Fashion Twilight Zone

I attended a seminar at MAGIC last month that was a sort of crash course for beginning designers.  The speaker had some interesting anecdotes about the industry.  She showed us a striped shawl she bought at Anthropologie and then the same shawl 3 seasons later being sold at Sears for 1/3 the price.  This was to illustrate something called seconds, where the factory sells off old stock and puts a different tag in the garment. 

I'm certain I've seen this before but today it happened simultaneously.  I don't even mean like, they are available in the same season.  But literally, I was looking at this page in the latest Urban Outfitters catalog:

I was also watching a movie, chatting with my husband online, and checking my email, being the multi-task master I am.  And WHILE this page was open on my lap, I received this email:

How this happen?

Katie by Big Buddha

Sweater Weather Hobo Bag "Exclusive to Urban Outfitters"

I would guess that Big Buddha's design house made it and then sold it to Urban for private labeling.  Either way, I have to wonder if someone got fired for this.  I have so much to learn about this industry.

For what it's worth, I love Big Buddha bags because they're awesome and cheap, which is why eBags emails me every time they have new ones.

Comments

[catherine]

Wow! I always had a feeling this happened, but never knew there was a word for it. I know I've seen Urban Outfitter jewelry on online sites for half the price.

Since Urban and Anthropologie are owned by the same company, I guess they use the same mark-up technique. It's so frustrating!