Personal Tech for Women: 5 Things You Need to Know About Purging Your Closet

Monday, May 18, 2015

Melanie Sevcenko, GoLocalPDX Contributor

While excavating your closet for a seasonal wardrobe change, you might find yourself uncovering several clothing items that have gone unloved for too long. If you’re looking for options beyond a Goodwill donation – or you’ve simply exhausted Craigslist – try the alternative of online markets to re-sell your used garments. Here’s a list of 5 apps, or online platforms, that help out with your spring-cleaning for a little something in return.

1. Tradesy

Purge for spring with the Tradesy app that helps shed those extra layers of clothing from the closet – pinchy shoes, muffin-topping jeans, whatever. But here’s the rub: Tradesy only sells your authentic, designer fashion – and it must be in good condition. It’s resale for the upper-income bracket fashionista. So if you’ve got Chanel earrings, Louis Vuitton handbags, or Zara sweaters just lying around, sign into Tradesy and create a list of your items. Tradesy will send you a pre-paid, pre-addressed shipping kit, complete with packaging. The company then deducts 9 percent commission from your sale, and you'll receive payment in the form of Tradesy Cash. It’ll let you start the cycle all over again: buying more designer clothes… but hopefully they’ll be items you actually wear, for a less staggering price.

2. Vinted

Vinted is for women with a not-too-pricy eclectic wardrobe that might include brands from Target, Old Navy, Banana Republic or H&M. If you’re interested in selling, start by taking photos of your items and writing detailed descriptions. On Vinted, you price your clothing yourself and then wait for a buyer to respond. It’s a lot like eBay, but Vinted has its own messaging system for chats and questions involving a purchase. Payments also appear on the thread and are handled by Vinted’s secure system. As a buyer, you’ll be happy to see summer dresses priced at $14 or a blouse for $10 (clothing swapping is also an option). The only issue here is no fitting rooms – and no return policy. But if your purchase fails you, simply resell it on Vinted.

3. Twice

Twice is somewhere between Tradesy and Vinted: you can’t sell your lower-priced brands like Forever 21 and H&M, but you’re not required to own anything Prada to join. Twice allows you to sell your clothing in bulk, but unlike Tradesy, you don’t have to make a list of your items first. With Twice you can literally make a big ol’ pile of clothing, request a free selling kit or label, fill it up, and ship it out – and Twice pays for the post. Once Twice receives it, they’ll make you an offer and pay you instantly, via store credit, check, PayPal, Venmo or Target GiftCard. For 15 items from brands like American Eagle and Gap, you can earn up to $45. For classic brands like Levi’s, 15 items will get your around $90, and for premium brands it’s closer to $180.

4. Fashion Project

Turn your closet into a fundraising campaign. Fashion Project is the Goodwill of clothing resale apps – with a spin. If you’ve got a bags-worth of “gently used” clothing, order a donation bag from the Fashion Project website and stuff it full. They pay for the shipping. Once your items are processed, some will be sold online at the Fashion Project’s boutique, while others may be sold in the FP Marketplace (their network of buyers and consigners), and the rest will be re-gifted to one of Fashion Project’s partner charities that run community thrift stores. Here’s the good karma twist – up to 55 percent of the net proceeds from every item sold on Fashion Project goes to support a charity of your choice. So far, the platform has raised over half a million dollars for almost 2,000 charities, including the Women’s Global Empowerment Fund, She’s the First and NEADS.

5. MakeSpace

They call themselves, “your closet in the cloud.” It’s great for those closet-crammers you can’t part with for good. Think of it as a storage unit that you never have to see. MakeSpace deliveries free boxes to your door, then you pack ‘em and they take ‘em away. This is highly efficient organization, as the numbered boxes you receive come preloaded in your account, so you can login and add the descriptions. And if you so desire, MakeSpace will take overhead photos of each of your boxes and upload them to your account so you know exactly what each box contains. Once you decide they’re ready for them again (hopefully you’ve made some room or upgraded to a bigger closet), login to your account, select what you need, and MakeSpace will deliver those boxes back to you. Their rates start at $25 per month for a minimum of three months, plus four free boxes.

Melanie Sevcenko is a journalist for radio, print and online. She reports internationally for BBC World Service and Monocle Radio (M24) in the UK, and for Deutsche Welle in Germany. Melanie also reports for the online news source GoLocalPDX, in Portland, Oregon. Her work has been broadcast by CBC in Canada and the Northwest News Network, and published by Al Jazeera English, Global Post, Pacific Standard, the Toronto Star and USA Today, amongst others.

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