In a first, designers and retailers held a group sale in the Glenroy Auditorium, offering clothing, fabric, accessories and jewellery.
Hundreds were queued at 11am when the doors opened, and organisers let about 150 shoppers in at a time.
iD committee member Cherry Lucas said the five-hour sale attracted about 800 shoppers, many from out of town, and most made at least one purchase.
Waiting in line, Georgia Phillips, an Otago Polytechnic certificate of fashion student, said she had $190 to spend.
She hoped to pick up several interesting pieces of fabric, as well as clothing bargains.
Paying "ridiculous" prices for designer fashion was out of the question for a student, she said.
"It's really good, especially for people like us who don't have big amounts of money."
Vicky Johns, of Dunedin, said holding the sale in conjunction with iD Fashion Week was "perfect" timing.