260 Sample Sale sees foot traffic jump as luxury customers seek value

Experiential Marketing // June 17, 2026 260 Sample Sale sees foot traffic jump as luxury customers seek value By Julia Waldow 260 Sample Sale 260 Sample Sale, which holds sample sales for big names like Balmain and Diane von Furstenberg, is seeing increased demand from brands and customers alike.

Foot traffic at the company’s sample sales jumped 10% from 2024 to 2025. And 260 Sample Sale’s categories are growing, too. While the company largely focuses on apparel and ready-to-wear fashion, it’s working more with partners in areas like home decor and beauty.

Over the last few years, 260 Sample Sale has held sales for bedding brand Boll & Branch, plant brand The Sill, lighting brand Artemide and skin-care brand Dr. Barbara Sturm. 260 Sample Sale typically sells items for 70-90% off, according to its website. Basket size tends to vary; one customer, for example, may spend $200, while another may spend $1,000.

But, overall, the company is seeing consistent demand as shoppers with varying levels of income look to snag a deal on typically high-priced products, said Ariel and Assaf Azani, the two brothers at the helm of 260 Sample Sale. For some luxury brands, “That barrier of entry is very high,” said Assaf Azani, the CEO.

At 260, “People know they’re getting a good deal and are willing to engage with brands they maybe felt priced out of, to begin with,” he told Modern Retail. “[Customers] know the value is there, so it just allows them to more liberally engage with the brand.”

The company’s ethos fits in with larger consumer trends, said Brad Jashinsky, director analyst at Gartner. A recent Gartner study found that U. S. consumers ranked value No. 1 among the factors they look for in brands. Value was 10 percentage points higher than the second-closest trait, authenticity.

“Even high-income shoppers are frequently shopping at new retailers to find value,” Jashinsky said. Launched more than 30 years ago in New York City, 260 Sample Sale began selling off-price merchandise before hosting its first sample sale with Diane von Furstenberg.

The company — a family business started by the brothers’ father — then began receiving requests from other brands. 260’s business model is one-third real estate, one-third marketing and one-third operations.

Brands send products to 260 and set pricing for the sales; 260 provides the physical space, fixtures, salespeople and — if the brands want — social outreach. 260 holds sales in physical locations in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and Dallas, as well as online.

Sample sales have the benefit of generating buzz both in real life — as passersby wonder what’s drawing such long lines — and online through content on how to find sample sales. For brands, they’re a great tool for generating “millions of dollars in revenue,” Jashinsky said. 260 Sample Sale hosts a mix of public and private sales.

Some events are limited to a luxury brand’s employees or friends and family. Other sales are open to the public the whole time. Some start off as VIP-only, then become public. The company recently held sales with Alice & Olivia and Diesel.

260 frequently teases upcoming sales on its social media accounts — its Instagram page has more than half a million followers. 260 started holding more private sales around 2018, at the request of luxury partners.

Private sales can be helpful for brands looking to expand their reach with new and existing customers, said Michael Prendergast, a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, a global consulting firm. “The luxury houses have been doing versions of this for a long time, for customers that spend over a certain threshold annually,” he said.

Indeed, many of 260’s clients “were hosting events in their own showrooms, and that is actually a lot of work, and it’s a lot of liability,” Ariel Azani, the COO, said. 260 typically holds sales for a week at a time, although brands can decide if they want the duration to be longer (to get through more inventory) or shorter (to create a sense of urgency).

260 advises brands on best practices, using data from previous or similar sales. “If we see that the sale is not hitting certain key metrics, … we will tell [partners] about certain levers that they can pull,” Ariel Azani said. “‘Let’s start reducing over here.’ ‘This price point is not moving over there.'”

260 tends to have three different types of customers: those looking for unique pieces, those looking for basics and staples for work, and those looking for discounts on products that may not typically be discounted. While the merchandise may be overstock or other unsold items, 260 views itself as “curators, not liquidators,” Assaf Azani said.

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