Everyone wears samples.

If you work in fashion and have assisted a stylist, or had a stint in PR, or worked on a show, chances are you’ve walked away with a sample or two. Celebrities wear them on the red carpet, and every other day; models get paid in samples. I still have a couple from my internship at Stella McCartney–but their oversized tags stamped “Sample: Made in Italy” are removed.

This season, however, I’ve spotted at least three people proudly sporting their “Sample” label. At ThreeAsFour‘s show at Milk, a man took off his jacket to reveal a sample label pinned inside; a model threw a tantrum in sample-stamped shoes, and while waiting in line for Hakaan I noticed “Sample” written across the back of of a woman’s army jacket in Sharpie.

Is this like in high school when the boys left the stickers and price tags on their hats? Is it cool to wear samples? Should those in the industry announce to the world that actually, they don’t buy these expensive clothes? Three years ago, would anyone have dared to wear a coat labeled sample on the outside?

Because regardless of why, all it ends up doing is distracting from what was, and what could be, a great piece.