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Clothes shops- can anyone explain?

(45 Posts)
whensmynexthol1day Mon 29-Jun-20 22:15:37

Went to next to pick up a few bits for my daughter today. Had a good quick browse around the women's section as I need to buy some summer stuff. But there seemed to be more autumn clothes than summer so I didn't end up buying anything for me.

Made me think- What is it with shops stocking the next season way before it has actually started? Does anyone know the actual commercial reasoning behind doing this? There's nothing worse than needing a new winter coat in feb/mar and realising there aren't any because the shops are stocking summer stuff! I can't believe this is a good way to make money?

OP’s posts: |
Santasunhelpfulhelper Mon 29-Jun-20 22:25:05

No idea, but I agree. Particularly annoying with children’s clothes. They always need new winter stuff in February and it’s all gone.

StillCounting123 Mon 29-Jun-20 23:17:09

No idea, but it is annoying!! I live in Ireland - we can get all seasons in one day, so I get so annoyed when shops stop stocking longsleeve tops, boots etc. Not everyone is going somewhere hot!

Shadow01 Tue 30-Jun-20 05:31:49

It might not be that they have their autumn stock early. More that when they went into lockdown in March they were still in autumn/winter season and haven’t had all their summer stock through yet because lockdown has delayed deliveries.

I work in retail and certainly that’s how it’s worked for me. We’re pushing our summer stock out as fast as I can but it hasn’t stopped customers shouting at us for not having everything yet hmm

Redcrow Tue 30-Jun-20 05:46:27

This has always annoyed me. I dont tend to pre plan or buy because I want, largely it's what I need and I usually need to it that week not in two months time

Paranoidmarvin Tue 30-Jun-20 06:13:05

Mine has winter stuff in the sale and summer stuff out. But it’s annoying as the sale stuff is more than the winter stuff. I don’t need jumpers this time of year I need summer clothes. I know they have to get rid of it. But I didn’t buy very much. And I need to as I have lost weight.

LivinLaVidaLoki Tue 30-Jun-20 06:43:50

I think it's more of a case of shifting the stock from pre lockdown. Because shops closed, so did deliveries.

My friend works in a high street store and they only had their first delivery since opening yesterday, but there is nowhere for a lot of it to go out.

Nanasueathome Tue 30-Jun-20 06:48:46

Next on line sale starts today, I’ve got a slot booked for 6pm
They’ve probably got loads of stuff to clear from their warehouses before getting the new autumn/winter stock in

Northernsoullover Tue 30-Jun-20 06:50:30

I wondered if they might be hanging on to it for next year?

LaureBerthaud Tue 30-Jun-20 06:51:06

I heard on the radio that Next - and several other major retailers - cancelled orders for clothes to be made when they were ordered to close. To their credit, Next paid for the cancelled stock in full.

BalloonSlayer Tue 30-Jun-20 07:02:35

I have always noticed they do this I always find by mid summer, when I am totally fed up with all my summer stuff and would like to buy something new, the shops are full of jumpers and boots . . . but I didn't think it would be like that now. I was in Sainsburys a couple of weeks ago, longing for some cropped trousers as it was boiling and all they had were racks and racks of thick full length jeans.

vanillandhoney Tue 30-Jun-20 07:07:37

Ex- retail worker here smile

Stock is ordered months and months in advance - so when 2020 summer stock is landing, summer 2021 stock will be being made in factories and designers will be looking and winter 2022 or later.

The reason it hits the shelves at weird times of the year is often due to either sales, or previous years selling patterns - plus room availability in the warehouses. We don't have unlimited back of house space to store loads of stuff so by putting it out on display, at least we stand a chance of shifting it and creating more room.

Sale season (so June/July and December/January) are the worst as we're supposed to fit two seasons worth of stock in stock room designed for one. So yes, it might be 25 degrees outside but that won't automatically clear our warehouses of winter stock and it needs to be gotten rid of somehow.

The last company I worked for were in such dire straits at one point that they had stock sitting in shipping containers that they couldn't afford to buy until they'd sold more of the old season stuff!

Graciebobcat Tue 30-Jun-20 07:21:16

This is why I buy online, loads more choice, not some old shite the shop needs to clear out first, wrong season, or what the shop thinks you ought to be buying.

HPLikecraft Tue 30-Jun-20 07:23:29

Many years ago, when I was pregnant, I recall sobbing in town when I couldn’t buy any Summer clothes in August for last minute holiday to Mallorca. There was no maternity clothes anywhere, and no summer clothes I could buy larger. It was all jumpers.
Wore various old scabby things and DHs T-shirts!

I hate shopping on hot days in summer and only being able to buy jumpers and coats!

I find similar problems trying to find school clothes between September and April.

JinglingHellsBells Tue 30-Jun-20 07:34:15

It's cash flow and marketing.

The fashion industry works months and years ahead. Now, they will be planning summer 2021 and even winter 2021.

Once the garments are available it makes sense to market them and get them in the shops because it creates a 'need' to buy in advance.

The best winter selections have always been in shops from September - November, and come January they are in sales.

Madness, but it's been that way for years.

MotherMorph Tue 30-Jun-20 07:38:09

I find this frustrating as well. I once needed to buy one of the DC wellies (I cant remember what time of year) and I literally scoured the shops because nowhere had any.

BarbaraofSeville Tue 30-Jun-20 07:42:43


If you'd looked over to the men's section, you'd have probably seen my DP doing the same thing. We usually have our main summer holiday in early September and he'd decided he needed some new swim shorts and vests. Of course there were none available but he could have bought all the boots, jeans and jumpers he could ever need, but would never think to buy until about November.

I think the shops sometimes want to get in first, because they misguidedly believe that people are now desperate to buy coats, boots, jumpers and will buy them from the first shop that has them in, and then won't buy them elsewhere. Of course, most people don't think like that and want to buy clothes they can wear now, or in the next few weeks. But the shops seemingly aren't interested in giving people what they want, but are then surprised when sales aren't as good as they hope.

The madness also extends to school clothes, with 'back to school' ranges hitting the shops just as school breaks up for the summer, which is ridiculous. People (in England anyway) want school clothes in mid to late August. They don't want them in mid July where they have to guess whether their DC are going to have a growth spurt over the summer or risk waiting and find that there's almost nothing left just before DC are actually about to go back to school (hopefully, as it would be this year!).

Eddielzzard Tue 30-Jun-20 07:45:37

If they're planning 2021 Summer and Autumn now, why don't they wait 2 months? Literally TWO months! And then they may actually sell more confused

JinglingHellsBells Tue 30-Jun-20 07:50:18

Its cash flow.

Boden will have a preview of autumn clothes any day now with 20% off.

They have committed to buying the stuff so need to shift it.

They know people have a budget for clothes, so the idea is that if you buy from them (first) you will spend your money and not spend any more with another company.

LIZS Tue 30-Jun-20 07:54:34

Shipments of summer clothes woukd have been due between Christmas and March, lockdown in FarEast might have delayed both production and despatch then in UK retail went into lockdown so no distribution from warehouses happened. The winter sale stock which would normally have been shifted at Easter is still in store. It is likely Autumn stock will be delayed too.

annabell22 Tue 30-Jun-20 07:55:49

I live in the middle east, it doesn't fall below 20C even in winter in the daytime. We have Next, Debenhams, Gap, etc, most UK high st stores are here, and we have all of the coats, hats, gloves, scarves, boots and jumpers that they sell in the UK in our stores here!! I haven't worn a jumper since I moved here and I have worn a jacket once (up a mountain in the shade). I have a box of clothes to pack when I visit the UK and they are not needed any other time of the year. I have no idea who buys all these winter clothes in the shops here, even the tourists can't be enough demand to make it worthwhile.

CountessFrog Tue 30-Jun-20 07:59:02

I find a huge issue with this in the summer. Summer term is always manic at primary school, and when you’re juggling that with work, I find so little time to sit and plan for summer holidays.

Once I get time, there are no clothes left.

StellaRockafella Tue 30-Jun-20 08:08:25

Stock is made and delivered continuously over the year, but a lot of brands cancelled stock, and have an excess of (older) stock to sell so they’re concentrating on that, rather than bringing a lot of new stock in.

Hopefully the fashion industry will wake up, go back to two-4 main drops of clothing a year, and sell things seasonally, like they used to a few decades ago. It’s a pipe dream, I know, but it will reduce so much waste and surplus stock.

Lovemusic33 Tue 30-Jun-20 08:23:14

This annoys me too, can never buy what I need especially for kids, they often need summer shoes/sandals around now and can never buy them as Autumn/winter stuff is already in the shops, I don’t want to buy them earlier as they won’t last the summer.

Next are about to have those summer sale so their stores will now be full of their autumn and winter stuff, same with many other stores. Sale should be pretty big though as I’m guessing sales have been down due to covid.

oohnicevase Tue 30-Jun-20 08:26:28

Next are having a big sale this weekend so I would think the summer stuff will be in that .

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