Threadless – $9 and $12 t-shirt sale (until September 7)

Threadless is an online community and t-shirt store with user-submitted designs. People can vote on your design on a scale of one to five and the highest scoring designs get turned into a t-shirt. For those who are not as artisically inclined but still want to participate, Threadless has a line of type tees with witty slogans submitted from users (ie. “magic is just stuff science hasn’t made boring yet“)!

Generally, their t-shirts are upwards of $17 USD and a couple of (reasonable) dollars for shipping and handling. However, every season they have highly discounted merchandise so now’s the time to stock up on t-shirts for $9 or $12! The last time I bought from Threadless, it was about $6ish for shipping (sent to Vancouver…obviously). If you take a picture of yourself wearing the t-shirt, you are credited with $1.50 on your next purchase too!

As you can see, designs are good mix of girly and boy-ey patterns. Maybe I’m gender-biased, but I can’t imagine why a girl would wear a t-shirt with a hamburger saying “I want to be inside you!” but I could see a guy wearing that.

If you do decide to browse the Threadless site and buy something, please do me a favor and buy through my referral link!

Jonathan + Olivia: 70% off “warehouse sale”

Jonathan + Olivia (2570 Main Street), a small boutique with items for both women and men, is currently having a sale so huge, word on the street is calling it a “warehouse sale”. With international brands like Ernest Sewn (USA), Filippa K (Sweden) and Vanessa Bruno (France), the popularity of Jonathan + Olivia has been featured in both local, national and international publications from Ion to LouLou to Fashion Magazine. Don’t worry if you can’t make it to the boutique until the weekend – the sale just started on August 6th and they will be bringing in new sale merchandise on a daily basis. The sale will last until all spring merchandise is gone.

ARITZIA – Snooze You Lose sale (begins August 7th)

Pacific Centre Aritzia Storefront (August 7, 2008)

Okay my lovely readers, here’s the scoop on the Aritzia Snooze You Lose Sale which began today, August 7, 2008. It’s basically 50% to 70% off all selected spring and summer merchandise. So TNA shorts for as low as $17.50, brightly colored (including neon) hoodies for $55, leggings for $10. Their winter stuff is starting to come in – from my observations, lots of dark greys and greens.

Komakino

Editor’s Note: What a bizarre concept for a Vancouver retail shop…

By Guest-writer Kenneth Law.

Fans of “sophisticated” men’s high-fashion, expensive goods and the obscure in general may take interest in dropping by the Komakino. Currently located in 111 East Pender St. in Chinatown Vancouver, this “Guerrilla Shop” has covered various downtown locations, frequently moving around with little attempt at raising its awareness to the general public.

Not the most glamourous of its locations compared to some previous ones...

Flatly stated, Komakino carries men’s items that virtually “no one has heard of”. This is not your D&G or Moschino store and this is not where you go to get your tailoring done or where to find $500 Ferragamo loafers to match your belt. This is strictly fancy yet artistically casual clothing from designers such as Ann Demeulemeester, Raf Simons, Rick Owens, Julius and The Viridi-Anne; brands which eschew premium quality along with a premium price. You’d certainly have to be someone who pays scrutinizing attention to detail and the subtleties of labour that went into these pieces to appreciate the amount of money you’d be paying for them. The items may seem too flashy, gaudy and, more than likely, universally overpriced, but there will certainly be buyers who can see these as a worthwhile investment. Myself? I could understand the beauty and aesthetics of many of these but would have trouble coughing out the money.

Certainly the rarity of the items are also part of the appeal as there are virtually no other retailers in Vancouver that carry these brands – Julius, notably, is probably only carried by Komakino within North America. The closest thing to here would probably be Blackbird in Seattle, and even that caters to a slightly different crowd, as the other “high fashion, low-profile” store around, Richard Kidd, has closed in the last year – not to mention it was subject to notorious overpricing that even Komakino-shoppers would scoff at. Although a recent Komakino warehouse sale just ended on August 3rd, there are still plenty of discounts to take advantage of and you can browse around at their online shop. While Komakino items are “rare”, there definitely exists ways to buy them for cheaper online, if you’re willing to purchase secondhand. Regardless, the store staff is very friendly and certainly do not mind people browsing around. There’s none of the uppity attitude you’d get at Hermes or Louis Vuitton for being “underdressed” at the place.

Example of a more glamourous Komakino location

Guerrilla stores, or retail locations that intentionally come and go, are nothing groundbreakingly new – Comme des Garçons has been doing it for years. From an economic standpoint, this stealth-like practice seems nothing short of bizarre. Komakino’s intended audience is already a narrow niche to market to but more creatively minded professionals may note its cult appeal to the underground; positioning itself as chic and artsy should only help to improve its underground credibility amongst the Komakino clientel: affluent, street-savvy hipsters.

It’s difficult to say with certainty whether this practice will continue to have lasting appeal for Komakino, or whether it will eventually become tired as people get over the initial awe and surprise at the quirky idea as really, it’s not as if the store’s disappearing out of Vancouver or even the local area. Then again, given how few people know about the place, there are still plenty of potential shoppers to surprise and amuse.

Plen+y – online summer sale starts Thursday July 31st

One of my favorite stores, Plen+y, is having an online sale on their spring and summer merchandise with free shipping on orders over $150. Your discount will automatically appear in the cart. My favorite is their in-house brand Propaganda with stylish but not too flashy and not overly expensive clothing items. It’s a really good store to get clothing basics at – yet there’s always something different/special/unique about their items. For example, I received a brown Propaganda tank top for Christmas one year – but it had lacy straps and pearl buttons on the front. And this other time, I bought a very plain dark blue Propaganda winter coat (strangely, they gave me a 10% discount off it because I liked it so much…) but what made it special was the gorgeous mint green lining on the inside. Anyway, check out the online sale – maybe you’ll find a good deal.

For other Plen+y store locations, check out Robson Street, Richmond Centre or the corner of Broadway and Mcdonald.

**Enter MMV’s first contest SHEAR GENIUS. Application deadline August 3rd.

Holt Renfrew – now or never sale

Save up to an additional 20% on already reduced merchandise at Holt Renfrew. As for the flyer to the left, “tomorrow” actually means starting today – July 25th! Thousand dollar purses are laid on the sale tables for the world to see, feel, touch, try on and model. Accessories are compartmentalized in neat rectangular boxes. Clothing is organized by size. For these mad discounts, surprisingly, the sale racks are relatively neat, tidy and organized.

Mintage Vintage – $5/bag sale day

If you’ve been reading Modern Mix Vancouver, you’d know that Mintage Vintage (1714 Commercial Drive) had their $5/bag back alley vintage sale last Saturday (July 5th).  I arrived promptly at 10am and saw the madness unfold.  

The general crowd there consisted of younger looking guys and girls – lots of thick framed glasses, more stripes than I could count, jeans tighter than mine, Converse shoes and unisex American Apparel hoodies. You get the idea? At precisely 10am, the first rack of clothes rolled on top of the waterproof blue plastic tarp into the masses.  It was madness!  There were literally clothes flying in the air and people with pink plastic bags hastily grabbing at whatever they could reach.  Anyway, here are some photos I took with my phone from the event. I was standing on the outskirts of the crowd and watching with my arms crossed, camera phone held up, and if you can imagine, an amused smile on my face.

MINTAGE VINTAGE – back alley sale (Saturday July 5)

Buy a bag for $5 and fill ‘er up with all the vintage clothing you can fit inside at Mintage! This would be a good, cheap way to experiment around with vintage clothing as costumes or to bring out your inner fashion designer and alter clothes without having to pay a lot $$ if you screw up!

Where: 1714 Commercial Drive
When: 10am to 4pm

The sale is at our Commercial Drive location, around back in the alley, there won’t be any access through the store (which will be business as usual, so feel free to stop in and check it out). It will be all vintage clothing – mens, womens, dresses, pants, shirts, skirts, and accessories.

Off The Wall – 50% off dresses, shorts and capris

I wouldn’t write an entry about clothing sales if I didn’t think it was a good deal: Off The Wall is having their summer clothing sale. Despite Vancouver’s crappy June weather, this would be a good time to stock up for summer. I went and checked out the downtown location during my lunch break yesterday and the deals are pretty good if you’re looking for casual brand wear. From Adidas to Zoo York, Off The Wall carries a wide array of stylish brands…for girls. (It used to have guys’ clothing too but then the male section faded away…) There’s graphic t-shirts (some printed on organic material), a huge wall of denim selection (with brands including Mavi, Silver, Song, etc.), cloth and cotton dresses (beach wear?) and lots of what I would call “surf and skate brands” like Billabong and Roxy. Anyhoo, I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to Off the Wall, but if you’re in the neighbourhood of downtown, Metrotown, Coquitlam Centre or Richmond Centre (to name a few), stop by a take a look.

AE – 15% off coupon (valid until June 11, 2008)

I forgot to post this up sooner so you have one day to use this coupon at American Eagle Outfitters. Print this out and get 15% your purchase instore and online.

ARITZIA – summer presale June 16th to 25th (check your mail)

It’s that time of the year again – when Aritzia sends its exclusive and trendy postcards by snail-mail to their top customers inviting them to a VIP presale. So this is a friendly reminder for you to check your mailbox and see if you are a recipient of first-pick discounts before the rest of Vancouver!

As a valued customer, you are invited to Aritzia’s Private Pre-sale June 20th – 25th come enjoy great discounts on the latest summer styles before the general public. Just present this card for exclusive savings at any Aritzia and TNA location.

If you didn’t get this in the mail, don’t worry. The same savings, discounts and price reductions will be available for you after June 25th.

**Edit: So I talked to one of the people at Aritzia today (possibly a manager) and she suggested that you buy your clothing now, for the sake of getting the size you want, and return and re-buy it during the pre-sale.

Threadless – $10+ Sale (ends June 8th)

I really need to head out of my house right now, but I got super excited when I realized the Threadless t-shirt sale starts today. I’m absoultely cutified!! This isn’t quite a “Vancouver” thing, but hey – the internet is the world wide web. I’ll write more later tonight when I get home. But if you do decide to buy anything, please buy from my referral link here! Thanks!

Basically, Threadless is an online t-shirt store with user-submitted designs. People can vote on yoru design on a scale of one to five and the highest scoring design gets turned into a t-shirt! As you can see, designs are good mix of girly and boy-ey patterns. Maybe I’m gender-biased, but I can’t imagine why a girl would wear a t-shirt with a bar of soap saying “Rub me on your butt!” but somehow I could see a guy wearing that :P

Here are some examples of $10 (sale) t-shirts you can buy, and they are printed on AMERICAN APPAREL t-shirts:

This one is the cutesy one which caught my eye:

DIESEL – Sample Sale (June 12th to 14th)

I personally don’t own anything from Diesel but I remember when I was in Europe all the fashionable European hotties wore Diesel. Here’s the Diesel Website to get an idea of their brand. Even though Diesel operates a women’s line, I usually see guys wearing their premium denim line. I suppose it’s because women have so many more denim options. Anyway, if you end up checking this out, tell me how it goes.

Thurs. June 12th: 10am to 9pm
Fri. June 13th: 10am to 9pm
Sat. June 14th: 12pm to 9pm

@ 708 Powell Street.

55DSL clothing, the “experimental”-Diesel-line-turned-independent will also be available at the sample sale.

Hope the sale is good and happy hunting!