HA outlet question

[nd93]

Does HA sell items at their outlet that are for the outlet only, they've never been sold in the regular stores or catalog? I was at an outlet last night and saw these cute patterned dresses. Usually the tags say something like "outlet price $$ catalog price $$" but these just have one price. Also, they do not have the red skinny strip tag, but a white square tag that says "hanna andersson" on it and the size in black. Are these dresses inferior quality? I know a lot of stores do make a separate line just for their outlets so I was wondering if that was the case with these. I'm sure there's a HA expert out there who knows! TIA!

[slknight]

I believe that they do have some items that are for the outlet only. About a year ago, they had some zippers in french blue/clear green stripes that were only at the outlets. They pilled much more than the regular zippers. Others here had that experience as well. I don't know if this was a unique circumstance or if all of the items are of a different quality though.

[nd93]

Thanks Susan (my DD#1's name, btw!). My experience with other stores is that the quality is usually inferior compared to stuff from the stores. I haven't been a regular shopper of HA so I wasn't sure if these were just an older style or not. But the tag is even a lower quality, if that makes sense (thin white shiny fabric vs. the red twill like fabric). And the dresses were $28, so not much of a bargain IMO.

[samiam]

They used the white tags before changing to the red ones (and now have gone back to white since people hated the red!) so it may just be that the item is from a season or 2 ago.

I agree - unless they're having a sale, the outlet items aren't much of a bargain. That being said, I've received fabulous customer service and super fast shipping every time I've mail ordered from an outlet store.

[dules]

The new pieces I ordered from the Fall catalog have the white tags in them. They seem not to be able to make up their minds on this. Personally I like the silky white ones as they seem to bother DD less.

The outlets do have pieces that are made especially for them and the Kittery outlet told me they have a dress for Fall in a print that's been flying off the shelves. Since I was on the phone I did not order it sight unseen though.

I do have a pair of pants made of "extra" fabric from the Hippity Hop/Happy Stripes line from a couple of years ago. They are like sweatpants, with elastic bottoms and a drawstring waist, and the fabric is the same small stripe as the sleeve on the Happy Stripe dress, if you've ever seen that.

They have washed and held up quite well, but again, the fabric was intended for something in their first run market.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Mary