Designer threads may have been ditched in favour of paying bills and putting food on the table since the recession reared its ugly head, but we all know you don't need to spend a weeks' wages to pull a decent outfit together.

There's a host of ways to score designer goodies for less than the eye-watering retail prices, so here's a few secrets to find high fashion goodies for a fraction of the designer price tags.

Sample sales
You may have heard this term bandied around fashion magazines and films like Confessions of a Shopaholic, and it is a fantastic way to score cut-price designer clothes and accessories. Sample sales are used by retailers to clear excess stock, end-of-line ranges and previous season's collections, as well as showroom and catwalk samples. They have grown in popularity since the credit crunch struck and have been known to descend into chaos.


High street retailers such as French Connection and Reiss frequently hold sample sales, discounting men's and womenswear by up to 70%, and many sales carry a wide range of high street labels.

Designer sales often have even bigger discounts, with prices slashed by up to 90%. Designersales.co.uk lists dates for events where clothes by designers such as Vivienne Westwood, Prada and Stella McCartney can be grabbed at cut prices. The next one day 'flash' sale is on Thursday 24 June, 12-9pm at Chelsea Old Town Hall in London.

Some sample sales are kept very low profile, so it is worth keeping track of websites that list forthcoming sales or advertise their own sales, such as secretsamplesale.co.uk and samplesaleslondon.co.uk. The next Secret Sample Sale London is also on this month, 24-26 June at the 20th Century Theatre, Westbourne Grove. Prices range from £5-£500 for labels such as Dolce and Gabbana, Balenciaga, Jimmy Choo and Chloe.

Web bargains
If you live outside of the capital, the web is your best friend for cut-price deals as most sample sales take place in central London. There are a growing number of online fashion outlet stores and ebay joined in last month, launching outlet.ebay.co.uk. The site sells clothes and accessories from high street stores including Karen Millen, Office shoes, House of Fraser, Ted Baker and Converse, with prices cut by up to 70%.

For designer clothing and accessories, head to theOutnet.com, which features high-end fashion with great discounts. Designers include Chloé, Marc Jacobs and Christian Louboutin and most items on the site have 40-60% knocked off the regular retail price.

The collections are from previous seasons with a limited number of each item, so don't hang around if you find a great deal. Regular pop-up sales, which offer bigger discounts on select items, last about 72 hours, and you'll need to check the site often to find out when they are.

TheOutnet.com also has 'Going, going gone' sales, which are quick reverse auctions where prices can fall throughout the day. Clicking the "Add to bag" locks the price of the item and the sale like a gamble - if you shop too early you could miss out on a very low price; but if you leave it too late stock could run out.