How to Save Money on Clothes

There are lots of ways to save money, there are lots of ways to save money on clothes, sales, coupons, etc.  But I have a few favorite stores where I can save money even when there aren’t sales going on, namely Burlington, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, and Ross (named in order of my personal preference).  I refer to these types of stores as secondary retailers, since they are often not the first choice for POS by manufacturers.

Unfortunately Karah doesn’t like me to dress too “urban” so I am more limited on selection than others who would shop at these stores, but there is still quite a bit of savings to be had by me still.  Karah and I have a rule, if one of us doesn’t like how the other looks in something then we don’t buy it.  There are certain prices I try not to exceed when shopping:
Shorts:  $20
Jeans/Pants:  $25
Dress Pants:  $40
T-Shirts:  $15
Dress Shirts:  $30
Shoes:  $50

The only time I really break these is when I go to Express.  Now, before you think I’m a cheap dresser, I often get compliments on my clothing.  These stores have lots of name brands, FUBU, Levi’s, DC, and many, many more.

Often these types of stores get clothes that were either overproduced, returned, produced incorrectly.
When someone like Buffalo Jeans does a run of clothing they may or may not sell the entire stock to retailers, such as Macy’s or Buckle.  Anything they don’t sell is labeled as overstock and sold to secondary retailer, such as one of the four I listed above, at a discounted rate.  Once purchased at this discounted rate they can sell for much lower amounts.
If a retailer, like Academy, were to purchase too much of an item, such as a specific model of K-Swiss shoes, they may send them back to the manufacturer (resulting in an overstock situation) or send them directly to a secondary retailer.  This type of situation results in the secondary retailer having a limited stock and selection of specific clothing articles.
When an item is produced incorrectly and the manufacture wants an easy way to make money off of them, then they sell to a secondary retailer.  This type of product is usually referred to as “irregular”, and is usually what comes to mind for many people (including my parents) when they think of secondary retailers.  Irregular may mean something “drastic” like one sleeve being a different length than the other by an obvious amount or a size being off (a size 32 waist actually being 31.5), or it may mean something less serious, like a color printed incorrectly (fuchsia instead of magenta) or skewed stitching.  While I have found that (at Burlington and Marshalls at least) irregular items are not a big issue, you do need to be careful; try on everything before you buy it.

How do you save money on clothing?

NOTE 1:  These stores also sell more than just clothing.
NOTE 2:  I want to go to SuiteMart, but I haven’t made it down to one yet.