The black sweater was on the “reduced” rack at Nordstrom. Even so, I was sure the sales clerk would be grateful for my vigilance.
“There’s a hole in the front,” I whispered, holding the soft knit creature a few inches from her face. I figured she’d apologize, thank me for my trouble, and put it in some bin under the counter. Not so.
“It’s supposed to be that way,” she said, flipping it around to show two more holes with runs down the side, and hanging it back on the rack.
I’m well aware that faded, creased and occasionally knee-out jeans sometimes sell as new. But somehow a woman’s sweater with holes takes shabby chic to a whole new level. If the style is holey, then it seems the holier thing to do would be to buy these garments from the authentic poor who are actually wearing them and give them at least the price the designers – in this case, Elizabeth and James – are actually commanding. Here, the donation would be at least $154, after two reductions from a list price of $395.
The buyer would then have a real piece of shabby clothing. And the seller might get a much-needed week’s worth of groceries.
2 Responses
When I was living in Anchorage, AK, I had a friend who worked at the Nordstroms there. She told me about the Panty Hose of the Week Club. Apparently, there were some women who would take advantage of the store’s policy of taking back merchandise “no questions asked” to exchange panty hose they had worn and gotten holes in for new panty hose. Now I’ve heard about folks buying a fancy dress, wearing it to their fancy dress occasion, and then taking them back, but panty hose?
Now that’s an amazing story. Maybe Nordstrom was able to re-sell the pantyhose for $50 a pair to go with the sweaters.