Thursday, June 12, 2008

When Conscience and Closet Collide

In today's NY Times Style section Ruth LaFerla revisits the high end consignment topic. I used to sell items on consignment all the time when I lived in NYC and picked up lots of great items as well. I wish there were more high end consignment places in my area. I tried contacting one several times but they never returned my calls or e-mails.

Reviewing her wardrobe earlier this season, Elizabeth Marvin had a moment of reckoning. “How did this closet become so massively overstuffed?” she mused, disconcerted by the sight of so many Marni jackets, ChloĆ© bags and Jimmy Choo shoes jostling for space on the racks. “From my green perspective, part of me feels guilty about being such a major consumer.”

But Ms. Marvin, the New York sales director for the National Audubon Society and a self-described “major environmentalist,” felt neither so guilty nor so strapped that she planned to stop shopping cold turkey. “Instead of buying that ChloĆ© jacket that I want right now,” she said, “I’m much happier purchasing something at a consignment store that is much less.”

In recent months, high-end designer resale shops have been the beneficiaries of a subtle shift in consumer thinking, as fashion lovers, even those who can afford to splurge, reassess their priorities. Unsettled by continuing recession fears and the soaring prices of designer clothes, and assailed by queasy consciences as well, many find these shops a way to update their wardrobes without seriously denting their bank accounts — or their sense of social propriety.

“Everyone is feeling the pinch these days or knows people who are feeling the pinch,” said Linda Kenney Baden, a prominent lawyer in New York. “It’s good to buy a used car again, and it’s chic to buy used clothes.”

For the remainder of the article click here.

2 comments:

Pigtown*Design said...

it was a good article. it's interesting how the NYT is doing a bunch of these about how the wealthy are cutting back.

a. said...

I agree, the economy is hitting most people, even rich ones!