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July 2, 2006

Mirror, Mirror: Resale Can Be Stylish, Too

When I was a teenager, I'd have never stepped foot into a resale store. It was all about the labels, yes -- Gap, Polo, Girbaud, Hilfiger. But everything had to be brand-spankin', fresh-from-the-mall new. Style times have changed. When I walked into Plato's Closet, a brightly-hued, 4,000 square foot national resale store especially for teens in Deptford, I was surprised. There was so much to buy; it all looked so fresh and new (no funky "old clothes" smell here). And there was a gang of teenagers checking it all out.

A rack of solid tiny T's organized according to the colors of the rainbow hangs to the right, as you walk in. And there are seven -- count 'em, seven -- racks chock full of high-fashion jeans, including Citizens of Humanity and BabyPhat. Mixed in are lots of sexy, sparkly tops. Think Bebe, Abercrombie, Hollister -- and many had the original tags still on them. I picked up two knee-length denim skirts -- one Gap, one Bebe -- and held on to them tightly as I walked wild-eyed through the store, gawking at the sparkly Steve Madden, Aldo and Via Spiga shoes. These were the castoffs? In the last three years, teens have helped the clothing branch of the resale business grow more than 50 percent, said Adele Meyer, executive director of the Michigan-based National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops. While it's hard to pin down the exact number of clothing resale shops -- most resale shops are a hodgepodge of furniture and home items -- Meyer said she's seen several of her organization members focus on teen clothing. The stores tend to open near malls, like the one in Deptford, or close to high schools and college campuses. Although the clothes at Plato's Closet are not vintage -- the store accepts only brand-name clothing that is less than 18 months old -- the vintage-clothing trend has also spurred an interest in resale shops. And with all the cell phones (followed, of course, by cell-phone bills), high-speed DSL connections, and video-game gadgets that teens crave now, teens have to pinch their pennies somehow.

"This is a market that takes great pride in its sophistication as a shopper," said David Morrison, president and founder of TWENTYSOMETHING Inc. "They will go to school, and they can brag about how they didn't spend a lot of money on [their purchases]."

Plato's Closet is the brainchild of Lynn and Dennis Blum, a Columbus, Ohio couple who came up with the idea in the mid-1990s when they were buying name-brand clothing for three teenaged sons. Like them, they figured parents wanted to save money while indulging their children. So the couple opened a store that solicited gently worn, name-brand clothing from neighborhood teens and resold it to other teens for less than $10. Eventually, they opened four more Plato's Closet stores in Ohio, targeted to the 14-to-24 crowd. In 1999, the Blums sold the franchising rights to Minneapolis-based Winmark Corp. There are 170 stores now nationwide, but no plans to open additional stores in this area, according to a company spokesperson.

"The first day we bought $2,500 worth of clothes," said Cortese. "I knew we were going to do well in the area." For high-end jeans, she said, she'll pay about $12. Then she'll resell them for $35. Most of the pieces, even a Charlotte Russe top, will earn a teen $3.50, and will be sold to another for about $10. In the six weeks that her store has been open for sale, Cortese says she's rung up about $2,000 a day. And while Plato's Closet is billed as a teen store with mostly teen sizes -- there are lots of sizes 4s, 5s, and 6s on these racks -- there are plenty of whoppers who are 20 or older. On the day I was there, many of the women holding handfuls of clothing were college age or older.

As for me, I got over my thrift-store elitism nearly six months ago when I bought a really cute mauve long-sleeved vintage dress, circa 1970, from Lost and Found in Old City. I didn't buy the skirts, though -- because I put them down and lost them. Clearly, I was way too overwhelmed by the fashion possibilities.