It’s over. It’s all over. It’s just starting. Sorta. We’ve now reached peak end of season clearance time in the world of retail. Here’s a round up of the best of what’s going on, end-of-year-sale-wise, in the world of affordable men’s style. This post will be updated over the next few days as more sales roll in.
Works on both sale and final sale items. Keep an eye out for those final sale items, as with most/all brands and retailers, anything tagged as “final” sale can’t be returned or exchanged. And anyone else notice the significant uptick in bad reviews on the Bonobos site? Yes its been happening for a while now, but Bonobos has peeved off a lot of their longtime customers with what appears to be a decline in overall quality. So again, be really careful with final sale stuff. You really do want the option to return/exchange with Bonobos these days. Thus, picks above are limited to stuff that’s NOT final sale at post time. Code BYE2023 runs clear through Sunday January 7th.
It’s an “up to” 25% off sale, with their most popular stuff getting 10% or 15% off. But that’s actually pretty good for Spier, especially now that we’ve just hit astronomical winter. And yes there are exclusions, but quite a bit is up for some sort of savings (topcoats, chunky shawl collars, flannel trousers, etc.) Core line suits in basic solids like gray, charcoal, navy, etc… those are excluded. But their Red Label line is still getting fifty bucks off. Boxing Day Sale ends Tuesday January 2nd.
The final sale stuff = no returns or exchanges. J. Crew’s annual big winter clearance has begun in earnest, and they’ll even bump it up to an additional 70% off final sale if you have three of those items in your cart. ICYMI, here’s the One Sale Five Outfits post we ran last week. Code NEWYEAR is also good for 25% off select full price, but exclusions apply of course.
Prices are as marked online, so don’t expect any extra discounts at checkout. It’s the first quality stuff getting the cut here. No $25 restocking fee like would be the case if it were a Factory 2nds sale. Do be aware that AE has started to (annoyingly) mix in some Factory 2nds stock into their normal sale section. Those aren’t getting an additional 25% off, and those will cost you a $25 restocking fee if you return an F2.
This is one of Nordstrom’s two big seasonal clearance events they run every year (the other being in summer). Now… they might have an immense amount of items in their sale section, but sizes and color selection are scattered at best. At least everything ships and returns for free.
Grant Stone is a favorite around these parts for the super high quality to price ratio they provide. Our shoe expert Adam really, really likes how they run their brand, and the boots (and shoes) they make. For a few years there they didn’t really have a sale section. It’s nice to see that change for those of us on a tighter budget, but who also like quality footwear. Seeing a couple of their Edward boots as well as the Cap Toe Boots in British Tan land in the sale section is a real eye-popper. Picks above are not final sale at post time. So exchanges (free) and returns ($15 return label) should be possible. Yes the URL for their entire sale section is still “https://www.grantstoneshoes.com/collections/final-sale“… so yeah, that’s confusing, but swapping over an entire section like that to a new URL would probably be a massive pain in the behind. Just stay out of the sub-sections that clearly say “last chance,” “B-Grades” and “Sample Sale” and you should still be able to exchange or return. Clear as mud? Awesome.
Still rolling. Full original picks can be found over here. Size and color selection on a lot of items are starting to hustle out their doors, so, now’s a good time to browse if you got a gift card or you’re a big Huckberry fan.
So if you can buy a $100 giftcard for $75 (limit 2 per person…) that means anything over $100 is effectively $25 off. If something is in that $75 – $100 range, then it’s $75, and you’ll leave a little gift-card credit on the table. That’s the case with those Stan Smith Lux sneakers as shown above. The green/gold are gone at this point (and less than $75 so the gift cards are N/A anyway), but the classic black and white are still available. On sale for $96, buy a $100 gift card for $75, once it’s delivered to your email use that gift card on the sneakers, and your spend-in-the-end is $75 (plus tax and or any shipping options of course… adiclub members get free shipping and returns.) Full review of the Stan Smith Lux can be found here.
Limited sizes on those wool blend sportcoats but still worth a mention. Full review can be found here.
It’s a true clearance. Sizes and colors are all over the map, with most stuff pretty picked over. All final sale. No returns or exchanges unless you’re a member and then you can return in-store for credit only.
Was an extra 20% off for the last week or two, and now they’ve bumped it up (and the prices down) with that extra 30% off code. Runs through January 4th. Just watch out for Final Sale items. Anything tagged as final sale can’t be returned or exchanged.
It’s a mix of regular sale and final sale items. No returns/exchanges on final sale stuff. (And yes that gets written a lot on this website so apologies, but just in case someone new is breezing by and doesn’t know the difference between regular sale and final sale in retail it needs to be repeated.)
Sunday Update: Last week you had to be a cardmember to get that additional 20% off sale items, but no longer. Should work for everyone now. No code needed. Extra 20% off should happen at checkout.
Rough couple of weeks for The Swoosh. Some good items in the sale section right now, but if what their execs have been saying is any indication, deeper sales might be on the horizon.
They’ve been running 30% off for a good while now, yet 40% off is as generous as it gets when it comes to their full price (read: not clearance) sale stuff. Not a bad time if you’re a fan.
Sunday Update: Heads up: Brooks Brothers is putting a cherry on top of their 40% off event. It’s now 40% off + an additional 10% off that marked down price. The math means that, in the end, is 46% off. Prices above have been updated, although stock levels are pretty picked over at Brooks Brothers right now.
All the colors you’d expect. Half canvas construction. 100% wool fabrics. Still rolling. Full details here, while the original full review can be found here.
Affordable and then some. Those picks won’t impress most high quality shoe fans, but a lot of us are okay with “renting” a few times before we buy for life (or thereabouts.) Full review of those suede chukkas can be found here. So far, so good.
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