It’s officially that time of year when it’s out with the old and in with the new. The changing of seasons brings us warmer temps and has has us going through our wardrobes with a fine-tooth comb. Not only are closet cleanouts satisfying to do, but sometimes they can earn you a pretty penny. Toronto is known for its prime selection of consignment stores and if you keep up with the trends, your old threads can pay you back. But these stores don’t take just any pair of jeans or any old blazer — some are very strategic in how they select or buy as they say.
If you’re doing some pre-spring cleaning and want to sell some gently used clothes, here are tips for how to get them to sell at consignment stores!
Be Mindful Of The Buying Season
Most stores buy clothes ahead of the current season. As it’s still technically winter right now, consignment stores have already started buying for the spring. So, don’t be surprised when the buyer doesn’t want your puffer coat right now. Not only is it important to be mindful of the garment but it’s also smart to pay attention to the colour. Spring colours like white, yellow, pink, and various pastels will likely be selected by any buyer!
Keep Up With The Trends
While thrift stores will likely take anything you hand over, consignment stores are known to be much more selective. Trendy items definitely have a higher chance of being sold to consignment stores as they’re the items that shoppers will likely be searching for.
Look At The Condition
Does the garment have holes, stains, or signs of heavy wear? If so, the odds are it won’t sell. Just because the buyer is selecting used clothing, it doesn’t mean it has to look, feel, or worse, smell used. Think about items you’d want to buy when you’re putting together your bags of clothing to be sold. Would you buy a worn-out looking garment? We didn’t think so.
Pay Attention To Brand Names
If you’re brand-name obsessed, it’s likely those items will sell at consignment stores. Popular designer names are always being desired and if the item is still available in stores at full price, that’s even better. A few designer names that we think are always sellable are ACNE, Club Monaco, Jil Sander, JBrand, Levi’s, Philip Lim, and Rag & Bone to name a few.
Pay Attention To The Vibe Of The Store
Is the consignment store you’re selling items to in a more quirky neighbourhood, or is it more upscale? It’s important to tailor your goods depending on where the store is located and what the vibe is in-store. For example, a store located in Kensington Market might be more interested in more boho garments and a store in Yorkville might be after more high-end designer duds. If the selection in-store is carefully curated, expect them to be super picky when sorting through your stuff and don’t be offended if they don’t want anything. It’s not personal, it’s just business!
Keep Your Receipts
If you’re planning on consigning any designer goods, it instantly adds value if you still have the tags and/or receipts! No one wants to risk buying a fake, so if you can prove it’s the real deal, it’s a way easier sell.
Call Beforehand
Some consignment stores have specific times when they’re buying, as well as have very specific items they may be looking for at a particular time. If you call beforehand and ask what kind of pieces they’re currently buying, you don’t have to waste bringing the things they likely aren’t interested in and only bring the items they’ve confirmed might sell.
Try Multiple Stores
If something doesn’t sell at one consignment store, it doesn’t mean it won’t at another. In junction with knowing the vibe of the store, every consignment store varies in what its customers are looking for. And sometimes a consignment store simply won’t buy a specific item from you if they happen to already be sitting on something similar – so you could have a perfectly sellable piece, and it may be worth trying out another spot before you throw it into donations.
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In addition to scoring some amazing affordable finds, shopping secondhand used to come with an accompanying stigma. While vintage has had fashion-loving fans for a long time, buying things second-hand – especially newer seasons or in the nineties and noughties – was as somewhat shameful instead of smart and strategic.
Times have changed. As consignment stores rise in popularity, even those with dollars to drop are no longer embarrassed to shop secondhand.
Why? It makes sense, frankly (especially if you pay the brutally high living costs to live in Toronto). The city’s consignment stores are full of fabulous gently used clothes, shoes, and accessories that you may never be able to afford new. Some items – like timeless designer purses or leather jackets – may actually age like a fine wine.
Resale’s come-up can be attributed to a number of things, including sustainability, minimalism, and the care consignment stores now put into selection in their offerings.
Instagram/ @therealreal
Secondhand stores are not what they used to be, offering quality like never before, carefully curated collections, and an elevated experience.
In our era of perpetual social media documentation, most people don’t want to be photographed in the same outfit repeatedly (though there’s nothing wrong with re-wearing clothes — Kate Middleton obviously does it all the time), but are increasingly conscious of the negative environmental effects of fast fashion. Sustainable fashion is definitely a trend that won’t fade into a distant memory, because recycling clothing keeps it out of landfills.
As opposed to a wardrobe full of fast fashion finds that will either go out of style, the savvy shopper now seeks better curated, and smaller wardrobes.
Instagram/ @vspconsignment
“Our clients are much more aware of the life-cycle of clothing and love the thrill of finding a coveted piece that they are able to work into their current wardrobe,” says Britt Rawlinson, owner of VSP Consignment, a contemporary consignment boutique in the city’s Dundas West neighbourhood.
“As much as there are fun pieces in the lower-end stores, they are called ‘disposable’ clothing; meaning style and quality does not necessarily last, but are fun for a temporary trend,” says Kary Dick, owner of North Toronto’s Second Nature Boutique. “With today’s smaller living spaces and lifestyle budgets, focusing on buying less but quality pieces that will last makes the most sense; why wouldn’t you shop this way? Over time, our society has many avenues to keep clothing out of our landfills and make it acceptable to recycle. We donate approximately three to four bags per week to charity, weighing five pounds each. Over the past 44 years of business, we have kept approx. 34,408 pounds out of our landfills.”
Helping the environmental cause, we also live in a culture that has come to value minimalism in recent years.
Instagram/@alysisdavis
Not only do consignment stores benefit from the fact that the city’s stylish set are clearing out their closets like never before, a return to quality over quantity in the eyes of the shopper means visits to secondhand stores for quality designer goods that will last (i.e. not end up in a landfill) and not break the bank.
Let’s not forget that shopping at consignment stores helps to ensure you won’t show up to an event in the same outfit as someone else who spent the afternoon at the mall.
Instagram/ @therealreal
As resale becomes even more mainstream, we can expect the world’s consignment stores to dust themselves off and offer an experience never before associated with secondhand shopping. For example, resale spot RealReal opened a shiny new 12,000-square-foot space on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles last summer that is sleek in design and features an in-store café.
Helping to remove the stigma, new resale boutiques south of the border are merchandised like high-end boutiques; you can barely tell the difference in the shopping experience.
Even big brands are now – granted, very recently – jumping on the resale bandwagon like never before.
In a bold move in late 2017, Stella McCartney became a vocal supporter of reselling in a luxury space in an attempt to keep clothing from piling up in landfills.
The legendary designer partnered with RealReal to encourage her customers to resell her clothing when they were through with them in exchange for a $100 credit to her stores. Hopefully offering inspiration to other brands, the initiative was hugely successful.
From making extra cash, to saving the environment, resale sounds like an all-around win to us.
Featured image:Instagram/ @therealreal
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