Selling my sister's wardrobe - Stall success

The weekend of the stall finally arrived!

The market opened to customers from 8am and we were supposed to be finished setting up by 730am. Lucky it was a Sunday morning so we used Saturday afternoon to pack the cars and talk last minute preparations.

We arrived bright and early on the Sunday, coffee in hand. My sister’s partner helped us unpack the cars and left us to set up. Our preparation really paid off here. We set up our racks, table and chairs quickly, then it was just a case of unloading each suitcase of price group and loading the racks.
The finishing touches took the longest as they are wont to do - taping up our signs and positioning items on our table, settling into our chairs with fresh coffees.

It was great to watch other stalls setup around us, we could tell the people who were first timers like us and the people that sold their wares at fashion markets often.

It was a slow start for our stall, it was about an hour before our first sale. We were pretty excited when it happened! We recorded whose item had sold and for how much. We noticed a lot of people would do a lap of the market then go back to the places where they wanted to make purchases.

With about 90 mins of the market to go, we swapped out some of our sale signs for discounts and price cuts. With about a half hour left, we used the signs we had prepared for any offers and bargain basement prices. Many other stall holders did the same, not taking the items home at this point became more important than the price!

The market success was a bit of a mixed bag. My sister made a clear profit, and I made a loss considering the stall cost and items I purchased on the day, oops!
We went into the endeavour with fun and spending time together our top goals, and if we made some money that would be great. We were pleased with our adventure, but were a bit surprised at the time we didn’t sell more items.

That’s where I think we run straight into the problem of fast fashion, fast fashion prices, and the impacts they're having on our clothing lifestyle.
Why would someone spend $20 to buy a secondhand dress from last season when for the same price they can buy something brand new and in a current trend? Some stallholders at the clothes market clearly didn’t care too much about the clothes they were selling, they were poorly presented and not easy for people to sort through and appreciate the pieces.

We had the right idea trying to keep items out of landfills by selling secondhand, and the buyers have the right idea too. It’s just difficult for all of us to contend with brand new clothing at such low prices.

We decided to follow up the market with an online attempt at selling the clothes we had left. I put together size bundles of like items and started the pricing at what we had started with at the market. No interest. After a week, I cut 25% off the price and sold a bundle or two. Another week and we were at 50% of the price, then down to just 20% of the price.
I was no longer surprised by now that these clothes weren’t selling.

There's a local clothes recycling bin near my house and that's where the remaining clothing ended up. The bin says that whatever donations are received are sorted into wearable and resellable items, and items that go straight to recycling. It's a sad ending for clothing that is unloved.

What an eye-opening adventure and an intriguing look at the lifecycle of some of our clothing after purchase! The mixed success of selling and donating clothes has served to reinforce my sustainable purchasing and maintenance habits. Buy little and well, and spend the time to care for your clothing. Loved clothes last much longer than unloved pieces ever will.