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One can shell out thousands for the latest runway designs, but in this economy, more and more fashionistas are biding their time and making the rounds at sample sales.

Drew Paluba, the designer and co-owner of Rebecca & Drew, a company that makes custom-cut women's clothing, says sample sales can include everything from actual runway samples to last season's leftovers.

"We need a place to get rid of it or dissolve it, and it's a great way for us to give that to customers at a really, really discounted price," says Paluba.

For example, a $30 shirt would normally retail for $200.

Production designer Sarah Sallee of the Seventh House, which runs Showroom Seven, says one can expect to pay about a quarter of the price. In the case of designer bags that still cost hundreds of dollars, the savings are still substantial.

"You don't feel as guilty, for sure. You feel happy that you found something that looks like a $4,000 piece and you're getting it for $1,000," says Sallee.

There are a few catches. Sample sales typically only run for a few days, all sales are final and the low-priced items are likely to be found in a no-frills environment.

"You're left on your own," says Paluba. "There's boxes and boxes of merchandise. You kind of have to dig through and find what you can find."

Some bargainistas thoroughly enjoy the hunt, but others would rather get all the benefits of the discount without having to rifle through racks and dig through boxes.

To provide an online option, Alexis Maybank created the Gilt Groupe, a website that offers designer merchandise at a fraction of the cost. Having launched just two years ago, today it has over two million members, who appreciate the prices and convenience.

"Every single day we have about 15 sales that are starting, featuring one designer and usually at price points up to 70 percent off," says Maybank. "You don't have to leave or trek to a sample sale that can be at an inconvenient location or at an inconvenient time."

In the end, designers says it's not only the customer that benefits from sample sales. By opening up their stock rooms, they say they open up their doors to new customers.

"It's a great marketing concept for us, to sort of bring in a lot of new customers to the brand, people who typically wouldn't be able to access it because of the price point and give them exposure to it and perhaps invest in our customers of the future a little bit," says Paluba.

The designers hope one day their sample sales customers will be in a position to pay full price.