Word: secondhand
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Stevenson isn't a buyer at an exclusive boutique. She's a store manager who decides what items to accept for resale at a secondhand-clothing shop called Buffalo Exchange. It's part of a growing chain of stores in a growing industry, and it just may be the cool place to find trendy fashions at a fair price this summer. These are not the musty, downmarket stores of yore. The best ones are as carefully curated as a Soho boutique; put a premium on current styles, not vintage novelties; and turn a healthy profit...
...rise of fast fashion, which uses a speeded-up production cycle to rush designer-inspired clothes to moderately priced retailers like Zara and H&M, has breathed new life into secondhand stores like Buffalo Exchange by boosting their supply of barely worn apparel. "H&M is our bread and butter," says Stevenson, 27, as she flips through a carousel of blouses from H&M, American Apparel, Benetton and the Gap with prices ranging from $7.50 to $14 apiece...
Since more shoppers are loading up on cheap chic every few weeks instead of purchasing a few higher-priced basics once every few months, they're less sentimental about quickly unloading them to help finance the next round. That means secondhand shops can sell for just $7 a month-old shirt that retailed for $21 at Charlotte Russe or Forever 21. By buying only what they know is already popular and paying sellers 35% to 50% of the price for which they plan to resell each item, the stores can virtually ensure a profit...
This quickening cycle of fashion lets secondhand stores be pickier than ever. Unlike nonprofits such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army, which accept most donations, the fast-fashion resale shops typically buy only about 5% of the apparel that people bring into the store. It can be a humbling experience for a novice seller, who may find herself leaving the shop with the same bag of castoffs that she walked in with...
...head to Quiapo, where I wade through a sea of stalls selling bootleg DVDs and used electronics, pirated porn and secondhand bridal gowns. Exotic fare abounds, but I opt for a simple treat from childhood: a bananacue, or banana speared with a skewer, caramelized in deep-fried sugar. As I savor the sweet, sticky snack, I listen to a sermon blasted from a loudspeaker by a church decorated like a pastel Easter egg; in front of me is a row of old women selling religious figurines along with herbal potions that claim to do everything from curing coughs to terminating...