I just returned from a whole morning spent on my hands and knees digging through mounds and mounds of clothes at a local flea market. It was my first time there and I thoroughly LOVED it!
Activities like these require a whole lot of patience and a keen eye. Also, quite importantly, no squeamish feelings about pre-owned clothes/accessories/shoes. I have no qualms about wearing second-hand clothes/accessories but a bit of hesitation when it comes to shoes. A colleague and good friend of mine who is the expert in flea-marketing picked me up around 8 this morning and we headed straight for the market. To get the good stuff you have to be early, otherwise you'll be left with the rejected rejects that nobody else wanted to buy (probably the original reason it's in a pile of second-hand stuff).
I've bought pre-owned clothes before but usually in a brick-and-mortar store, not out in the open and most times kneeling on the ground next to another hunter so this was a completely different experience for me. Many times, you're digging through the clothes and suddenly see a gem of a find but before you can get to it, someone has reached out and grabbed it first. First time novices like moi became victim multiple times but I figured if it was meant to be, I'd get it. In the end I walked away with 2 shirts, 1 tunic, a baby tee, a long-sleeved tee and 5 belts for a grand total of USD6.60 :) My friend, the expert, on the other hand ended up with 5 belts, 2 skirts and 6 tops for USD9.50. Her skills impress me, at one point she filched a shirt someone else had in their pile to buy when she left it unattended and the other girl could only look on helplessly as she quickly went to pay for it.
Anyways, I'm extremely happy with my bounty and this is definitely something I want to do again!
UPDATE:
I've washed my flea market bounty and thought I'd post a pic of the kind of stuff you can get at these markets. You can find really great stuff in still quite new conditions. The purple top though looks washed out in this picture but I swear it's a bright violet colour and looks new, I couldn't figure out my camera settings so that the colour would be closer to what it really is. Anyways, behold mateys, my pre-owned treasures....Aaaar!
Activities like these require a whole lot of patience and a keen eye. Also, quite importantly, no squeamish feelings about pre-owned clothes/accessories/shoes. I have no qualms about wearing second-hand clothes/accessories but a bit of hesitation when it comes to shoes. A colleague and good friend of mine who is the expert in flea-marketing picked me up around 8 this morning and we headed straight for the market. To get the good stuff you have to be early, otherwise you'll be left with the rejected rejects that nobody else wanted to buy (probably the original reason it's in a pile of second-hand stuff).
I've bought pre-owned clothes before but usually in a brick-and-mortar store, not out in the open and most times kneeling on the ground next to another hunter so this was a completely different experience for me. Many times, you're digging through the clothes and suddenly see a gem of a find but before you can get to it, someone has reached out and grabbed it first. First time novices like moi became victim multiple times but I figured if it was meant to be, I'd get it. In the end I walked away with 2 shirts, 1 tunic, a baby tee, a long-sleeved tee and 5 belts for a grand total of USD6.60 :) My friend, the expert, on the other hand ended up with 5 belts, 2 skirts and 6 tops for USD9.50. Her skills impress me, at one point she filched a shirt someone else had in their pile to buy when she left it unattended and the other girl could only look on helplessly as she quickly went to pay for it.
Anyways, I'm extremely happy with my bounty and this is definitely something I want to do again!
UPDATE:
I've washed my flea market bounty and thought I'd post a pic of the kind of stuff you can get at these markets. You can find really great stuff in still quite new conditions. The purple top though looks washed out in this picture but I swear it's a bright violet colour and looks new, I couldn't figure out my camera settings so that the colour would be closer to what it really is. Anyways, behold mateys, my pre-owned treasures....Aaaar!
