Once a year, we open the studio floor.
Not for tours. Not for classes. For one of the most anticipated events in the ColsenKeane calendar: the Sample Sale.
If you have never heard of it, consider this your introduction. If you have been waiting for it, consider this your reminder to pay attention.
What Is the Sample Sale, Exactly?
Throughout the year, our leathersmithing team makes things that never quite make it to the shelves. Some of them were built for photoshoots only. Some were overproduced in a run and simply did not sell through. Some were orders that came back from quality control with a small cosmetic imperfection that would not affect the life of the piece at all, just the way it looks under very close scrutiny. And some have been living on the studio floor on display for so long that they deserve a home.
Every one of these pieces is full-grain leather. Every one was made by hand in our Charlotte studio. Every one is real.
The Sample Sale is when all of them find where they belong.
Three Days. Dropping Prices. Your Call.
Here is where the game of chicken comes in.
The sale runs for three days. The discount gets deeper each day.
Day one: a good deal. Day two: a better one. Day three: the best discount of the whole event.
But here is the catch. Inventory is limited. These are one-of-a-kind pieces, studio samples, and items we will never restock. The bag you spotted on day one might be gone by day three. Or it might still be there, waiting for you at the lowest price of the sale.
That is entirely up to you.
Do you move fast and lock in your piece? Or do you hold your nerve and wait it out, hoping the price drops before someone else gets there first?
We cannot tell you what to do. But we can tell you that every year, people kick themselves for waiting too long.
What You Might Find
Every sample sale looks different. That is what makes it worth showing up for.
Past sales have included bags that were built for editorial shoots and never listed publicly. Wallets and belts from overproduced runs. Totes that spent a season on our studio wall before we decided it was time for them to go somewhere they would actually get used. Items with minor cosmetic variations from our standard, still made with the same materials, the same stitching, the same care, just with a little personality of their own.
Nothing in our sample sale is second-rate. It is just looking for someone who will love it.
How to Find the Sale Items
Whether you are shopping in person at our Elizabeth studio or browsing from your couch, finding the sample sale pieces is simple: look for the white tag or Sample Sale tab.
Every item included in the sale is marked with a white tag, in studio. If you see the white tag, that piece is part of the sale. If you do not see it, it is not. Simple as that. Online there will be a dedicated page to the sample sale.
How to Get Early Access
The sample sale is not widely advertised. We do not take out ads for it. We do not post it everywhere weeks in advance. The people who know about it are the people who are paying attention.
The best way to be one of those people is simple: get on our email list.
Our email subscribers are the first to hear about the sale, the first to see what is available, and the first to have a shot at pieces before the rest of the world catches on. Insider details, early previews, and the kind of information that does not make it to a public Instagram post go directly to your inbox.
If you want in, the signup is on our website. It takes about ten seconds and it might save you from missing out on the piece you have been looking for.
One Year, Once.
We do this once. Not twice, not seasonally, once a year, mid-year, when the timing is right and the studio floor has earned a refresh.
If you miss it, you wait another twelve months. That is the deal.
But if you are ready, and you are paying attention, the Sample Sale is one of the best ways to bring home a ColsenKeane piece at a price that does not come around any other time.
Sign up for our emails at colsenkeane.pro. We will take it from there.
