For real bottom-dollar fashion grab your car keys or metro map and be prepared for a day’s excursion: though there are various stock shops for clothing brands in Paris, the larger factory outlets, called usines centres are all located outside the metropolitan area. This is where you’ll find the greatest selection and the very best prices because clothing brands deliberately keep sale of much of their cheap stock outside the city to reduce the economic impact on full-price stock. Usine Centre Villacoublay, Marques Avenue Île-Saint-Denis, La Vallee Outlet Shopping Village and Usine Centre Paris Nord 2 all stock men’s and women’s brand label clothing at discount prices. A little farther afield is Troyes; 150km east of Paris this is the capital of the French clothing industry and – with some 150 textile firms around the city – has an enormous selection of factory outlets open to the public. Brands available include Aigle, Burberry, Timberland, Kenzo, Armani, Nike and Cerruti. A coach service runs from Bastille to Troyes’ centres each Saturday. Look to www.eva-voyages.com for information.

In Paris there are many designer label stock-shops selling second-hand or last season’s fashions. Buy cheap Et Vous at Et Vous Stock, Sonia Rykiel’s end of line clothing at SR Store, discount Cacharel at Cacharel Stock and chic reduced price pieces in St-Germain’s Surplus A.P.C. For the full list see Le Paris des Touts Petits or Le Guide des Magasins d’Usine, both of which can be purchased on www.amazon.fr. Finally there are the ventes privées, or private sales. Held in discreet locales around Paris, this is where designers sell off old stock at drastically reduced prices. A word of warning, however; these sales are accessible by invitation only. You must be on the distribution or member’s list of the private sale companies (or brands) or be sponsored by a member. Some sales are open to all, with news of the times and locations usually generated by word of mouth, so keep an ear out. Alternatively, log on to www.venteprivee.com, www.espacecatherinemax.fr or www.espace-ngr.com to get the inside information.