Retail Replay

This incident gives a new meaning to the word "Old Stocks."

A few minutes away from my flat is an outlet store that is - in my book, at least - among the best ones in Kowloon. After all, this is where all that Libertine and Patrick Robinson loot came from.

Since the season has changed already, so has that store's stocks. And since it's been a few weeks since my last visit there (unlikely, but true), it was high time for a look-see.

While browsing the racks, I came across something that looked very, very familiar. After looking at the blouse for a few minutes and trying to figure out where I saw it, that's when it hit me. It was the same blouse that I bought 3 years ago - and at a slightly cheaper price.

Exploring the shop even further, I realized that a lot of the "new summer stocks" were actually pieces that they sold 2 to 3 summers ago. Among them were belted printed dresses, a tie-dyed halter top, and a Clements Ribeiro black dress which I also bought two years ago.

This isn't the first time this happened, though. Last year, the same trend was present in Maple - another repository of funky clothes. A blouse that I bought in 2005 was back on the racks in 2007. (And yes, it's now making its 2008 comeback - as proven by my visit to the store a few hours ago.)

That said, it seems like the outlet stores here have taken the idea of recycling to a new level. The summer items are sold and re-sold every summer, until someone finally buys them. And until that item is taken off the shelves and brought home, it'll continue to appear each season. Now since these outlet stores cater mainly to tourists, they really wouldn't notice if a piece of item has been on and off the rack for years. And as long as the owners of the shop can keep the item looking nice and new, which they do, people really wouldn't know that their "new season" item was actually new 3 or 4 years ago. But as the adage goes, "what they don't know won't hurt them."

While this concept of "recycling old new clothes" doesn't make much fashion sense, it certainly makes a lot of business sense.