Mr. Porter Sale Starts - General Strategies for Every Level

I don't know about you, but I could really use a good distraction to refuel and take my mind off everything going on right now in this country, even for a little bit. Truth be told, I feel a bit guilty I have the privilege of even being able to do such a thing, given so many good people are out in the streets fighting (figuratively, not rioting) for some much needed change. However, I'm holed up at home with a brand spanking new baby and nothing but diapers, bottles, and the disappointment of various relatives' horrifying social media postings, so the Mr. Porter bi-annual sale kicking off is welcome respite.

Most of you know this by now, but the Mr. Porter bi-annual sale is one of the best sales of the year for two reasons - scope and return policy. Most great sales with heavy discounts make you pick between a large price cut and the risk of final sale vs. a modest discount and the more common return policy. Mr. Porter has a massive online inventory spanning the breadth of menswear, sales start at up to 50% off at escalate generally every couple weeks to 60-70% and then an extra X % off (this part changes year to year), but you can also return it all for free if it doesn't work for you. I will say I think the sale has become slightly less amazing for choice now that it's so incredibly popular, but it's still great.

 

Tonight, the wheels have started churning on the sale prices being newly listed. What normally happens is that sometime around late evening EST, prices start getting updated to sale prices that you can check out at, but the official sale announcement and convenient categorization navigators are not added until hours after.

These are my strategies for each phase that I've used in the past:

1) "Pre"-sale officially starting (what we're in at the time of this posting) - The most efficient method is to browse first by designers and/or categories that you are interested in and then filter for size to see what's on sale before they're all put into a list. This will lead you straight to the sort of things you're more inclined to seek out. It takes a dedicated individual to sift through the mountain looking for gold at this point.

2) Up to 50% Off (the first official wave) - hours after the pre-sale items go live, everything is organized and laid out in a much more easily digestible manner. This happens in the early morning typically. At up to 50% off, you are generally not excited about anything except things that rarely go on deep sale, if ever. That means things like Vibergs, Common Projects (though I bought mine at >70% off earlier this year), or other generally hyped pieces. The other scenario is something you cannot live without if you pass up on it in hopes of it going on deeper sale. For instance, I like this Blue Blue piece, though I have enough sashiko pieces I don't want to pay the 50% price for it, so I'll save it for later.

Please note, however, that there are several competing sites that have just as good, if not better prices for certain items and styles such as Ssense, End Clothing (especially true if you like Barbour), and Moda Operandi. So I would shop around if you're not sure if you should pull the trigger.

3) Up to 70% Off (generally around two weeks later) - This is the sweet spot of the sale; there's still a decent amount of inventory usually combined with deep discounts. To catch most of the steals, you need to know when it's going to happen and be ready to pounce. Some people, myself included in prior years, set calendar alerts, though honestly the schedule moves a little from time to time. "That's crazy!" Maybe so, but the crazy guy is copping the Camoshita 70% off while you're drooling on your pillow, cool guy.

4) Extra X % off/More Lines Added/Up to 80% off - The last weeks of the sale typically see an increase to 80%, extra X % off, and more items added to the sale at staggered intervals. The best of these late events is when more lines are added, which means thousands of people haven't already grazed and picked clean the bones. This is the perfect time for you to vulture in late with some ridiculous deal, but true finds are rare unless you're both lucky and quick.

You can reach Mr. Porter at the link below. Rakuten also gets you 3% cashback so that you can buy some ramen you eat to make up some of the money you just burned through.

Mr. Porter Sale (Now Updated to Official Sale Page)