# What happens after the sale? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2000, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273 "2000-01-16T15:53:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2000, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273/1 "2000-01-16T15:53:00Z")
Yesterday I was indulging in the Victoria’s Secret clearance sale (now, now, I just bought boring cotten panties). There were several bins worth of underwear and bras…many of which I know will not sell before Tuesday, when the sale ends. My question is, what happens to clearance sale items after the clearance sale ends? Do the clothes go back to the factory? Are they donated? This of course applies to all merchandise, not just clothing. Anyone? * * * I used to think the world was against me. Now I know better: Some of the smaller countries are neutral. [Laura’s Stuff and Things](http://members.aol.com/lrconaway) ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2000, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273/2 "2000-01-17T06:02:00Z")
I secretly suspect they just pack them away and bring them out again next year as “new” (heh) but I have seen the occasional warehouse sale advertised as “major lingere manufacturer” or “major catalog company” and when you get there they usually turn out to be Victoria’s Secret or Tweeds (our local outlet mall has a Tommy Hilfinger one every so often, but they advertise it as such). Great deals to be had and I imagine they get rid of a ton of it that way. I’ve also seen stuff at the “out of season” stores like TJ Maxx and Ross, etc. * * * Sarcasm detector? Oh, THAT’S a real useful invention! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2000, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273/3 "2000-01-17T06:09:00Z")
Sometimes they put them back out as new. Most large chain stores keep a second store for clearing out old stuff. Sometimes called Factory Outlets. ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2000, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273/4 "2000-01-17T06:22:00Z")
“clearance sale”- all underwear half off? merely a marketing ploy.For years I have been driving by a big furniture store called ‘Going Out of Business’ “Are they donated?”- Awrite! I am visiting the nearest refugee camp. “Anyone?”-I wouldn’t mind being the executive who decides it’s time for a clearnce sale,walks into the models dressing room and says ,‘OK all this under wear has got to go’ * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2000, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273/5 "2000-01-16T21:16:00Z")
My wife works stock in a retail clothing store and they don’t re-sell the clearance items in her store. They mark them down to ridiculously low prices and if they still don’t sell they send them back to corporate. Her particular chain has both outlet stores and a lesser quality brand name to get rid of unwanted or unsellable stuff. I have visited super-discount warehouse places that have brand name merchandise dirt cheap – obviously the ones they can’t sell any other way. ## I haven’t heard of them donating stuff as a last resort. That seems sensible but there may be some capitalistic reason not to do so. If they don’t donate the clothes I suppose the ultimate destination is recycling. “To do her justice, I can’t see that she could have found anything nastier to say if she’d thought it out with both hands for a fortnight.” Dorothy L. Sayers _Busman’s Honeymoon_ ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2000, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273/6 "2000-01-17T00:42:00Z")
Well by the time panties get to factory outlet stores, they must have been tried on by plenty of women? ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2000, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273/7 "2000-01-17T01:35:00Z")
Who tries on underwear? * * * Sarcasm detector? Oh, THAT’S a real useful invention! ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2000, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273/8 "2000-01-17T06:44:00Z")
LOL voguevixen, I am in your camp…eeewwww I have tons of undies that don’t fit (one of my pet peeves with the underwear people) If they would only come up with a standard to determine a small in one line is the same as a small in the other. As for clearance sales, I have heard on occasion, places like Hobby Lobby put the stuff in warehouse and sell it as “new” for the next season, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2000, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-after-the-sale/6273/9 "2000-01-17T07:02:00Z")
They’ll be shipped to Fingerhut and appear at the Andy’s Garage Sale website.