NYC sample sales: how they work, and 22 for October 2026
The three organizers that post a policy give no refunds, and the first person in The Row's 2025 line was paid to wait.
NYC sample sales open every week, and four organizers' calendars list 22 brands for October 2026. Prices run 50% to 90% under retail at 260 Sample Sale and Clothingline, and none of the three that post a policy give refunds. Some draw lines the night before.
In October 2025, the first person in line for The Row's sample sale on 18th Street was not there to shop. Gigi Principe, 26, had waited more than nine hours for a client, Business Insider reported. Robert Samuel, who started her employer, Same Ole Line Dudes, in 2012, called it "the Super Bowl of all sample sales."
Clients pay his sitters $25 an hour, and $15 extra before 7 a.m. Inside, The Row was 75% off, and one personal shopper's receipt read $1,619 for three pairs of shoes and a coat worth almost $6,500. A sample sale is worth that kind of wait only for a label you already wear.
Quick facts
- October 2026: 22 brands on the calendars of 4 organizers, read 29 September 2026
- Discounts: 60% to 90% off at 260 Sample Sale, 50% to 80% at Clothingline
- Length: 4 to 7 days a sale at 260; 2 or 3 days at Clothingline this October
- Paying: cash or card at 260, Clothingline and Arlettie, and Apple Pay at 260
- Google: 4.8 from 541 reviews for 260 on Lafayette Street, 9 mentioning group changing rooms, read 20 September 2026
How a New York sample sale works
A sample is the piece a designer makes to show store buyers. After the season it is sold to the public, in few pieces and few sizes, Clothingline's guide says; many sales now add leftover stock.
The habit is old. In 1987 Manhattan had 247 sample sales, 80% of transactions cash only, and by 1995 it had 1,593, a 1996 New York Times story counted. "Just a decade ago, you had to bribe the elevator operator to get in," it added, as The Zoe Report quoted in 2022.
Four organizers now sell from their own spaces. 260 Sample Sale, a family business, began three decades ago at 260 Fifth Avenue, it says, and entry needs no ticket. It sells at 148 Lafayette Street in SoHo and at 260 and 261 Fifth Avenue.
Clothingline says it has run sales about 40 weeks a year for over 25 years, on a second floor at 261 West 36th Street. The stock is the brands', on consignment, and goes back to them when a sale ends. Soiffer Haskin, 317 West 33rd Street, has run private sales for luxury brands since 1982.
Arlettie, from Paris, opened a New York showroom at 45 West 25th Street this year. Members pay $120 a year to shop first. Everyone else waits for an emailed invitation.
Lines depend on the brand. 260 warns of them on opening day and weekends, and caps a busy visit at 45 minutes. Clothingline says they are rare on its big floor.
Fitting rooms are not promised: 260 opens them when the store and brand allow, Clothingline for most sales, Arlettie at all but 4 partners' events (the invitation says which). "People would just end up changing in the middle of the aisle," Fawnia Soo Hoo, who covered sample sales for Racked, told The Zoe Report.
Where October's sales are listed
Each organizer posts its own calendar, and the listing site Chicmi gathers all four on one New York page. 260 posts week by week; its list stopped at 11 October when we read it.
For a dress
Proenza Schouler is at 148 Lafayette Street from 7 to 11 October, up to 70% off. Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez founded it in New York in 2002; Rachel Scott has led it since 2025, its site says.
LoveShackFancy and Generation Love are up to 80% off at 261 Fifth Avenue from 6 October. Ramy Brook's dresses and separates, at Clothingline on 6 and 7 October, are "samples, with some stock," a sample sale in the old sense. Randi Rahm's couture follows there, 18 to 20 October, and Clothingline's page says she has worked with Beyonce and Carrie Underwood.
For a coat or a bag
Max Mara closes the month at Arlettie, 21 to 25 October, members first, with women's ready to wear, shoes and accessories. Arlettie's page names three of its coats: the Teddy, the 101801 and the Manuela. The 101801 dates from 1981, a camel colored overcoat of wool and cashmere, and the Manuela is pure camel hair with a belt, Wikipedia notes.
Zadig & Voltaire brings clothes and leather goods for women, men and children to Arlettie, 7 to 10 October.
How to shop one well
Hold to one rule: a label you already wear, in the size you already know. With no refunds and no promised fitting room, a new brand is a gamble at any discount.
Then skip opening day. 260 itself says day two or three is calmer, and Clothingline says mid afternoon is its quietest time.
Waiting can pay. A brand may cut prices midweek, 260 says, and Clothingline brings R13 and Denimist back on 13 and 14 October at their earlier reduced prices. Check your coat and big bag, as both require.
With no refunds, the fitting room matters more than the discount.
Between sales, our designer consignment guide covers 9 resale shops.
Shops that run their own sales
Two shops in our directory run sample sales of their own.
When Mark Cho started The Armoury, now at 168 Duane Street, he "bristled at the idea of holding seasonal sales," Put This On wrote in January 2022. Every few years it holds a pop up sample sale in New York or Hong Kong instead. That February's, at 325 Canal Street, was the first in four years: up to 80% off, and no cash.
Miista, 69 Orchard Street, is the brand Laura Villasenin started on footwear in 2011. New York got a temporary store in 2019 "and sample sales ever since," she told Livingetc in October 2024, the year the shop opened.
In 1996, the Times remembered when you bribed the elevator operator to get in. In 2025, you paid a sitter to hold your place overnight.
Common questions
Is there an NYC sample sales calendar?
No single calendar covers every NYC sample sale. Chicmi, a listing site, puts sales from 260 Sample Sale, Clothingline, Arlettie and Soiffer Haskin on one New York page.
Do sample sales restock?
Some do, brand by brand. 260 leaves restocking to each brand, and Clothingline posts new shipments that can include reorders of sold out pieces.
Does 260 Sample Sale take Apple Pay?
Yes. In New York, 260 Sample Sale takes cash, major credit cards and Apple Pay, its help center says. Every purchase is final.