Barney's outlets

[Ambulance Chaser]

A co-worker of mine told me yesterday that the Barney's house brand pieces sold in their outlets are made for the outlets and are not sold in their stores.  Steve B., LA Guy, anyone else with knowledge on this topic:  Please say it ain't so.

 

[Mike C.]

The two Barney's house brands I know of are: Co-op and Barney's New York. Both of these are sold in the regular Barney's department stores, possibly the outlets as well. I've found both lines to be of extreme high quality as well as moderatly priced.

The Co-op line is more casual, while the Barney's line ranges in anything from shoes, to shirts, to ties, ect...

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

My concern is that the Barney's New York and Co-op pieces that are sold in the outlets are different, and of lesser quality, than the same or similar pieces that are sold in Barney's department stores.  My co-worker does not have any knowledge that this is the case, only her observations that a shirt she bought in the outlet was not as nice as a comparable shirt for sale in the store and that there were too many shirts of a certain type for sale in the outlet for it to be overflow from the stores.

 

[sweater]

I have a pair of Barney's New York lace up dress shoes that I wear to work every day, they have been great, from my perspective the quality is very good.

 

[LA Guy]

While I don't know the answer to this specific question, I don't think that different lines are made for the Barneys and Barney's Outlet stores.

First of all, I don't think there are enough Barney's Outlets to make such a practice profitable. Secondly, I do know that the two types of stores share suppliers.

I will try to find out for certain over the weekend.

 

[Steve B.]

I was told by a custom clothier here in TX where I'm spending the Holiday weekend that Barney's shirts are made by Hamilton- a very reputable, quality brand. However, not sure it's true as Hamilton is made in the U.S., and Barney's outlet shirts all come with a "Made in Italy" tag. I have one tie from an outlet, and it's OK, no better or worse than others of comparable price.

AC- if you're interested in a particular piece, ask them directly if it came from the main store...

 

[LA Guy]

Its doubtful much at the outlets comes from the main stores. The excess merchandise already at the stores goes to the semi-annual Barney's warehouse sales - one of the reasons I like to shop at the seasonal sales at Barneys rather than wait for the same merchandise to go to the warehouse. I believe that the outlets are supplied independently (but by the same suppliers.) BTW, this is the same way Neiman Marcus Last Call works as well, as does Saks Off 5th (one of the reasons there are so many Perry Ellis and Mani suits at Saks off fifth but not at the regular Saks stores. Of course, this is no the case for designer outlets like Space (Prada and Miu Miu) or the Armani General stores, which get excess merchandise only (thus, the remarkable number of double breasted suits at the Armani outlets last year compared to the much more popular single breasted, 3 button version.)

 

[pstoller]

Just to clarify, some of the items that the Neiman Marcus Last Call outlets have in quantity may be shipped directly to the outlet, but they still have plenty of items that are culled from the main stores (and from Bergdorf Goodman, which is owned by NM). I can't imagine that anyone here would have much trouble telling which is which.