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AIBU?

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Original poster

I only buy them in the sales!

133 replies

Butterismylife · 03/02/2022 20:54

Usually on topics about clothes, but it is becoming repetitive. Why does everyone who admits to purchasing from brands that have high price tags have to insist they ONLY buy in the sales? (white co, Toast, etc)

Is it some new kind of virtue signalling, to literally have to remind everyone that you never, ever pay full price? Who cares? It’s like insisting ‘I have impeccable taste but I am so terribly thrifty!’

So much bloody posturing around the virtues of thriftiness - surely this is designed to insinuate that the poster is of a certain class, whilst sheepishly insisting they don’t believe in it.

It’s a sort of extension of the repetitive class related posts that always insist they grew up working class but are (of course!)……middle class now! Every damned time. Are we a culture of clones?

Who days this crap in real life ? Grin
For the record, fairly lighthearted rant .

OP posts:
Dacquoise · 03/02/2022 21:58

I picked up a bag for my DD in the summer sales from an expensive brand. Paid just over 25% for it. Wrapped it up and put it away for her Christmas present. She was delighted with it and it will last years as it's a classic style.

Never in a million years would I have paid full price for it because my perception is that items have a reasonable price which is what I think I paid. I just don't understand the inflated prices that are asked for and received for some brands.

I wouldn't mention what it cost unless asked though.

DrinkFeckArseBrick · 03/02/2022 22:05

I dont know, if I find something I like in the sales it feels like a genuine achievement, it makes me happy, so I'd probably say something like that.

I dont think it's always about whether you can afford it or not, it's about the value. And getting better value is always a positive, surely. I got some jeans recently for £100. It's about 3x what I normally spend on them. I could have done with a couple of pairs but just felt like I couldn't really justify it, even though I can afford it. A few weeks later I was passing through the shop in a department store and there was a rack with the last few discounted jeans on, I found the exact size and length for £40, I was so excited! If anyone had said 'nice jeans' I'd probably have chewed their ear off about what a bargain they were. Not because of any weird class or finance stuff...just because surely everyone loves a bargain!

Gwenhwyfar · 03/02/2022 22:06

@heyitsthistle

The one that gets me is "oh, I like your jacket" "Thanks! I got it from Primark, £15". I have so many friends that do this and it gets on my nerve Hmm

The appropriate answer is "thanks!".

Why can't they say where they got it from? They're probably happy they found a bargain.
RedRobin100 · 03/02/2022 22:08

It’s because the full price of clothes is bloody ridiculous!

MorganBrocklehurst · 03/02/2022 22:13

Thanks to online shopping, most brands are overstocked so invariably, most things do end up on sale with at least 50% off, if not more. Chances are, I can wait until the sale and everything I want is reduced, greatly so if I really hang on. This is how I have bought most of my (new) clothing for the past seven or eight years. That said, I do occasionally buy something at full price if I notice it is about to sell out, although then, I do often fib and say it was on sale - I hate people knowing how much I spend on clothing.

expatmigrant · 03/02/2022 22:16

I might well be able to afford these brands at full price but think that they are overpriced and therefore only buy them in the sales

Echobelly · 03/02/2022 22:16

I don't think there's any censure implied for people paying full price or virtue signalling - it's just people explaining they can't afford the usual prices on a regular basis.

Thighdentitycrisis · 03/02/2022 22:27

Someone I know says this and I see it as a way of justifying their excessive clothes buying- as if it’s ok to buy more stuff if you get it cheaper. They are a hoarder and I don’t think it’s about virtue signalling more about giving the impression they aren’t ruining themselves financially because spending is out of control

lindyloo57 · 03/02/2022 22:28

I buy in the sales, just brought a mans cashmere black hoodie from John Lewis reduced from £150. To £75. I love it but, it is the most i have ever paid for a cardigen, I have other cashmere jumpers, all brought in m&s sale the most I spent was £50. I have sent this hoodie back, and then reorder it because I love it so much, I tell myself I won't buy anything next month.

elbea · 03/02/2022 22:31

It’s probably because there is thread after thread of people ridiculing people that waste money on clothes from Boden or insisting that your children should wear any old thing they have been given, however garish it is.

FidoRido · 03/02/2022 22:32

Isn’t it usually because people are mentioning where they get their clothes from as part of a discussion about clothes??

So, saying “I get them in the sales” is short hand for saying “if you - like me - would like to buy X brand but -like me - can’t afford to buy them full price, then you might like to know that you can get decent stuff in their sales”, not as some weird boast or fake humility.

MargosKaftan · 03/02/2022 22:47

I've always taken the "but I only buy from xxxx in the sales" to mean "I like this brand but I think the price point normally is too high for the quality /style, however in the sales the price seems more reasonable for the quality of item I am getting."

Personally I put Boden in that category. The quality is higher than many other high street shops like Next, but the prices are so much higher than the step up in quality deserves. As I know they do regular sales/discount codes, I dont buy from them full price. At full price it feels like a rip off.

Cherrybomb197 · 03/02/2022 22:48

What’s wrong with buying in the sales? I like boden dresses for work but don’t want (and can’t afford) to spend £90 on a dress. So damn right I buy them in the sales

Iwonderifiwonderwhy · 03/02/2022 22:52

Ha it is annoying. I remember the first time I heard this. I was at uni at my first ever formal party and, despite being v broke, my dad had bought me a party dress from Monsoon thst I adored and was very proud of. Cost him £160. Don’t think I’d ever had a piece of clothing that cost over £50 before.

So of course as soon as I arrived at the party another girl wearing the exact same dress dashed over to me and said “Oh you went to the Monsoon sale shop too! Well at least it was only £40 I’d never pay the full price haha.”

I was like: “There’s a Monsoon sale shop??!”

Iwonderifiwonderwhy · 03/02/2022 22:53

So since then I reeeerally hate it when people boast about the great sale bargain they got on their outfit! 🙉

Westerman · 03/02/2022 22:58

Maybe it just seems 'pedantically repeated' because there are so many contributors on here. In a small circle of friends say, you wouldn't hear it so much.

StrychnineIntheSandwiches · 03/02/2022 22:59

I know what you mean, OP. Obviously lots of us can only afford certain brands in the sales but for others there' can be a bit of 'I have excellent taste in luxury brands but I also like to congratulate myself on not being an extravagant spendthrift'.

In the next one of those threads I'm going to try and slip in a 'Dior (but only when shoplifted).

PurpleDaisies · 03/02/2022 23:01

I don’t understand the problem with this. I love sweaty Betty leggings. I’m not paying £80 for leggings. Why wouldn’t I wait for the sale? What’s wrong with saying you got a bargain?

Imissmoominmama · 03/02/2022 23:02

I always buy clothes in the sales- why wouldn’t I? Why would I pay up to 50% more for the same thing?

peachgreen · 03/02/2022 23:05

I say it because I feel like a dick otherwise, because I, like most of my friends, can't afford to pay full price for kids clothes from Boden or Joules or whatever, and if I didn't say I'd got it in the sale I'd feel like I was pretending to be someone who CAN afford to shop there and that would just be a lie.

cheekychaplin · 03/02/2022 23:11

@heyitsthistle

The one that gets me is "oh, I like your jacket" "Thanks! I got it from Primark, £15". I have so many friends that do this and it gets on my nerve Hmm

The appropriate answer is "thanks!".

I have been doing this wrong my entire life. If someone tells me they like something of mine I would always reply with a thank you and a little
detail. I am autistic and had no idea I was getting this wrong. I always thought a simple thing thanks would seem rude Blush

earsup · 03/02/2022 23:15

I spotted 3 lovely jumpers in Benetton...full price was £89 each....not worth it...sales started.....reduced to £49, then £43 and then £24 so i got my 3 items last week....very happy....

Threeboysandadog · 03/02/2022 23:15

I only ever buy them from the charity shop and don’t have a problem with anyone knowing it,

Cupcakesandjam · 03/02/2022 23:17

I don't like anyone to know what I spend so if someone pays a compliment they get a thank you and then I say something like ' it's a pretty colour, just like your jumper ' etc etc

No one has ever asked me outright.

I buy in sales, I don't mind waiting for a lovely cashmere jumper. Still waiting:)

Ncwinc · 03/02/2022 23:22

There are shops that I’d only buy from during the sales because they’re overpriced. It’s not that I object to paying full price or that I won’t spend more than £30 on a t-shirt. It’s that I object to paying £60 for a t-shirt that’s no higher quality or more ethically produced than a £30 t-shirt.

There are places that seem to have a business model where they deliberately overprice their clothes knowing that most of their sales will be on 20% off days or in the end of season sales.

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