why we don’t go on sale
With the upcoming Black Friday sales, we are reminded that we operate in fashion retail and that people are waiting to shop brands’ best promotions this weekend. If you’ve been following Simétrie you might have noticed that we don’t go on sale, ever. There is a good reason for this, and we think this is an important time to talk about why we don’t participate in sales.
Many brands offer discounts on their products for a limited time. Brands build this into their retail prices, so that when they go on sale, they are still making a profit. Brands often make their best revenue over sale periods. This kind of activity is designed to create a sense of urgency within the customer, urging people to “buy it now” at the reduce price or suffer the fear of missing out. Sale periods are also necessary for brands that buy in bulk to clear excess stock & make room for new stock. This is, simply put, what drives sale in a typical fast-fashion business structure.
However, Simétrie is not your average business. We are slow-fashion. Our goods are primarily made-to-order which means that we don’t sit on large amounts of stock, having only 1 or 2 units of each style & colour on hand at any given time. In this way, we can ship purchased goods as they are ordered, and replenish stock by re-making the styles that have sold. Sometimes in busy periods we need to make-to-order, it’s a balancing act, but worth it for the risk of over-ordering & wasting precious resources by burning or throwing out unsold stock into landfills, which is sadly common practise in the industry.
As we hand make all our wares in our atelier in Melbourne in small batches, the cost of goods in comparison to our retail prices, offers just enough profit to cover our expenses. This is what reinforces the ‘slow’ way of how we operate. It means that you get the best price all year round so that you can shop with confidence without having to wait for us to go on sale.
We don’t agree with conditioning people to spend using erratic sales or promotions, instead we offer great value for money, without the need to reduce our prices, but by offering beautifully handcrafted goods that will last!
So, this Black Friday, the best thing you can do is pay FULL PRICE for slow-fashion goods and show your support for local makers. Not just Simétrie [although we hope you do], but from other brands too, that are driving positive change for the health of our planet & the skilled humans who hand make our fashion goods.
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