugh!</p>
<p>Most clothes are made in Asia. The process requires visiting, ordering, making and shipping. The last part takes a while: they load containers, which then may sit at a warehouse, often a port warehouse, then it goes on a ship which may take 6 weeks to get to the US - longer from some ports. The containers then have to be sent places, the contents broken down and directed to destinations, etc. So you’re already talking a full season of 3 or 4 months of basic time.</p>
<p>This is one thing Apple changed. They reserved as much plane cargo capacity back when the ipod came out and they were able to ship almost overnight from China. Now if you order a laptop, it may be shipped on Tuesday from China and be at your door by Friday. There is no margin in clothes to overnight ship.</p>
<p>Retailers could start the process 2-3 months later just as well. We don’t get clothing earlier because of shipping issue. Retailers want us to buy things we don’t necessary need and also for fear not able to get it when we need it. If we knew we could get snow boots whenever we wanted then we would really wait until there is snow. What if there is no snow that season? Retailers would then be stuck with all of those boots. Retailers are looking for a constant sell through, no matter what the weather is like.</p>
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<p>Got you all beat… saw Christmas ribbon on display at Costco about three weeks ago.</p>
<p>You can buy parkas in July and shorts in December if you are willing to shop online and pay full retail price.</p>
<p>I saw glittery Christmas tree decorations and Christmas ribbon at Costco this week. THat’s crazy. No one says, Oh I remember I REALLY need Christmas tree decorations, thank God they are here!</p>
<p>As far as clothes, I do find it frustrating when I need to buy something for the current season and everything is a season ahead. We have a wedding next weekend and luckily I already have a dress I can wear, because I’ll never find something appropriate now. I better make sure I have shoes though!</p>