As a TV reporter, I wear a used coat when I’m on the set. Somebody was complementing me the other day on my coat and I held my tongue and actually didn’t say,”…and it was only $6!” But you know I was thinking it!
Dress clothes for men are a real deal at secondhand stores because most men don’t dress up much anymore for work. So when you find the dress clothes, a lot of them are gently worn or maybe not even worn at all.
But what if you are a designer label freak? Buying designer threads used is a much better deal than buying ordinary clothes used. That’s because of the inherent cost of the material.
Think about when the high-end jeans were really in a few years ago. The material that goes into those jeans is a couple of dollars, but they would be sold for hundreds of dollars. When the intrinsic value of the materials is so low, the savings are huge when you buy used.
Goodwill is just one player trying to get into this space. They’ve been opening fancy boutiques in high-income ZIP codes. One opened years ago near our beach home and I remember going with my wife. It was called Bluetique and all they sold was used high-end designer clothes. No wannabe quasi-designer stuff!
They're just one player doing this. A while back I mentioned TheRealReal.com, which is a website selling high-end authenticated goods — jewelry, purses, clothing — at big discounts from what it would be new.
So let those people with the unlimited expense accounts buy it firsthand and then you buy it secondhand and save!
Clark Howard — Save More, Spend Less, Avoid Rip-offs — for the Atlanta Bargain Hunter blog
Consumer expert Clark Howard's column appears here each Thursday in conjunction with Deal Spotter, a weekly print section in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Find more answers to your consumer questions at Clark's website.
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Clark Howard
