Spring is a great time to rework your closet and say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. What do you do about all those great pieces that you absolutely adore but have been taking up prime real estate in your closet for the last six months and haven't seen the light of day? And while everyone would love to add a few new items, what if your bank account is not prepared for a shopping spree?
Hosting a closet sale with friends can help solve two classic problems at once:
1. Having nothing to wear
2. No room for all your clothes
So give your closet a cleaning and host a closet sale! Your friends will love the opportunity to "shop your closet" and in return you can make a few bucks to purchase that purse you just "pinned" or the polka-dot pumps that were calling your name from the store window.
Here are a few tips for hosting a successful sale:
1. Sell only clean, lightly worn, on-trend items. This doesn't mean everything needs to be designer or name brand, but keep it classy and save your less desirable items for a yard sale or the Goodwill bag.
2. Hang everything! This keeps your sale looking like a "store" and less like a yard sale. People love to browse through clothes when they are hanging, just like they would experience if they were shopping at the mall. Clothing racks can be purchased very inexpensively at Target, IKEA, etc.
3. Arrange clothes on rack by type of clothing and color. Size doesn't matter so much because every brand is sized so differently. People like to look through shirts, pants, dresses, etc. and will try things on as necessary for sizing. That said, make sure you have a place available for your buyers to try on clothes. When you arrange clothes by color it makes it look much more organized and professional.
4. Use tags to price your items. Stickers do not stay on clothing and also screams "yard sale.” Tagging is more time consuming, but it looks better, and if you are doing a joint sale with other friends it will allow you to pull the tags off each item and keep track of what each person sells. Each "seller" should put their name and price on each tag.
5. Do not attach the tag to the hanger, attach it to the clothing. When your "buyers" try on items they don't always put the clothing back on the proper hanger.
6. Pricing is totally up to you, but keep it simple. Remember you want to keep prices fair and affordable. This is secondhand clothing your buyers are purchasing. At the same time you know what you paid for an item and buyers are willing to pay more for authentic, designer items because it will obviously be less than what they would purchase it for at the store.
7. Advertise your event on social media and post a few pictures of the items you will have for sale. This will create excitement around your event. Obviously this is up to the individual hosting the sale, but I do not sell items ahead of time. If you are "advertising" certain pieces and then none of them are available the day of your sale it can disappointing and even feel unfair to those that made the effort to attend your sale.
8. Last but certainly not least...have fun! I have found these events to be such a great way to meet new friends, reconnect with old ones, and I always enjoy seeing them walk away with purchases they are excited about.
Needless to to say, after I've made room in my closet, hosted my sale, and sent my old clothes to new homes, I'm feeling ready to get a date on my calendar for my next shopping trip.
Picture 1 reference: www.pvpost.com
Picture 2 reference: www.oh-so-rosie.blogspot.com