Better Brands Bogus

Yesterday Christopher and I jumped into spring; we sorted all of our clothes. We each decided to rid ourselves of 20% of our wardrobe. It took all day; basically a never ending fashion show of sorts. We were able to accomplish our goal. We found that Chris has accumulated enough button down shirts to send a whole baseball team to their first interviews, and I fortunately have a spring dress problem. (Fortunately because it's almost spring and I will just be able to wear a dress every day for two weeks without doing laundry.)

So after narrowing down our favorites, I separated the better brands from the donation clothes in order to sell some and take the others to the Goodwill. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of stores who will buy those random t-shirts with logos on them that aren't a brand name. We actually came up with two big bags of better brand name clothing in good condition. So this morning I hauled two oversized  reusable bags filled with men's & women's clothes and some accessories and took them out to Plato's Closet.

The last experience that I had there I wasn't too happy with. They rejected a lot of my clothes. But it was the first time that I had sold to them so this time I had the low-down. They took a lot of time to look over my clothes and I took this as a good sign. Meanwhile I scanned the numerous color coded aisles to see if anything was to my liking. I would say the store is pretty tweeny. It made me feel pretty old, it seems like such a long time ago that I had to have a Hollister labeled hoodie. But there are still some good finds that aren't branded with a name and are unique- they are just hidden amongst all of the other names.

When the girl called me up to the counter my bags looked the same as when I brought them in. I was really astonished because I did make sure to pick out all of the damaged clothes, and I only brought what I figured they would want. Turns out they could buy thirteen of my items and offered me $40 for them. I want to know the system. I know that they can sell them for half of the value of their original value and that I only receive 50% of the price they can sell it at. But I don't like the system. They show you the bucket of clothes that they decided to buy and ask you not to mix them up, so you can't really see if you are really getting a good price for the items you are selling. But they win either way, because you want those clothes gone. Your next stop is the Salvation Army to donate the remainder so you will take whatever they give you. It's unfortunate. They let me know that some of the clothes were out dated and they only buy clothes that are in fashion. Who decides what's in fashion? How do they train these trend seeking clothes pickers? It's a little insulting. I know they are the buyer and all but who is to say that someone won't come in to their store and find something they told me was out of fashion really cool? I remember when I first wore Culottes (the shorts that look like a skirt) in high school and no one knew what the heck they were. Now the racks are full of them. Doesn't someone have to bring in the style? Where do people bring those styles back from if they won't buy "unstylish clothes?"

Culottes

Goodwill that's where. I sold my things because money is tight and because every penny counts but does it feel good? No. It feels good to know that when I give my clothes to Goodwill, or Salvation Army, or VOA that someone is going to appreciate the clothes that I find are of value. Someone is going to be surfing through the clothes looking for a good find and they are going to be stoked that they found such a great shirt for such a thrifty price. Or even better, someone is going to be kept warm by my out of style jacket next winter that only cost them a few bucks. My best finds have come from the thrift stores, from the no name brands, from the underdogs. I appreciate appreciation versus rude money.  To hell with better brands!