Fashion is hardly a cheap vice, even for men. At the height of the over-the-top luxe trend, you would have seen even socks and neckties going for sky-high prices. But even if you want high style and designer brands, you don’t have to pay top dollar for all of it. There are those who can drape themselves in well-known labels and pay a fraction of boutique prices. It’s all about how savvy you are when you put your money where your style is.

Defeating the System
Believe it or not, the first place to check for lower-than-shop prices are also shops themselves. Once you have a strategy set up, you can save a bundle on clothes without ever deserting your favorite boutiques. Retail fashion is cyclical: designers come up with new collections that are sold on the racks and then discarded when they become outdated.

This pattern is so predictable that you could make a shopping calendar out of it. For a full year, observe and note down when your favorite shops and brands hang up their Sale and Clearance signs. You can bet that they’ll be putting out the bargains at around the same time next year and the year after that. Since you can already predict when last season’s styles will go on sale, you can get to the cheap stuff early before they’re all snapped up.

Sample sales are another seasonal phenomenon that many in the fashion circle exploit. The sales feature worn-on-the-runway pieces and irregular sizes at deep discounts, so you have much to gain from them. Sample sales can usually be found in big fashion-friendly cities like LA and NYC, so look around and keep your eyes and ears open.

If you’re not one for waiting, you could also look for outlet malls, which typically offer the bargains all year round. Chances are good that you’ll find high-end brands there with last season’s stocks at lower prices. Since most of them are large and labyrinthine, it’s a good idea to come up with a definite shopping list before you get into the car.

Digital Age Frugality
The Internet is good news for the frugal and fashion-conscious man, thanks to sites like eBay. Auction sites are a great place to hunt down some pre-owned and once-worn items, just like you would at a vintage store. Lots of online fashion retailers also offer discounts on everything from neckties to shoes, especially in between seasons.

Shopping for clothes online, however, could end up eating huge chunks of your time. If you’ve ever ended up spending six hours at the mall instead of one, you’d know how that feels. Either have a clear idea Kamagra prescription cialis generic of what you want before logging on, or be prepared to eat up hours of your day clicking away online.

Online clearance sales are also a quickly emerging trend, and it’s friendly on the wallet too. There are mailing lists dedicated to letting people know when high-end brands have some old stocks that they’d like to liquidate. You may have to ask help from a fashion-conscious friend, though, as some of these places are by invitation only.

Affordable or Awful?
Despite all these opportunities to s

ave a buck, you could still end up losing money in the long run. Many first-time frugal shoppers get so overwhelmed by the percentages and Sale signs that they still spend hundreds of unnecessary dollars at the checkout counter.

It’s been said already but it bears mentioning again: know what you’re looking for before you start shopping. If you don’t need that Christian Audigier shirt (or have no intention of wearing it), there’s no reason to spend a cent on it – even if it’s 80% off. A seven-fold silk necktie, meanwhile, will be cheap even at 40% off because it’s an investment piece.

For men, accessories are usually the most strategic items to buy at these sale events. They usually vary little from season to season, and the right materials will last you years if not decades. Now there’s a bargain.

Author Bio: Pohl has written close to a thousand of articles on mens fashion. He is one of the most well known fashion authors on the web. He also suggests you check out his necktie outlet retailer: Cheap-neckties.com/ – a site with more than just ties and Cheap Bow Ties. He suggests canadian pharmacy propecia you check out these Yellow Neck Ties

Category: Beauty/Fashion
Keywords: cheap mens ties, cheap bow ties, neckties for cheap, discount silk neckties