Here's What's Hot On CBS11TV.COM:
Jun 11, 2008 7:38 pm US/Central
Get Up To 70 Percent Off Designer Duds
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
There's a way to get designer duds at lower prices. It's all through secret sales on "members only" shopping Web sites.
The sites offer designer duds at bargain basement prices. Everything from clothes, to shoes to jewelry is one sale.
"Whether it's past season merchandise, or excess inventory, it's a very discreet way for them to sell goods online without it appearing on Google searches," said Rachel Shechtman, Council For Fashion Designers of America.
It also allows designers to control when and where their brands are available. According to the Council for Fashion Designers of America, invitation-only sites first popped up in Paris.
"There were lots of copycats in Europe and abroad," said Shechtman. "Over the past year, there's been more models like that that have appeared and popped up in the united states."
Here's how it usually works. Members get an e-mail announcing the opening of a designer boutique. Pieces are up for grabs for only one or a few days at a time or until they're sold out. Think of it as "flash sale." Some of the items are on sale for 70 percent off or more!
The sites grow via word of mouth. Take
Gilt.com for example. Once a shopper receives an invitation, they can invite friends to join.
"If we have a member in L.A., she'll know much better who else out of her friend group might be interested in
Gilt Groupe," said Alexis Maybank, founder of the
Gilt Groupe.
Alexandra Wilkis-Wilson founded the site with Maybank. They've featured everything from diamonds to dresses.
"We were selling sunglasses that retailed for about $300 at Barneys on our site for about $98," said Maybank. "In our Diane Von Furstenberg sale, we were selling eight dresses a second!"
Ben Fischman, CEO of
RueLaLa.com, has seen a similar response.
"Within that first hour, many of our styles have already sold out. We're doing our best to make sure we can get as much inventory on the site as possible," said Fischman.
While you can usually only access these sites by invitation only,
RueLaLa.com and
Gilt.com have granted CBS 11 viewers an exclusive, all-access pass to their sites. Just click the name of each site to register.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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