Guide
How an off-price apparel lot is actually valued
Unit count is the least informative number in a closeout deal. Two lots of one million garments, identical brand and identical season, can differ in realized value by half. What separates them is the size curve, the speed at which each band sells, and how the goods are packed.
By The Retail Ledger · September 27, 2026
The size curve is the price
Off-price buyers resell into channels with their own demand curves, and those curves are steep. Core sizes clear at or near the expected price within a normal season. Extended sizes and outliers clear slower and lower, not because of what they are but because the resale channels that absorb volume hold less shelf space for them. A lot weighted toward the tails ties up warehouse space and working capital for months longer at a lower realized price per unit.
This is why a buyer prices a lot band by band rather than at an average unit cost, and why the seller’s size-level inventory report, not the headline unit count, is the document that matters.
Worked example
One million units, illustrative figures, to show the shape of the arithmetic rather than market rates.
| Band | Units | Time to clear | Realized per unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core sizes (S–XL) | 700,000 | 9 months | $4.10 |
| Extended sizes (1X–4X) | 200,000 | 18 months | $2.30 |
| Outliers (XXS, 5X+) | 100,000 | 24 months + | $1.10 |
That mix realizes about $3.44 per unit. Invert it, so that 700,000 units sit in the extended band and 200,000 in core, and the same million units realize about $2.54, a 26 percent difference, before counting the extra year of warehouse cost and the capital tied up in it. Nothing about the brand, the season or the condition of the goods changed.
Pack configuration
Prepacks fix the size ratio inside each carton, so the mix is known before the goods arrive and can be verified from a handful of cartons. Loose or mixed cartons do not, which means the true composition of the lot is only knowable after unit-level intake. A buyer taking loose goods is accepting that the composition will be discovered rather than inspected, and should price and contract accordingly.
Buyer checklist
- Request the Available to Sell report at SKU and size level, not category level, and attach it to the purchase order.
- Price the lot by size band, not by average unit cost.
- Model sell-through separately for core and extended sizes before agreeing a price.
- Confirm pack configuration: prepacks fix the size ratio, loose cartons do not.
- Agree in writing what happens if the delivered size curve differs from the list by more than an agreed tolerance.
- Book receiving capacity before the first truck, because the notice clock usually starts at delivery.
Related: discrepancy notice clauses, and the 11.2 million unit shipment, where size composition is the disputed question.