At the 3.1 Phillip Lim Sample Sale, We're Waiting for Markdowns

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We're officially into the back half of the 3.1 Phillip Lim sample sale, which had a run on bags in its initial hours that led to the extinction of Pashli bags by day two. And a visit to 151 Wooster Street an hour after the doors opened this morning revealed more of the same: an unchanged price list, less and less covetable bag styles, few shoes with more than one size available. The silver lining is that this throws a spotlight on the plentiful racks of stock and sample apparel, much of which is beautiful—albeit still pretty expensive. But could markdowns be on the way?

Much of what's available is from Fall 2014—so between the price tags and the unseasonable heavy fabrics, clothing has gotten lost in the mix here. On the women's side, there's a great selection of skirts ($100), dresses ($175—$400), and tops ($100—$150) still available, while the men's section had several racks of heavy coats ($300—$500). But at these prices, we'd still have to pass over most of these items—although this polyurethane cut-out sweater, available in both copper and black, might be worth it. Maybe.

For those of you holding out hope for bags and shoes, get in sooner rather than later. The shoe styles we mentioned yesterday—like the Berlin bootie and a furry high heel, each featuring a gold chain and going for $100—are still the most plentiful in the stock section (where a salesperson assists you), and we spotted a few 31 Hour ziparound backpacks ($450) behind the counter with the other bags. If you're going through samples in these categories, tread lightly: damages range from barely-scuffed soles on the bottoms of slip-on sneakers to missing heel taps and bag straps.

We overheard a sales associate telling a customer that the sale could be extended through Saturday afternoon, pending brand confirmation, and 3.1 Phillip Lim more than came through on that promise. A Facebook announcement shows that the sale will be running for a full day on Saturday and a half day on Sunday.

Could that mean we'll see a drop in prices over the holiday weekend? There hasn't been word from 260 Sample Sale just yet, but an email detailing further reductions wouldn't be totally unexpected—we're keeping our fingers crossed that it'll go as high as an additional 40%. Check out the extended hours in the Dealfeed below.