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Further proving that no one in Williamsburg has a day job: Oak's Sample Sale. We just popped through for a midday visit and the place was packed—the store's usual austere airiness trampled by dozens of skinny, dark-haired Brooklynites in combat boots or Toms and over-sized eyewear. Were we able to get a really good, detailed look at the clothing? No. Does it matter? Probably not.
Here's what we can tell you: Womenswear and menswear are not clearly divided. This might not matter at, say, J.Crew, but at Oak. where everything is either amorphous and huge or black and slim, it's a little confusing. That said, prices are very clearly marked—look for most items falling in the $20 to $60 range. There's an open nook in the rear for try-ons, but good luck getting a square foot or the nerve to strip down in front of the line of people counting quarters to pay for their haul in cash.
Men: There are a lot of really, really good jeans. They are mostly rather tiny—size 30 and under. But we spotted some real classics by Acne, Surface to Air, Cheap Monday and Ksubi. The Cheap Mondays, true to their names, were $20; the others fell mostly in the $40 to $60 range. We spotted a bunch of raw denim, some over-dyed black and gray numbers, and a smattering of bleached and all-white iterations.
Elsewhere, look for Oak's A.OK collection for a song: Tees start at $5 and sweatshirts are $10. They're in big boxes fresh for the rummaging—think of it as an Easter egg hunt for hipster knits. A stack of adorable J.Lindeberg and Jack Spade wallets are on offer for only $20. But they're being limply hoarded by a soft-spoken girl glaring at her iPhone through granny glasses.
Shoes are pretty much a mess, and the brands are questionable. There's a size 9 pair of Raf Simmons sneakers in white—they're very Common Projects and they weren't priced. Skip the Funktional tees, they're terrible. As for the great Hyden Yoo shirting we expected to find—don't bother, it's all womenswear. There is, however, a budget take on the classic Clubmaster sunglasses, and they're $5.
For menswear, we're giving this a solid stop in if you're nearby but don't make a huge effort to get there. Unless you're a size 28 and you need some new denim.
· The Womenswear Sale at Oak is Definitely Worth an L Train Ride [Racked NY]
· Dealfeed: Oak [Racked NY]
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