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Tuesday , December 14, 2010
HOW TO LIVE: Tips on Reselling Clothes At Secondhand Shops
A few weeks ago I got a few queries on Twitter and in real-life (OMG wozzat?!) on reselling clothes on Ebay and at resale and consignment shops. I didn't realize till I rattled off all my tips and advice that I actually had a lot of experience with this, so I thought I'd share here once and for all--just so I can say "Don't you read my blog?!!!" in my best accusatory manner to the next person who asks me about this. Kidding! I just thought since it's fall and a changing-of-the-seasons, this might be useful to people cleaning out their closets right now. Also, it's a new moon in Virgo, and if THAT isn't an auspicious time to renew your wardrobe, I don't know what is!
Reselling clothes is a minor but fine art in the stakes known as fashion-on-the-cheap, and if you do it right, it's a valuable strategy in keeping a wardrobe updated, refreshed and in a state of I'm-never-bored-with-my-clothesness. I'm only going to cover reselling at brick-and-mortar resale shops, the kind where you bring your used clothing haul in and get credit or cash for your stash--but pipe up in the comments if you want to read any Ebay- or consignment-specific stuff, or if you have your own advice about reselling clothes.
First off, my own experience with reselling has been pretty intense but rewarding. For the past few years (!!!) I've been on a serious wardrobe-reorganizing tear that has actually been totally awesome for my soul in ways that I haven't even anticipated. It's kind of remarkable to realize it--especially considering the rather baroque state of my closet a few years ago--but I have lived out of a beautifully-organized suitcase (yes, SUITCASE) for the past four months and have felt totally satisfied with my fashion stuff. And when you feel happy with your wardrobe, you buy a lot less, and clothes aren't a source of guilt, annoyance or self-loathing--they're 100% fun. Reselling clothes has been key in my whole "Zen wardrobe" approach, helping me to get rid of stuff I no longer want and need and still get decent value for it, and it's helped me to reinvent and renew the basis of my wardrobe in a ecofriendly, inexpensive way.
So, here's some of the best advice that I have when I help others resell:
WHEN TO RESALE VS. WHEN TO EBAY
I find that it's a question of volume here--if you've got only a few good-value items (i.e., good quality, in-season and designer-y) , I'd Ebay them if you're so inclined. You'll get a better return on Ebay if you market your item right, and you don't have to trek out to a resale shop for just a few items. But it's a pain in the ass to list lots of items, so if you've got a bunch of clothes or are looking to rid yourself of lots of stuff at once just to make some room, take it to a brick-and-mortar resale shop. Even if they don't take everything, often they'll have their own "donate" pile to take to traditional charity-shops, which will save you an additional trip to Goodwill.
KNOW THE SHOP & CALL AHEAD
It pays to visit the shop in question and check out what they're selling and who they're selling to. Some secondhand shops tend to specialize in younger clientele looking for designer and trendy clothing; others in more professional and working clothing, and others do only vintage, sometimes of the high-end variety. Do some research via online city guides or Yelp.com or wherever to find out the "retail landscape" of your particular city or town. If you can't visit, pick up a telephone (OMG wozzzat?) and call to ask. Most buyers are usually pretty upfront about this stuff--they don't want to waste time sifting through a bunch of stuff that isn't right for their market, and it'll save you time and energy not schlepping stuff that won't work for that particular store.
While you're on the phone, ask if they have particular buying times, if they prefer you make appointments to see a buyer (esp. if you have a really large amount of clothes to unload), ask about their clientele, what they're looking for at the time you want to sell, what their compensation is (cash, store credit, check if your items sell after a certain point), what sizes they take (I know, sad, but it's true that some stores prefer smaller sizes), and if they'll take any particular items you may have questions on (like, you have a Chanel jacket, but it's got a rip in the seam...etc.) It's a pain in the butt to haul stuff, so be a Girl Scout and prepare yourself by getting all your questions answered so you don't have to bring in unnecessary items.
SEASONS ARE IMPORTANT
Retail is all about supply and demand, and a key piece of advice I give about reselling is to sell only what season the resale shop is buying for. It doesn't matter if you're selling a fabulous Max Mara coat--if you're trying to get rid of it in the middle of July, it mostly likely will not fly. You have to realize that stores have to store stuff physically, and each item they take in must go fast. Maybe some shops may take it, but you won't get the value you're looking for. Call first and ask what season the resale shop is buying for. And if you're just looking to unload stuff fast, then sell unseasonal items on Ebay or wait till you can get rid of them in season. Sometimes if it's a great item, a store will take your out-of-season clothes, but you won't receive the highest value you can get out of it. But again, call ahead and ask: every store manages inventory differently. One time I called in the summer just to ask if a store was buying for fall yet, and it ended up they were looking for cold-weather coats and jackets for some charity initiative and I got a nice penny digging them up from the back of my closet.
MAKE SURE IT'S ALL CLEAN AND IN GOOD CONDITION
This actually makes a big difference in my experience. I've had wrinkled or unwashed stuff (DON'T LECTURE, I WAS IN A HURRY!) that didn't get picked up one time, but then a good cleaning or dry-clean got it accepted the next time I swung by. Buyers tend to eyeball stuff pretty quickly since they have so much to go through, so make it easy for them to spot your gems.
SELL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK
This is really about selling during that sweet spot when the store isn't as busy and the inventory has been a bit more emptied from the weekend's sales. Whatever the reason, I find selling generally on a Tuesday or Wednesday ups your chances of getting more of your stuff accepted for selling, and selling on a weekend? Forget it. But every store has its own traffic patterns, so use your fancy phone and talk to a real-life human to find out when's the best time to bring something in. But it's been my general experience that non-peak times work best for selling.
AND A BIT ABOUT USING RESELLING AS A WAY TO EDIT AND TRANSFORM YOUR WARDROBE
At some point, if you're good at it and you make it a strategy on dealing with organizing your closet and wardrobe in general, reselling becomes a key piece of refining and maintaining your wardrobe. Basically my m.o. after My Great Closet Cleanout of Summer 2008 (which was an epic of epicness in its own right, I regret not documenting it for nogoodforme) was to really pare down my wardrobe and make sure every item was of such quality that I would love it forever and/or be able to sell it off at a decent resale value if I wasn't so in love with it anymore. Three fulltime years of classes and film school had taken their toll and my wardrobe was pretty much a hot mess. But a hot mess doesn't really work for a Manhattan closet, and something had to be done or else I was in danger of being pegged on the head by a random overstuffed bag of clothing every time I opened my closet door. Inspired by my beau at the time, who managed to go on tour with nothing but a tiny duffle bag of clothes and an extra pair of shoes, I was going to reinvent myself as a clothing minimalist even if it killed me.
It took forever and a lot more self-awareness and a wholesale reinvention of my shopping and consumption habits, which I won't get into here--but reselling became a key part of paring down in a happy, satisfying, non-hairshirt-y way. Basically at the beginning of the season I would clean out my closet for the season, figuring out what I didn't want or need anymore, and then I would unload the unwanted but cool items at Beacon's Closet or Buffalo Exchange. (I unloaded stuff like a Rick Owens sweater and a Chloe blazer--I'm sure someone out there is super-happy with them!) Taking the credit I got at those stores, I'd pick up anything that caught my fancy for the upcoming season and pretty much not buy anything new unless it was a genuine need. Doing this for a few consecutive seasons, I realized at some point that I basically buying clothes only out of the cash and credit I got via reselling, which was cool--it was ecofriendly, cheap and I still got to shop but it wasn't as toxic to my budget and didn't give me that icky feeling of being wasteful.
Of course, there are a few factors that made this work--namely, living in a great resale market like NYC and having access to great clothes in the first place. At any rate, I'm a huge fan of reselling clothes (and buying vintage and secondhand in general), so hopefully the above info will help out a few people who find the process mystifying or overwhelming.
(Don't ask me what the above graphic means. I found it on Google image search under "clothing racks." It's mystifying, no?)
Tags: closet management, ecofashion, living out of a suitcase, reselling clothes, wardrobe, Zen wardrobe
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7 Comments!!
This is really helpful -- I've never consigned my clothing before but you've inspired me to recycle some things. One question, though. How do you get over the hoarder mentality? I'm afraid of disappointment since I paid so much for the clothes and probably won't get much in return (and you know the deal for the penniless college student -- splurges are special). Though it seems a waste to keep NWT items in my closet, I have trouble relinquishing them for fear of that one day when I'll want to wear them.
By Mary on September 8, 2010 9:04 PM
the hoarder mentality is really the hardest thing to get over in terms of doing anything wardrobe-related that isn't shopping...meaning getting rid of stuff. i know people who can get over relationships faster than they can throw out stuff that's clogging up their closets! if there's anything that people are more secretive and conflicted about, even more than sex probably, it's money and spending. it was a real mental realignment to get over my own hoarding impulses--it was a combination of defining my style finally, realizing what spending my discretionary money on clothing was really costing me, and valuing the space and peace of mind that having a really well-edited wardrobe gave me way more than the price tag.
i'd say, on a practical level, only consign/resell one category of clothing at a time...say, just fall/winter clothes, or just dresses, or even just fall/winter dresses, or whatever. just go through your one category and resell what you can from that, just as an experiment. take anything in that category that's NWT, put it in a box or bag, and stow it away in any place BUT your closet for a little bit of time. ("out of sight, out of mind" is the thinking.) i actually did this, and i found it helped me a lot to get used to NOT seeing it in my closet and detaching myself from the weird feelings of guilt (because you spent money!) and attachment (because you just might wear it one day!) that you can get when you see it everyday in your closet. if during that "out of sight" time you genuinely miss something, then you'll be able to retrieve it and put it back. but generally i found that i didn't, and i also enjoyed the feeling of having more space/less residual guilt every time i opened my closet. that's kind of an underestimated, almost unimaginable feeling, but when you feel it, it's pretty awesome and happy.
and just to confess what a nerd i was about this, there were a few items that i would take out, stow away, think about it, and put back--only to not wear it! and i did this repeatedly with these items! but eventually i did let them go!
hmmm...maybe i should write another blog post about the hoarder mentality...but good luck! let me know how consigning works out for you!
xo k.
By Kat
on September 9, 2010 12:36 AM
Thanks, this is awesome! I would love to hear more about the process by which you developed your well-edited wardrobe and streamlined sense of style. I seem to be awfully fickle with my clothing and wish I could have a more "Zen" approach, but I don't really even know what that would look like.
By tracy on September 9, 2010 4:13 AM
If onnnnly there were resale shops near me.. they might be pretty rare in England generally? I seem to be a pretty terrible eBay or etsy seller (no-one ever buys my stuff, possibly because I snobbishly avoid buzzwords?) so I end up waiting until the need to unload starts to crush me and then giving bags of stuff to charity shops. And I could really do with the cash return!
I'm pretty keen on the paring down/suitcase living at the moment, a post on overcoming the urge to hoard would be super-great!
By Claire on September 9, 2010 7:52 AM
tracy, you're welcome! i'm still fickle with clothing in my way (i think anyone who loves clothes has that on some level), but my shopping and consumption is definitely streamlined. i'll be sure to do a post on editing a closet, for sure. xoxox
claire, i do remember someone telling me that there weren't as many resale shops when they lived in england. wonder why that is?...i should do something on selling on ebay/etsy, it's definitely its own discipline. i'm sure, actually, there are quite a few readers here who sell on both and probably have their own tips and tricks, too...
i'll work on a post about the hoarding impulse and letting go of clothes! coming soon!!
thanks to everyone for reading, and for comments on what you'd love to read more about! muy helpful!
xoxox k.
By Kat
on September 9, 2010 1:22 PM
Your timing on this post is perfect!
I've been doing some research on consignment shops and Ebay, which is both exciting/draining. While I do have some nicer items I'm keen to get rid of, I'm waaaay sentimental about the majority of my wardrobe. Plus I have a bad habit of spending a lot of money on tons of cheaply made clothes with ZERO resale value. So I end up feeling major guilt in both situations!
Some tips on how to exercise an ounce of control in this respect would be much appreciated :)
By Steph on September 9, 2010 5:03 PM
ach, the guilt! we all feel it. ok, i'll work in a blog post about hoarding and wardrobe guilt in the future. thank you everyone for the comments! i am very happy to know this info has helped some people!
xo k.
By Kat
on September 10, 2010 1:35 PM