THE sales

I used to hate sales. I thought that the items in sales were last season and going out of fashion, I would rather spend my money on the up coming season. Now that the sales seem to be in full throttle in every shop I can't help but think of what Polly, the stylist-teacher I most respect from London College of Fashion, said: "Never take your client to buy from sales. The sales are full of pieces that no one wanted." But today, I have to disagree with her. To some extent. At least in my home city, Jyväskylä in Finland. Many of the pieces that end up in sales seem often to be too fashion forward for the Finnish.  The Finns seem to be quite slow with getting acquainted with the new trends. That's why the stores trying to familiarize the shoppers with the new trends, end up in putting almost the whole stock of the mentioned items in sales. For example the harem pants that are so in at the moment. A few stores offered them a year ago. Most of them ended up in sales. So for a fashion forward shopper, the sales are a brilliant opportunity to find pieces that no one else has gotten the hang of yet. Just remember that not everything is fashion forward, quite a lot is just last reminders of the previous season. 

I've also used the sales to find quality clothes for the low budget clients. As I have noticed, clients often hope to get everything they need within a fairly low budget and I can NEVER ever exceed it. So the sales can be a good chance to find classic pieces that don't fall apart after the first wash and not exceed the budget. And everyone will be happy.

All this said, I wouldn't go to find items from the already low price stores. During the sales they are full of exhausted and grumpy people and the amount of money one saves is miniscule. Rather spend your energy finding good quality pieces for less. A few shops I'd recommend for sales shopping here in Jyväskylä: Minzi, Spirit Store, Bianco, Duetto, JC and Vila. Happy shopping!