<p>I personally don’t mind the seasonal closeouts as it means I can get summer or winter stuff to wear right now at half the price. I wear summer dresses into October, by which point all of the ugly fall stuff that doesn’t sell has been phased out and the actual cute stuff is in stores.</p>
<p>Lergnom, you are correct about the manufacturing time. On top of that is the time it takes for buyers to respond to trends coming out of Europe or Japan and get a sense of how they will “trickle down” to their store’s customers. And the trends (not just fashion, but color as well) are revealed at set times throughout the year. </p>
<p>Of course having seen a lot of the new stuff being shown on the runway–and then looking at what winds up at the local mall–it’s sometimes hard to believe there is any connection at all.</p>