The Least Quiet Thing The Row Has Ever Done
That sample sale revealed a LOT.
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Loose Threads
Vogue World walked again Sunday night, with a Hollywood theme and Anna Wintour bestie Baz Luhrmann playing some sort of outsize role alongside Nicole Kidman. Many in the industry still seem perplexed by this event. Vogue seems to have to force the hype around it because, unlike the Met Gala, it’s not attached to an institution with similar cultural heft, therefore reads as an empty display that is little more than inventory for advertisers. And maybe that’s enough to gain traction in 2025.
We’re talking about The Row ahead and frankly, a lot of these minimalist brands look like Banana Republic, which has been GOOD lately. Case in point, a shirt dress from The Row versus one from Banana Republic that costs a tenth of the price. Or a basic button-down shirt — $1,250 at The Row versus $90 at Banana Republic.
Some shoppers are receiving invoices from shipping companies like FedEx seemingly for tariffs after placing orders from e-commerce sites. Modern Retail reports that brands like Quince have said the invoices are being sent in error and customers should not pay them. What a mess!
Tod’s chairman Diego Della Valle is trying to downplay the brand’s link to labor exploitation, as alleged by Italian authorities, by arguing in part that what happens at the subcontractor level shouldn’t be the brand’s responsibility. (I would disagree.)
Sydney Sweeney has a bob now.
Earlier in Back Row
The Least Quiet Thing The Row Has Ever Done
The Row’s sample sale that ended Sunday in New York resulted in some of the best internet content involving influencers since the Fyre Festival. Their vibe was often glee that they had blown thousands at the sale. Their viewers’ vibe was often glee that they themselves hadn’t blown thousands at the sale. The parodies were *chef’s kiss*. It was all fantastic entertainment.
Disclaimer: as a basic woman squarely in The Row’s demo, if I had been able to go to the sale, I probably would have, and probably would have bought some things I didn’t need or even like all that much. This is what people DO at sample sales owing to the high-pressure environment — and this sale featured OceanGate levels of pressure. People hired line sitters to show up before sunrise and wait hours in their stead. Some waited overnight in TENTS, like this was an exercise in survivalism. Others spent an entire day in line.
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Then, when they finally got inside, they had to hunt for treasure. Do you know how hard it is to find specks of gold in silt? Yet such was their mandate, because they had to justify not only all of their hours in the line, but also, all the hours of all the people who also waited in the line. There must be magic on those racks, in those white shoe boxes and dust bags. The secret to eternal chicness. The je ne sais quois someone has when they are “giving Joan Didion.” Plus: the pressure to make a haul TikTok. Did you even go to The Row sample sale if you didn’t make a haul TikTok?
Personally, I don’t think so.
TikTok has been flooded with haul videos from people who pillaged the sale. Many of them young women, in beige or white apartments, often with their hair tucked into their collars or other markers of minimalist trendiness like specific leather jackets or small oval sunglasses. The videos followed a similar four-part format.
I.
Discussion about the line and how long they waited.
Here are some quotes:
"The line was only maybe 40 minutes, 50 minutes tops for me.”
“Today, I waited seven hours to go into The Row sample sale and honestly would not do it again.”
“I only waited about an hour, which was kind of gaggy.”
“I only waited an hour, which I felt was very reasonable.”
“My line sitter got there at 6 a.m., four hours before it opened… by 10:30 he texted me he was at the front, but I couldn’t meet him until 11.”
II.
An assessment of whether it was worth it or not.
More quotes:
“I swear I blacked out — it was insane”
“I have no idea how we got so lucky. We were told it was super-picked over, all the bags were gone, there was ‘nothing left.’ I have a very long receipt here to prove there was a lot left.”
“I was there Tuesday, it was very chaotic… but I did leave with some great gems.”
“We definitely did some damage.”
III.
A presentation of the items in the unmarked brown bags with comparisons of the sale and retail price. (For more context on the retail pricing — it is high, but people who worked at The Row felt somewhat justified, according to my earlier reporting).
Quotes:
“I think they were originally $690, and I got them for $172.”
“I also got a pair of basic black flip flops… They were $162… originally $650.”
“This was $5,000 originally, so I paid $1,250.”
“Originally $1,750 and I paid $430.”
“Original price $1,450, I paid $312.”
“Originally $5,250 — how much did we pay for her? $1,300. So we saved over $4,000 on this coat… it’s girl math.”
“The signum heel sandal, these shoes were originally $1450. At $352 for these, these are a great investment.”
“This bag originally was $2,250 — we paid $800 for it.”
“$4,400 [originally]; I paid $1,000.”
IV.
The justifications.
More quotes:
“These items that I got — they’re like staples.”
“All the girlies were, like, freaking out.”
“I’ll have my tailor mess with it a little.”
“This is my cool-girl coat.”
“I am sorry? Who is she? She is chic.”
“It’s giving fucking elevated. It’s giving MK. You think she sees these hauls?”
“He [the boyfriend] just doesn’t get it. You know, it’s The Row.”
“I just know I’m gonna wear this all the time.”
Now, there are a lot of points to make about this sale, based on this content. First, The Row is most certainly no longer a cool-girl secret that only some are in on. It is mass. Like Gucci or J. Crew or Revlon. (To be fair, this is what the Olsens need if their goal is to make the brand the next Hermès, although Hermès doesn’t have sample sales like this.)
Two, there is a definite type who gravitates toward this brand, according to these videos. It’s not understated sixty-something women who geek out over the finishings or a super-wealthy mothers of four who just want the perfect oversized duster for traveling. It is a young woman in NYC (a West Village girl?) inclined to make haul videos in which she reveals exactly what she spent on everything.
Three, this content is antithetical to the brand itself, founded by two sisters who prefer not to be seen in the media and go so far as to ban cell phones at their runway shows to prevent that which they create from being involved in the tackiness of social media.
Here’s Mary-Kate Olsen in a rare interview from 2024 in the Financial Times (emphasis mine):
“We’ve done everything opposite to a lot of other people and it’s a really nice situation to be in. Whether through instinct, or experience, or knowledge, I think we’re in a good place. You know, anonymity is a luxury as well.”
Maybe this much mania over a sample sale is a sign of the times. Sample sales belong to the pantheon of aughts relics making a peculiar (if not disturbing) revival, including the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, the “Pump it Up” song, and capri pants.
I’d argue samples sales are not worth reviving. Some of the least-worn things I ever spent my hard-earned money on came from sample sales or Gilt Groupe. Sample sales are mind games involving limited time windows, things that aren’t affordable masquerading as cheap, and HYPE, designed to part aspirational shoppers from their money.
You do not have to spend $150 on a batwing T-shirt because you waited in a long line and a bunch of people on TikTok said they love their navy handbag and white lug boots by the same brand. Sample sales are mind games. Let us not descend again into this madness! As consumers, we owe it to ourselves to acquire new clothes in a non-stressful environment in a state of mind where we can fairly evaluate the utility, value, and beauty of each item.
I leave you with the only The Row sale parody you need.
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What Paid Subscribers Are Reading:
I’m still stuck on people paying three digits for a pair of black flip flops.
I like The Row, but I think the only people that truly look good in the brand are the Olson twins (and the celebrities they dress). For everyone else, it just looks like a grey sweater no matter the quality. And I think that's because for the twins, that effortless cool-girlness is actually effortless. The Row is how they live so when they throw on an outfit to run errands, the rest of us swoon after the clothes, but it's them we want to be. Unfortunately, no amount of sample sale hauls will get us normies any closer.