Why don't retailers let me back order clothes that are out of stock?

I would think that that policy is going to be set differently by different retailers and for different garments. For example, LL Bean’s lineup doesn’t change very radically, even from season to season, so if they have something in their catalog now, then they’ll likely have it until hell freezes over. But other retailers work more seasonally and more up-to-the-minute (or at least the last hour) in terms of what’s “in style” now, and may not want to commit to purchasing another minimum run of whatever shirt you may have in mind (since they don’t order in onesies and twosies, but in huge multi-store lots).

I mention LL Bean in particular because I have back-ordered shirts from them, and they accepted the order and delivered them in due course.

I have worked in sales a little in my life, but never with clothes, so maybe this is not relevant or correct.

I find that lots of places simply don’t keep stock anymore. Keeping stock ties up a lot of your money, stock and staff are always going to be your main costs in sales. Because of this, I find that many companies will avoid stock wherever possible, with the goods going from the factory directly to the customers doors (if/when delivered).

Lets say you order a shirt, a real expensive one, like $300 bucks or something. If each sale earns the shop $40, with the rest going on paying the maker and costs, and you want to order one, and there is a $50 delivery cost for the store, then selling you a shirt becomes a loss.

Maybe they are friendly with the delivery companies, and they could just deliver 1 extra shirt for free. Even if that is the case, they could lose the shirt on the way, and you could turn in to a complaint, and complaints cost money because you need staff and forms.

If you go to a small shop, there is a higher chance they can deliver, but if you go to a big chain store, they have teenage staff who are paid nothing, who have to follow a very well defined set of rules and procedures, and if you ask them anything outside of the rules or procedures, it’s always going to be a no.

As @WasCy, the problem here is at the manufacturing and delivery level. As long as they keep backstock, they’re going to sell it. Once they don’t, it would cost them money to get it back – more than the item is worth. And the making of a new one would be prohibitively expensive considering the scale.

If they’re not making it any more, customer demand isn’t going to effect what they make. Considering the scale, that makes sense – manufacturing works on trend demand, not customer demand. The customer demand helps indicate what the trends will be – but that only pushes what the next bulk make will be.

What you might want to do is find out where the retailer sends consignment goods. After they sell out ‘most of’ an item and the rest doesn’t sell at markdowns or clearance sales, they’ll send it to consignment shops to get the final value out of it that’s possible.

There’s a combination second-hand / consignment store in my area that often sells perfectly new, unused goods with the store tags still on, and you can follow the markdowns based on the stack of price stickers left on the tags.

The corporate business approach is, more often than not, one of volume of sales over customer service. It costs less per article to ship a lot, so by ordering small batches it cuts into their overhead.

Because clothes are seasonal, most retailers don’t restock after they run out.

If it’s a chain store, ask them to call other stores to see if they have the item, and have it sent to the store for pick-up. I used to do this all the time. Or if they have it, can they hold it for you, and drive out to get it.

If it’s a single location store, ask if you order 6 shirts, will they special order them for you. Sometimes they will if you want more than one.

Because the retailer doesn’t intend to re-stock ir isn;t able to? Once something’s gone it’s gone: clothes are seasonal and next season there will be a similar, but different shirt. No doubt their supplier has no more to send.