Gilt Warehouse Sale

Yikes. I would never go to this again. A lot of the items were torn, stained, ripped, etc. and in general, there wasn’t a ton of stuff– almost no purses, and very few shoes. This was surprising because I went to the media preview and was able to get in hour before the general public. You would think that we would have a ton to look through but it felt barren in there– I can’t imagine that they had anything left by the 2^nd day. There were definitely some good deals but nothing to write home about.
In general, I wouldn’t waste your time. If you manage to score free tickets and you have nothing else to do, at least you can go and grab a free drink!
Tip* NO CASH ACCEPTED

I had a successful March purchase! I scored Burberry rainboots, Sorel snow boots, a Via Spiga long black femme-​y puffy coat, a black Alex + Alex peplum top, a flattering TART blazer, and a burgundy Alex + Alex (or Ava + Aiden?) dress with black piping for structure.
That being said, it is always important to be conscientious of prices. My Via Spiga coat, while well priced, wasn’t necessarily a steal — meaning I could have gotten it for the same price online.
You can price check at the sale on your phone/​iPad (obviously) but it’s just too crowded to be truly thoughtful about every dollar you’re spending. If you are indecisive, or an impulse buyer, this may be a danger zone for you. I can be inclined to overspend when I think I’m getting a deal on items I don’t need (I already have a long puffy coat, thought it’s eggplant) — especially when I paid $ 20 to get into the first night!
It’s fun to go with friends, or alone if you want to get in and out. It’s also an opportunity to check out the quality and sizing of popular Gilt brands so you have a better sense of the products when shopping online.
They have champagne, sparkling water, and snacks, depending on who the sponsors are. The March 2014 sale was my second Gilt Warehouse, and I’ll be back!

Definitely not worth the time and energy. You have to stand in line at least 30 minutes before the doors open otherwise you definitely will be screwed with not getting anything. Even then we were pretty far back. The warehouse is tiny and with the large number of people there, it’s extremely tough just getting through the aisles of clothes or shoes. I wanted to try on some shoes but gave up after not having room to take off my shoes and try on a pair plus the lighting was very dim so it made it even harder to tell if the shoes would be worth it. Having plastic tie straps holding the shoes together does not allow one to properly test out shoes.
For the clothing, I did find more items to try on but only ended up with one dress. The bad part about the clothing is the dressing room is just separated for the girls and the boys. They put so many of us in the room at a time that you barely have any room to separate the items you have yet to try on with the ones you want to possibly keep. I had laid out two dresses on a box that I was going to keep and one of the girls ended up taking it away. There was no need to take it away as we were told to hang up stuff we did not want to keep. These dresses were not hung so next time please ask the person next to the clothing whether it’s okay to take the items away. Needless to say, I was unable to find one of those dresses again.
Overall, most of the items for sale were torn, ripped, or looked like they had been worn already.
What a disappointment! I’ll stick to ordering off of Gilt online. Less of a hassle and the quality is better.
The only good thing about the sale was that the customers were actually very friendly. No one was pushing and shoving and one girl helped me get the items I wanted to try on into the bag.

I bought a home item in a box based on display items and when i removed it from the box discovered it was broken. Thanks Gilt!
In general it wasn’t a good sale, there wasn’t a lot of merchandise.
It was also very disorganized. The jewelry was all broken and tangled with each other, the ladies shoes were in no recognizable order. The men’s shoes on the other hand were very organized. I was only in the second group I can not believe the ladies shoes got that disorganized! Plus the way they set it up provided no room for trying on shoes and it was narrow. I hit my ankle on this thing protruding from the wall and the guard said «yeah that’s dangerous.» Tell that to my ankle! Three days later and it is STILL SWOLLEN! No one should get injured while shopping ever, especially when they are just walking down an aisle.
Wouldn’t ever go again.

This was a complete joke! I never write reviews unless I feel very strongly about my experience. We bought tickets for the Friday night (³⁄₇) time slot in DC, which were twice as expensive at $ 20 versus $ 10 per person for the Saturday and Sunday time slots. We thought since we paid more, maybe it would be less busy and we would find more quality stuff. When we arrived at 9:45pm (the doors were to open at 9:30pm), there was a long line of people wrapped around the block! I thought: there is no way all these people are going inside this thing! And boy was I wrong. We waited in line in freezing cold weather for almost an hour before we finally got in. The place was so crowded, you could not move! (I think they just keep selling tickets to everyone no matter how crowded the place gets, and that is how they make their money.) I kept getting bumped and pushed while trying to make my way to see the literally two small racks of XS/​S clothing. It was so dark in there; they were going for a lounge/​club atmosphere, but I think they are just trying to hide the fact that everything is either cheaply made or damaged. Everyone was rummaging through piles of who knows what, I could not even tell. The line for the fitting rooms was insane! There was nothing worth buying, but since we had already gone through so much at this point, it almost felt like we HAD to buy something. So I grabbed a plain black t-​shirt, which was the only thing that I thought was kind of cute (there was no way I was going to wait in line to try it on) and made my way to the checkout, only to find another ridiculous line! By this point I was so frustrated, I just left the shirt on one of the tables with random useless crap, got my jacket and purse (which I had to check upon entering) and walked out. Turned out to be a complete waste of $ 40 and a Friday evening. Next time I will stop having these crazy ideas and just go to a regular store.

Just returned from the March sale. Prices were not different from what you’d find on the site for the same products. Though I bought 3 dresses, for most other items I saw and liked, I could buy them at a good Bloomies or Last Call sale for better prices and without the wrinkles and snags.
Was also upset that I purchased a morning entry ticket, was sent an afternoon ticket, and guy at the door wouldn’t help fix the problem. Instead I paid twice. Probably will not go to this next time.

What a disappointment. At the last Gilt Warehouse event, we actually did pretty well, and got gorgeous Italian scarves, a beautiful pink valentino bag!!!, shoes, hat, etc.
We were excited to come back to the sale, but were quickly disappointed. Not enough items, not many people… Where’s my bag? Where’s my dress? Where’s my food!!! lol. There was nothing I wanted to buy sadly… :(
I really enjoyed the gilt warehouse sale last time. So, this time it was a huge disappointment. I don’t know if I would want to come back again.

Ladies, save your money! This is nothing but a scraps sale. Why is that? I learned D.C. is that last stop of the Gilt warehouse sale before they head back to NY. Chicago took all the good stuff. My friend and I walked in to find a small table with ladies shoes.
We thought for sure there would be more. Wrong! There was just a small table of about 10 pair of shoes and NO BAGS OR ACCESSORIES! That was the worse disappointment of all. Not one pair of boots, not one clutch… nothing. Due to the fact that the clothes were picked over multiple times in multiple cities, most were damaged. I think they keep the lights dim so you don’t notice all of the tears, rips, holes, and stains. They do keep the drinks flowing so I guess that covers the $ 20 ticket. I think this is a sale if you have a formal event and want to get a $ 400 ball gown or if your shopping for a male. Mens section had less clothes but was more organized and they had 2 long tables full of shoes. I gave 2 stars for the drink and the leather dress I got.
Moral of story… Go to the LA, NY or Chicago Warehouse Sale before the last stop scrap shop in DC.

I realize this is a «warehouse» sale, but I don’t think that means they can’t have lighting. How are you supposed to see anything if it’s so dark? And I went during the day! Also, why did the men’s section have so much room between racks while the women’s section was all squished together with hardly room for one person between the racks? I didn’t mind the line for the fitting room because I didn’t find anything to try on, but I was also prepared with a tank top and leggings in case I had to try on outside the fitting room. I recommend doing the same so you don’t have to wait in line!
I didn’t think the selection was that great but I’m also not willing to spend $ 500 on a blazer. The quality pieces I found from brands I knew were above $ 200, most about $ 500. If you want good deals on designer pieces and are willing to spend that much, you’d probably enjoy it. I didn’t think the other pieces were that great, because they were trendy but not necessarily great quality. I was also really disappointed that they didn’t have many accessories at all — one very small table with some shoes and nothing else. I was expecting some good purses! I also thought the website said they might have home items too, but there was nothing there. Overall, I was disappointed with the selection and the arrangement of items.
The mimosas were fine, but you can’t really drink and shop at the same time when it’s that crowded. The music was also pretty loud for 9am on a Saturday.
If you’re fashion-​forward (which I, admittedly, am not — I go more for classic pieces that will last a while), you’re willing to spend a little money (but less than you normally would on the same pieces), and you can deal with the crowds and dim lighting, I suggest the sale. Otherwise, don’t waste your time.

Perhaps it was one of those bad days when the hunt for bargain goods had gone awry but for one reason or another, I’ve noticed quite a few flaws with this gilt event that I did not notice in the previous one.
For those who don’t know, gilt sells all of their online merchandise that does not sell on their website through sample sales through physical popup locations in the major cities. You have to purchase a ticket ($ 10 GASP) to enter the event in 3 hr time blocks that start from Friday night until Saturday. While this may sound atrocious, they do provide free drinks (alcoholic and soft) as well as snacks.
For this event, I got tickets to the last time block b/​c all other time blocks were sold out. For that reason, it’s unfair for me to complain about the selection. That being said, there was an astronomical drop in the quantity of goods (almost ½ to a ¹⁄₃ of what was for sale the previous time). I cannot imagine that this event sold that much more to completely get rid of a section of the floor by the last time block (especially since people are shopping less in this area following the govt shutdown).
While I found it to be pleasant surprise that the noise level was toned down (did they actually read some of the reviews???), the area was not bright enough for me to look through the selections and in some areas you would need night vision glasses to look at the prices and tags. Is it worth taking each item on a rack that interests you and walk 15 – 25 meters through a crowd and see them properly? Perhaps.
Besides that issue, I’ve noticed that some of the items were used and returned. Some of the soles on the mens’ shoes were completely worn. I’m surprised that gilt sells these types of items at 60% off.
As always, this event will be a hit or a miss. Perhaps I would have forgiven all of their flaws if I found something spectacular… either way this event is just like outlet shopping: you find a gold in the rough or nada.

Chaos! That’s what this warehouse sale is.
The bad:
The let a LOT of people in so walking around is virtually impossible. The racks are SOOOO close to each other and overstuffed that browsing is very difficult.
The fitting rooms are pretty much rooms where everybody of the same sex can get semi-​naked together. I’m completely the opposite of an exhibitionist so I did NOT dig that. I recommend you wear small clothes under your coat so you can try on stuff without going into the fitting room. That’s what I did to save time because the line was insane.
We bought tickets for the Friday evening event at a surplus because we thought we were going to be the first ones in but we were greeted by a group of VIPs that had been there before us. I understand VIP BUT I wish they would have told us that when you bought the tickets online.
The men selection is not good. My husband who is pretty fashion forward and has great style just couldn’t find anything.
The good:
THE DEALS! Duh! You can find good deals you just have to look. I bought a pair of brown riding boots for $ 79 and some Giuseppe Zanotti flats originally priced at $ 550+ for $ 129! Were they cheap? No, but they were definitely a deal and are gorgeous.
Don’t come here hoping for cheap prices because you won’t find them. This is the kind of sale that takes outrageously-​laugh-​at-​the-​price items and brings them down to just expensive and very rarely if you are lucky, moderate prices.
Would I come back again next year? I’m still undecided.

Went to the sale this past Saturday… what a MESS! I get it… it’s a warehouse sale… but the clothing selection was about 90% polyester dresses with a few pairs of pants scattered throughout. I was hoping for an opportunity to score some great new blouses, blazers, jackets, etc. I was in the 2^nd rotation of people so I doubt it was a matter of being picked over. Also, the shoes were all sky-​high heels and wedges, nothing that would be considered versatile in my mind. I’m glad I only paid $ 10 to go because even that was too much.

To be fair, I went to the warehouse sale on the last time slot Saturday (courtesy of D.D. thank you!) and I am sad to report that it was a bust. It should be titled «Gilt’s Dumpster Diving Sale Where Everything is Still Pricey.» First off, they definitely oversold and the place was so crowded that there wasn’t even room to move. The location was in an art gallery with really poor lighting so it was hard to see and the DJ is spinning tunes at uncomfortably loud levels. At one point, I remember feeling drunk from being there. The clothes were way overpriced (maybe 10−15% cheaper than the price on Gilt– and they charged sales tax on top!) and disorganized since most of the items were not in their proper size racks. The belts and accessories were a tangled mess and a lot of the items were damaged as a result of the frenzy. The shoes were stacked 2 – 3 boxes high and piles making it impossible to see the selection let alone find the space in front of a mirror to try on. I did not feel that this sale was worth the $ 10 entry or my Saturday, and tried to make it back in the free snacks and drinks which also ran out before the event was over. I walked away with one Belle obi belt for $ 40 which I could have lived without it. My friends also bought one item each out of desperation more than anything else. I would likely not go back unless I could get the VIP earliest time slot before the pilagging occurs AND armed with ear plugs.