STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

crazyshopper · Nine West

Forever 21

rosie_the_riveter · Gucci

Yeah it sucks, I've been told the same thing at F21 before. The girl told me that I could leave my phone number and that they would give me a call once they changed the mannequin clothing. I didn't leave my number, I figured it's F21 I doubt they're going to call me.

jaymiek · Coach

hmm, that's weird. I was at a Forever 21 this year and I saw this sales girl take something off the mannequin and give it to a customer. Maybe that was the day they were supposed to change the mannequins' clothing or she just decided to be nice?

JoceyBaby23 · Gucci

Lots of stores do this.. We always had to say "NO" when I worked at A&F. We had to attach a separate tag and tell customers that the clothes on the manaquins were not for sale.. and that they belonged to A&F HQ and we really were not allowed to undress them at any time without our DM there.

Most of this was untrue.. because when we did change the manaquins clothes, we removed the separate tag and tossed them on the sale table at that point. It was such BS!

Hermione · Kate Spade

the exact same thing has happened to me at both AF and f21

so frustrating! i don't understand why they wouldn't just want to make the sale! i understand it's not the sales associate's fault, but the rules are stupid.

if there's not anymore left on the floor, there's no point in having it on the mannequin anyway!

so frustrating!!

(oh wait i already said that - but it is!)

bex · Chanel

crazyshopper wrote:

I had a weird experience at Forever 21. I went in there and saw a mannequin with a very cute wrap sweater vest. I asked the sales girl where I could find one and she said the one on the mannequin was the last one left. I asked if I could take the one off the mannequin (it was in my size) and she said no. She said it was store policy to not remove clothing from mannequins. I put up all the reasonable arguments (are you really going to turn away business? what's the point of advertising something you can't sell - it would make more sense to have the mannequin wear something IN THE STORE), but she wouldn't budge. She said the mannequins could only be changed on certain days. I thought of tearing it off the mannequin and running to the register, but I was afraid I'd be attacked by security. :)

exact same thing happened to me. i was SOOOOOOOOO pissed at them for it too... she told me that i could come back on thursday when the switched the mannequins and buy it then... whatever loser... you just lost a sale....

grr... now i am all fired up again thinking about it!!!!

tina242 · Kate Spade

That happened to me too, and my fiance actually took the shirt off the mannequin when no one was looking!! :)

I mean really, it's F21, how hard is it to just put another shirt on the mannequin? It's not like the outfits are that amazing....

joy0302 · Kate Spade

The girl who worked there probably just wanted to buy the vest that you wanted and didn't want you to take it!! I have had A & F tell my husband that before, but I am really shocked that f21 would. That is really stupid for any store to turn down a sale.

deludelu · BCBG

I worked in retail before, usually for chain store the company want to have same display throughout all of the branches so during some promotion period all stores will have the same display and when it it time to change, they will all change at the same time.

honey · Gucci

my understanding is that this is a general policy in most retail stores. sometimes nice sa's will sell you stuff off the mannequin, but for the most part, i know that in theory they are not supposed to.

halleybird · Hermes

my sister used to work at Hollister, and they would get in very deep trouble with the district managers if they sold anything off of the mannequins, or if it disappeared. She said people would scream at her about it, but there was nothing she could do. Apparently the store doesn't own those items (they belong to the home office or something) and they aren't always the same cut/quality/size as the items they sell.

tina242 · Kate Spade

At A&F the clothing on the mannequins has a little "Property of A&F, display only" tag, so it's easier to understand that it's display only.

JoceyBaby23 · Gucci

tina242 wrote:

At A&F the clothing on the mannequins has a little "Property of A&F, display only" tag, so it's easier to understand that it's display only.

Honestly.. We (SA's) put those tags on there.. and remove them when we change the clothes. When we finally change displays ("forms" as A&F calls them) those Prop tags get removed and those clothes go the sale table like everything else. It is such a crock!

And HB is right.. the DM's are very strict with Hollister and A&F.. all displays must be identical.. we are told what things the forms must wear and there is VERY little room for substitutes. We have to tell the story about "property of HQ" to save our own asses when the DMs make a surprise visit!

shopgirl · Kenneth Cole

This happened to me at AF and I have not set foot in the store since. On the flip side, I was in Venice over the summer and saw a great cardigan in a shop window. I couldn't find it anywhere and went back to the sales clerk and she offered to take it off the mannequin for me. The same thing happened in Perugia, too, but though the top was fantastic, it cost too much.

Did she at least tell you what date they'd be updating the window so you could come back, or promise to hold it for you when it became available?

Deborah

Tashina · Kate Spade

i used to work at a forever 21 in so cal and i would get in trouble for taking clothes off the mannequins all the time. i thought that rule was the stupidest thing i had ever heard and would try and sneak the clothes off. i allways got caught though. i finaly got fired from there for taking an outfit off a mannequin in the back of the store that was waiting to be putout front, replacing the outfit with another, and then buying the outfit i stole off of the mannequin. it was the funniest thing.

the whole thing is they send pics of what they want the mannequins and the displays to look like so every store is the same. they do it at the wet seal and gymboree too. but at wet seal and gymboree they will take the clothes off for you.

-- Edited by Tashina at 16:28, 2005-12-21

tina242 · Kate Spade

Well it would help if things were easier to find in their stores - those stores are always such a mess and chock full of clothes, so it's hard to find an item you have in mind. You kind of have to just stumble upon things (it's like vintage shopping!). I can spend hours in those stores!!

Tashina · Kate Spade

their stores are all devided by color and style. like they allways put the reds in one section and the black in one section. but if you want a dressy black or red shirt, they will be in a different section. what is most trendy or new will allways be in the front of the store. one side of the store will be more cassual than the other. and when they do go backs from fitting room, if they can't find the specific spot for an item, they put them with like colors and styles. so if you are looking for a different size in something and you can't find it, you should look for it in another section with the same colors. just some info for those of us who get confused in stores like those.

Kincali · Dooney & Bourke

tina242 wrote:

That happened to me too, and my fiance actually took the shirt off the mannequin when no one was looking!! :) I mean really, it's F21, how hard is it to just put another shirt on the mannequin? It's not like the outfits are that amazing....

Actually, when I worked in retail, it was a pain in the ass to keep changing the forms. The icing is when the bitchy customer decides they don't want the item after you stripped the form and redressed it.

lilyann · Dooney & Bourke

A little off topic, but this place is such a mess! I really feel frustrated when I have gone in, the couple of times I have- its such chaos! I dont have the patience to sift thru clothes: on the floor, in a messy pile, so packed in you need two hands to push on either side of an item to get at what you like- only to discover that they just have one and its not your size. Makes shopping too much work... what a snob, huh? He he

blink · Coach

I never knew any store had a policy against this. I have checked mannequin tags and taken items off mannequins all by myself before, (without help from a sales associate, because I usually say I don't need help the minute I walk in) and it was always because the mannequin was wearing the last size small available. I didn't even think to ask if this was ok, I just assumed it was and marched straight up to the counter.

I will have to remember that....and keep up what I had been doing in the meantime.

ETA: I have never shopped at F21, but I have been allowed to try and or buy clothing taken off mannequins at Gap, J Crew and QuikSilver that I can remember off the top of my head.

-- Edited by lorelei at 18:32, 2005-12-30