By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN WEST — Fashionistas anticipating extreme deals at the Hermès annual sample sale left the first day feeling extremely frazzled after an experience that they say was far from fabulous.
Broken or defective merchandise and overpriced, and out-of-season items were among the major disappointments, shoppers said Wednesday.
Hermès advertised a sale of up to 60 percent off in its new Garment Center location and excited shoppers lined up hours before the 9 a.m. opening for a crack at the sale.
"You know how expensive it is. If we have a chance to buy one or two things from the top top designer that would be amazing," said Long Island resident Gila Aizer, 52, after confiding that she brought a few thousand dollars to spend.
Shoppers took off work to wait for up to three and a half hours in line at the legendary sale, but left the building Wednesday morning with fallen faces.
"There was hardly any merchandise that was fabulous. The prices were high and there was not a very good selection," Upper East Side graduate student Jen Jenicka, 26, said after spending $465 on gloves and a tie.
"If I knew then what I do now, I would not have been waiting in that line."
Making matters worse, shoppers said, the sale included broken belts that were barely marked down from normal prices.
Regardless, shoppers said they doled out as much as $1,000 Wednesday, mostly on smaller items like scarves, ties or gloves that slashed an average discount of 30 percent off of retail prices.
Marie Hong, a 30-year-old Midtown resident who works in the fashion industry, said the difference between this year's sale and last year's sale was proof of how much fashion prices are rising.
"Wow, the prices are getting higher," she lamented.
Hermès did not return repeated calls for comment as of press time.
The Hermes Sample sale will continue through Sunday at Soiffer Haskin, on 317 West 33rd Street.
