Look, we get it. To someone in Dallas or Miami, "San Francisco" and "Berkeley" might feel interchangeable — it's all just "the Bay Area," right? But anyone who's actually lived here knows the distinction matters, especially when you're planning a trip across the bridge, factoring in tolls, traffic, and parking in a city with its own set of headaches.

The sale appears to be hosted by a company called Eclipse, a third-party sample sale operator that may not have deep Bay Area roots. That could explain the geographic... let's call it "creative licensing." Slapping "San Francisco" on your TikTok promos is a reliable way to boost engagement, since SF carries more brand cachet than Berkeley in the national imagination. But for local shoppers, it's misleading at best and bait-and-switch-adjacent at worst.

To be clear, we're not saying the sale itself is a scam. Reformation is a legit brand, and sample sales are a real thing. The issue is the marketing. When you tell people an event is in San Francisco and it's actually across the Bay, you're either ignorant of basic local geography or you're banking on people not checking until they're already committed. Neither is a great look.

This is a minor thing in the grand scheme of Bay Area grievances, but it's a useful reminder: always verify the actual address before you get hyped by a TikTok ad. San Francisco and Berkeley are separated by about eight miles, a $7 bridge toll, and — depending on the day — roughly 45 minutes of your life you're not getting back.

Do your homework. Check the fine print. And for the love of all things sustainable fashion, don't trust a geotag from someone who thinks the East Bay is SF.