But despite the prices, it can still be tempting to purchase their very well made clothes for work since they have a very refined, sophisticated look despite being very simple designs. Throw on a dress from Theory and you'll already notice how awesome they are at making you look office good!
An alternative to dodging these high prices for professional wear is to head over to the Theory outlets as they always seem to offer pretty good discounts for clothes. As the holidays are approaching and everyone was out shopping, Ben and I decided to join in. We drove over to the outlets and I stopped by Theory to see what they had. On this occasion as we were at the outlets, I figured it would be as good as any time to see if there were differences in the clothes at Theory vs. what can be purchased at the normal retail stores.
My recent discovery about differences between retail stores and their outlet counterparts has opened a huge can of worms for me. It seems as if people know that there is a difference but cannot exactly point out WHAT is the difference. So I decided to start answering this question and hopefully provide more insights into the world of outlet shopping.
Pricing:
Pricing at the Theory outlet is still expensive but definitely more affordable than its retail counterparts. Clothing generally runs about 50-60% off the retail prices.
Fabric:
I've noticed that many of the fabrics named on the outlet tags are not fabrics I'm familiar with and the Style No. are different for outlet stores. Normal retail Theory clothing typically has a Style No that consists of a letter (typically "F") followed by 7 numbers (ex. F0709602). All the Style No.s at the outlet had the same format but with just 6 numbers and a letter "R" at the end (ex. F071300R).
Despite the differences in naming convention, I have noticed that the fabrics (whether they were made for the outlet or not) were still nice and not noticeably different from their retail counterparts. The items I purchased were still a 90-something % virgin wool blend with elastane or polyester. My only guess at this point is that the fabrics were produced more cheaply compared to the fabrics they use in their retail store.
Service:
Since it is an outlet, I was not surprised that the service was lackluster. I have popped into a Bloomingdales to shop for Theory clothing and the sales associates were always there to grab me a new size or recommend certain clothes for me. The outlet is quite the opposite. There does not seem to be enough people working the floors and so you'll occasionally get some help from the sales associates. However they were nice and accommodating when they were available!
Name of the Piece:
The name of the article of clothing at the Theory outlet is also not found online or in their retail stores. It makes sense but at the same time why bother even naming it? Try googling "Theory Tesselate skirt" and you will not get any relevant results.Final Thoughts:
I think the most unexpected thing that happened on my shopping trip was that as I was paying for my purchases, I casually asked the store associate if these clothes were specifically made for the outlets. She seemed caught off guard and mentioned that the fabrics were the same fabrics that Theory uses for its retail stores except that the cuts and patterns vary. It took awhile to ring up everything and so she continued blabbing and looked a little nervous answering my question. I'll honestly never know how true that answer was but the fact that she was nervous answering me meant either I am a very intimidating little girl or something is being hidden that the associates are not supposed to say. I'll take the ladder.
