Thursday, October 23, 2008

What's wrong with my clothes?

When I got pregnant with Ella, I packed away all my "skinny" clothes. By "skinny" I mean size 14. I had spent all of college in 16-18s and after my leg surgery, I'd even been into size 20. So when I was able to buy a size 14 jean from Old Navy, I was on Cloud 9. How funny that I was the thinnest I'd ever been right before I got pregnant. I was so happy with what I call my "woman body." I had sexy curves that I didn't hide. I was the most comfortable with myself that I had ever been in my life.

After Ella's was born, I brought out some of the clothes thinking I'd be able to wear them soon. Oh how wrong I was. It's been 5 years since I've been able to wear those clothes.

In an attempt to make more room in my house, I decided to part ways with my hot, sexy clothes from days gone by. If I am ever that small again, I deserve a brand new wardrobe. I am keeping some of my jeans though....for some reason, I just can't get rid of them.

I decided to take my best stuff to Karen's Kloset, a consignment shop in Champaign. I had never tried to sell anything there before, and I thought it would be easy. Just drop off my clothes and get a check in a few months.

Yesterday, after Ella's doctor appointment, I stopped by KK with about a dozen items. As soon as I walked in the door I felt uncomfortable. The staff, although nice, had a certain....vibe(?) to them that made me uncomfortable.

As I was filling out the necessary forms and reading over their policies (they are going to charge me $5 to pick up the items that don't sell? WTF?) the woman behind the counter was checking over my clothes.

She finished and when I looked over, she had put most of them back in the bag. She said, "Ok. You have 4 items here that I think will sell nicely for you." As she continues her rambling, telling me exactly what I just read, I am angrily wondering what is wrong with my other clothes. The 2 black GAP sweaters I brought in are in great condition. That Eddie Bauer sweater doesn't have a stain on it.

Inside, I'm fuming. How dare this woman not take my clothes! This is a resale shop! Those clothes cost a lot of money! She tells me that in the future, "we ask that when you bring in items, to please have them freshly laundered, pressed, and on hangers." I look around, and all the items in this shop are on black hangers. What are they going to do with the hangers I put them on? And all my clothes were clean and wrinkle-free....I'm not going to bring in clothes smelling like moth-balls.

I should have asked her what the deal was, but I didn't. Seriously, the place made me really uncomfortable, and I just wanted to get out of there. I know I won't be going back except to get whatever money I might make...minus that $5 fee.

Harley Q suggested I try Plato's Closet or EBay. I've never been to PC, and I've never sold anything on the Internet. If any of my friends would like to take these clothes off my hands, I am happy to hand them over. Just let me know.

1 comment:

The Fearless Freak said...

I've never been thrilled with KK. I've found a couple of things there that I like, but over all their clothes are kind of fussy (Looseyfur picked up a hot sweater there though so maybe it has gotten better).

My mom tried to consign there once and they wouldn't take anything she brought in. They told her they don't have the space to take all the items that people bring in so they only take things that are recently in fashion or classic (like suits, jeans, etc things that never go out of style). So unfortunately, no matter how nice they are very unlikely to take something that is 5 years old or even 2 year old.

I've had similar issues with YMO kids. I took in a bunch of stuff when Lizzie was a baby and was told that some of it that was BRAND NEW wasn't up to par. Also, apparently nothing they did take ever sold because I never got anything out of it.

Now I swap what I can and take the rest to Goodwill. I need to do that and make some more room in my closets. I might get around to that this winter :)