TL;DR

  • The January sale is a clearance, not a promotion. Shops are emptying autumn and winter stock for spring deliveries, which is why the discounts go deeper than Black Friday and why the sizes are thin.
  • In Belgium the january sale is fixed by law from 3 to 31 January. In the Netherlands there is no such law and shops start when they like.
  • Belgium also has a sperperiode, a blackout month before the sales in which clothing shops may not announce price reductions.
  • This season it shifts. Because 3 January 2027 falls on a Sunday, the Belgian blackout runs from 2 December 2026 to 1 January 2027 rather than the usual dates.
  • The Belgian rules are in flux: in May 2026 the Council of State ruled that discounting outside the official january sale period is permitted under European law.
  • Buy heavy in the january sale, eleven months early. A 440gsm sweater bought at the deepest discount of the year is one you will wear from November onwards for years.

In this article

Nearly empty rail during the January sale
January is what is left. That is the point.

The January sale is a clearance, not a promotion. Shops are emptying autumn and winter stock to make room for spring deliveries, which is why the discounts go deeper than Black Friday and why the sizes are thin. In Belgium the dates are fixed by law: winter sales run from 3 to 31 January. In the Netherlands there is no such rule.

Black Friday is a marketing decision. The January sale is a logistics problem.

That difference is the whole reason this month behaves the way it does, and knowing it tells you exactly what to buy and what to leave.

When the January sale actually runs

In the Netherlands there is no legal sale period. Shops discount when they like, which in practice means the last week of December through most of January.

Belgium is a different country in every sense here. The winter sales are fixed by law from 3 to 31 January, and the summer sales from 1 to 31 July. That is not a convention, it is legislation.

January sale dates in the Netherlands and Belgium for 2027
Two countries, two sets of rules, one month.

Why Belgium has a law about this and the Netherlands does not

This is the part almost nobody outside the trade knows, and if you shop across the border it explains a lot.

Belgium has a sperperiode, a blackout month before the sales in which clothing, leather goods and footwear shops are forbidden from announcing price reductions or handing out discount vouchers that take effect in that window. It normally runs from 3 December to 2 January.

The purpose is stated plainly in the regulation: to guarantee that the sale price has genuinely dropped, and that every shop in those sectors starts on the same day.

One detail for this season specifically. The rule shifts when 3 January falls on a Sunday, and in 2027 it does. So the Belgian blackout runs from 2 December 2026 to 1 January 2027 rather than the usual dates.

It is also in flux. In May 2026 the Belgian Council of State ruled that discounting outside the official period is permitted under European law, and the responsible minister said enforcement no longer made sense. The rules are on the books. Whether they survive the next revision is another question.

For a Dutch webshop none of this is binding. It is simply why your Belgian friends see nothing discounted in December and everything at once on the third.

Why the January sale is different from Black Friday

January sale compared with Black Friday
One is planned. The other is what is left over.

Black Friday is a planned promotion. Stock is bought for it, margin is calculated around it, and the discount is a decision. That is why the full size range is there on the day.

The January sale is a clearance. The autumn and winter stock has to leave, because spring deliveries need the space and holding last season’s inventory costs money every week. Nobody planned the depth of a January discount a year in advance. It is decided by what is still on the shelf.

Three consequences follow from that, and all three make the January sale easier to use:

  • The percentages go deeper. Deeper than Black Friday, on the pieces that did not move.
  • The sizes are gone. M and L in the obvious colours left in November. What is left in January is the edges of the curve.
  • The selection is honest. Nothing in a January sale is discounted to create urgency. It is discounted because it is still there.

What is actually worth buying in the January sale

The winning move is unromantic: buy heavy, wear it next winter.

A 440gsm sweater bought on 15 January at the deepest discount of the year is a sweater you will wear from November onwards for years. You are buying eleven months early, which feels wrong and is mathematically correct. Heavy knitwear does not date and the fabric does not care what season you bought it in.

  • Sweaters and zip hoodies first. Highest price, deepest January cut, longest life.
  • A second of something you already wear. If a piece survived a full winter in heavy rotation, that is proof. Buy the same one again.
  • The less obvious colours. Jet black went in November. Navy, green and grey are what January is made of, and they are the same garment.

What is not worth buying

Anything in a size that is nearly right. In January the temptation is strong, because the alternative is missing out entirely. Return shipping is at your own cost, here and nearly everywhere, and a sweater that does not fit is not a bargain at any percentage. Our returns run 14 days from delivery on unworn items with tags attached.

Anything you would not have bought in October. A January sale price is deeper precisely because other people already made that judgement.

What Last Bucks does in January

The same thing we do in every other month. What is reduced sits on the sale page, what is new sits on new arrivals, and neither page changes character because the calendar turned over.

There is no countdown, no midnight deadline and no price that quietly climbed in December so it could fall in January. The stock is the stock.

Our normal delivery times are back to next business day in the Netherlands once the December rush clears, which is usually the first full week of January.

Two that hold up

The Signature Sweater in Jet Black. 440gsm, ribbed collar, nothing on it. The piece that goes under a coat five days a week from November to March. If you buy one heavy thing in January, buy this one.

The Capital Zip Hoodie in Navy. 440gsm, oversized with a dropped shoulder, Unregulated Since 2025 across the back. Navy is where the print reads quietest and it is the colour that survives longest in stock.

Heavyweight pieces worth buying in the January sale
Buy heavy in January. Wear it next November.

The rest is in the shop, including the tees if you are stocking the base layer rather than the outer one. The full logic of what goes over what is in the winter wardrobe piece.

Where January sits in the year

The January sale closes a run that opened in November. Black Friday is the loud one with the full size range, Christmas is the one where you buy for other people, and January is the quiet one where the real percentages appear on what nobody claimed.

If you are reading this before the thirty-first, the New Year’s Eve piece covers the more immediate problem.

Frequently asked questions

When does the January sale start?

In the Netherlands there is no fixed date and most shops begin in the last week of December. In Belgium the winter sales are set by law from 3 to 31 January.

Is the January sale better than Black Friday?

The percentages usually go deeper in January because it is a genuine clearance rather than a planned promotion. The trade-off is that the sizes have already thinned out.

Why can Belgian clothing shops not discount in December?

Because of the sperperiode, a legally mandated blackout month before the sales that applies to clothing, leather goods and footwear. It normally runs from 3 December to 2 January, and its purpose is to guarantee that sale prices have really dropped.

What should I buy in a January sale?

Heavy pieces. A 440gsm sweater or zip hoodie at the deepest discount of the year, to wear from next November. Buying eleven months early feels wrong and works.

Does Last Bucks run a separate January sale?

No separate event. Whatever is reduced stays on the sale page, and the newsletter hears about changes first.

Are January discounts genuine?

More reliably than at any other point in the year, because the shop is not creating urgency, it is clearing space. The stock has to leave regardless.