Here’s where to get designer labels for cheap

January 29, 2020

Zara. Nike. Steve Madden. Calvin Klein. Adidas. Aldo. And loads more. For much less at Discount My Fashion (DMF), a chain of retail stores in Gauteng.

The last time I saw designer labels at massively discounted prices was in New York years ago at Century 21. It was surreal buying a DKNY jacket for $50, Spanx for $7, and Converse shoes for $15.

A few weeks ago I had a similar “wow” experience shopping at Discount My Fashion (DMF) in Eastgate, going through racks and racks of designer clothes, starting at around R100 for kids’ labels. I was gifted a R1 000 voucher, and with it, I was able to buy a pair of Lucky Brand jeans for myself for R299 (I checked on the Lucky Brand website and saw similar jeans to mine for $129), and two long shirts and a T-shirt for my son. I “only” had to put in R50 as I was over my R1000 voucher.

Max with his new favourite clothing from the Hype label

The Eastgate store is DMF’s 10th, and if you’re wondering (like I was) how you get authentic labels for such low prices, founder David Fine explains it like this: “We thrive off the ‘mistakes’ of traditional retailers, buying their excess inventory, as well as that which has been returned by e-commerce channels – big names such as Amazon, ASOS and Zalando.

“When people return unwanted items of clothing, rather than going back into inventory, these clothes are sold at cheaper prices by the e-commerce business. We buy this stock and pass the discounts of between 60 and 80% onto our customers,” said Fine.

Stock moves quickly, so you’re likely to find different things between stores, and from one week to the next. Items are arranged per size, and you’re unlikely to find more than one of each particular item.

This is not a place to pop into quickly to buy an item before dashing out. While there are dress, shoes, jeans, skirts, tops etc sections, you have to sift through a lot on each rack before finding what you like. There are a lot of clothes, which is why it’s not a quick process, so what you lose in time, you gain in variety and options.

DMF is currently in Gauteng for now, but there are plans to extend to other areas in South Africa.