Dirty Little Retail Secret Exposed
During a recent investigation conducted by The Today Show as part of its ongoing series “Secret Filth Exposed,” they revealed some very nasty facts about lingerie retailers and department stores. Through the hidden camera investigation they discovered many retailers will accept returned and used underwear and bathing suits and sell them again as if they were new without a problem.
A woman who has worked at three different Victoria’s Secret stores told The Today Show that employees will accept returned underwear and put it back on the sales floor, even though it may have been used. She also said if a product comes back as returned and it has an odor to it, they will put the garment on a hanger, hang it up overnight so the odor has time to get out and then they’ll put it back on the sales floor the next day. Disgusting!
The stores subjected to the investigation were Nordstrom, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Victoria’s Secret, Saks Fifth Avenue, Gap, Express and J.Crew. The Today Show bought lingerie and bikinis at each store, ripped off the tags and the protective lining, marked the inside tag with two black dots, waited a week and then went to each store to return the items. Every store accepted the items back and gave a full refund. Later, they checked to see if they could spot their marked undies on the sales floor and found them at every store except for Saks, J.Crew and Express.
Check out the disturbing video below!
Source: msnbc.com
March 19, 2010 by Bruna
Filed under Bloomingdales, Express, Gap, J.Crew, Lingerie News, Macy's, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Victoria's Secret
This has been the norm on the retail industry. In fact, where do you think most of the undies come from that are sold on online auction sites and flea markets? These stores sell the “damaged” and returned goods to clearing houses and then buyers purchase large crates of random clothing for a specified price.
Once they receive the boxes, they sell everything and yes, you are getting items that have been worn and in many cases, there are plenty of underwear and bathing suits.
It really is a buyer beware market. I have never worn a new piece of undergarment without dinsinfecting it first. Everyone should at the very least rinse it out or wash it before wearing.
What store doesn’t do this? This isn’t even a story to me. Honestly, you should ALWAYS wash panties before you wear them even if they’re new. Have you seen footage of the factories that produce garments? You really think they’re clean when you get them? In stores where people are allowed to try panties on over what they’re wearing OF COURSE you’d want to wash them. And OF COURSE you’re glad that store let you try them on so you can make sure they don’t make your butt look fat. If you want sterile panties, go buy diapers.
Bella Bella Boutique is proud to have a NO RETURN policy on garments with a crotch on for sanitary reasons. Our customers appreciate this so much, we often get hands up comments on our policy. Our customers are confident that they are the only ones ever to own this kind of garment. On tip is although we have this policy, we do reccomend you to always hand wash your lingerie before first wearing due to manufactoring production and handling.
YOu people are strange. You always need to wash all clothes befor wear them. Not only underwear, but specially if it is underwear. Becouse people take them, try them, thy come from factary in bags, diferent envirement and so on. Why to give such advices, it is self-evident !
Brenda, I was surprised to find out that this is being practiced at major department stores found in your average shopping mall, it makes a bit more sense for this to happen at flea markets and online auctions like ebay because you’re not necessarily expecting brand new items. But when you’re purchasing things in a store, most don’t think they’re running that risk. Good for you on being a smart buyer and knowing to wash those undies before wearing them!
Molly, like Aline says in her comment, her store does not do this and I applaud her for it! I would surely shop at her store versus a Victoria’s Secret or any one of those stores if it means I’ll be getting lingerie that has never been worn by someone else.
Aline, I’m so glad you have that policy! I can understand why your customers appreciate it so much — I sure would!
Zalga, I don’t really think it’s strange to expect your clothes to be new when you buy them in a store like Bloomingdale’s or Nordstrom. It makes sense to wash new clothes and underwear before wearing them because of what may happen during production and handling, but it doesn’t make much sense to have to worry about someone else’s nasty germs swimming around in your fabrics because they bought a pair of underwear, wore it all day, and then were able to return it!
Even if it “obvious,” it’s still disgusting.
This is why my Momma always told me to wash my new undies before I wore them. Thanks for the report, Bruna!
Whilst its disgusting that they are selling used underwear, you should ALWAYS wash new underwear before wearing it.
I’ve never worn new underwear without washing it, other items of clothing (pyjamas) may also need to be washed before being worn.
And for the record i would NEVER shop at a underwear store that has a no return policy, especially if they dont allow you to try the clothes on.
Different manufacturers use different measuraments, so instead of feeling smug Bella Bella Boutique should be ashamed of itself for taking adavantage of the consumer (what am i going to do with ill fitting bras/ panties?)
When I first bought my online lingerie boutique the first thing I changed was the return policy. At first it was a no returns at all policy, but being an online store I found it just too restrictive. Now I accept returns as long as tags are still attached and they are in brand new condition. When the return comes in it goes into a bin of samples, discontinues and returns. Then every few months I hold sales around my area and clear the bin out. This way returned items only go to people who know they are buying returns and can look everything over to make sure it meets their standards. It works out well for my store and makes for happier customers because they know they won’t be stuck if what they buy doesn’t meet their expectations.
The bottom line for stores is exactly that – regardless of item, if the store has a return from its customer and the store is permitted to send it back to the manufacturer for credit, the store does not make any money. They return the item for cost price.
Now the problem is even worse for items that the store cannot return to the manufacturer. They have lost not only the cost of the item but all their handling fees associated with selling the item.
For the store’s bottom line, it is just better to put the item back into stock.
Then there is the last scenario which happens even if a store has a backend policy to deal with returns. Employees are just plain lazy and will do what they want. It is easier to put the item back on the retail floor than fill out the paperwork to return it to head office or the manufacturer.
While I agree that none of these scenarios are “right”, they are the reality of any business. The bottom line is the most important issue!
I work at a Victoria’s Secret and we would never put damaged or nasty merchandise on the selling floor. Never. Sure, of course we accept worn returns (though this is against our return policy) in situations where it would be more beneficial to just do what the customer wants and take care of them instead of sending them away unsatisfied. It creates a loyal customer. Most of the time the customer is in the wrong, too, they just didn’t follow care instructions or what have you. But we never put that merchandise out for sale. That’s apalling. We damage it out and throw it away and write it off as a loss to customer appeasement. Maybe some Victoria’s Secret stores have done that; but what the Today’s Show failed to point out (and apparently what the viewer has failed to realized, even though it’s common sense) is that with every chain store, every shop is different. It is NOT a storewide policy to sell disgusting damaged merchandise. Just because some managerial teams are too lazy or greedy to do things right at certain stores, it doesn’t mean the whole chain deserves that bad reputation.
Accepting lingerie returns is a necessity in retail. magga’s comment is a perfect example of why.
You can’t make the retail customer happy. They bitch when you won’t accept their returns, but if you accept someone else’s return in the same condition they cry foul. Completely selfish and hypocritical. Everyone thinks they’re special enough to bend the rules for but if we do it for another customer, they’re appalled.
Something that I think is missing from other comments on this topic is the fact that the lingerie in the study was not, in fact, “used” — it was just untagged & had the crotch strip (which is only standard in swimsuits, anyway) pulled. It doesn’t sound like it had any obvious signs of wear apart from the tags and liners being removed — yes, signs of panty wear are really obvious. That’s different from “dirty underwear” on the sales floor.
Also, nthing the comments that you need to wash your clothes before you wear them. It’s not just that someone else might have worn them before (or at least tried them on), it’s also that a lot of them are manufactured in distant countries and sent to their ultimate destination on container ships, so it’s pretty standard for them to be covered in sizing and pesticides for the trip.