It's marketing. The hype that's generated translates into sales down the line, and the loss, if there's any that Alden or JCrew takes is offset by this following that's cultivated by what's basically a promotional event. It's so short lived, seriously how long did it last, that the sale itself generates this like mythic image in people's minds, and it will get mentioned here in like a year or two, like somebody will post "guys remember the JCrew/Alden sale of 2012 when they knocked off 30% on select models," etc.
But so it's very clever marketing because unless you're fortunate enough to randomly catch the sale the only ones that find out about it are the very people who already own like three pairs, are loyal Aldonites, and actually have enough of a thing for Aldens that they know 30% off is as good as it's going to get, or the people who've been trolling threads like this patiently trying to decide which pair to cop first. How many people who never heard of Alden do you think saw the sale and thought, well if they're on sale now I'll just wait until after christmas and then they'll be like half off. No. No they won't. It's a clever and deliberate customer loyalty ploy and I'm bitter because I missed it.
