Unfortunately, in today’s fashionable society, clothing can cost hundreds of dollars, especially the most popular and beloved name brands. This may be totally acceptable for well-off adults, but there are alternatives to buying pricey clothes for those who are still growing. Dressing children for less can be easy, even for those brand-name savvy parents.
One obvious alternative to suffering price tag trauma is buying clothes second-hand. Contrary to many parents' beliefs, used children’s clothing can be of good quality and most consignment stores have rules against tears or stains on the clothes.
“The 'bad' thrift stores give a bad rep to the good ones,” says Tammy Beaudry, a mother of three. “I think because there are some stores that will take in just about anything and aren’t picky about it.”
Beaudry admits that she could look for cheaper clothing.
But Krystal Roslund believes it is a great way to go: “I always find nice stuff,” says Roslund, a single mother of two.
For the parent searching for name brands, modern, high-quality vintage clothing or season-appropriate clothing for their kids, there are plenty of second-hand clothing outlets in Calgary to choose from.
Children grow fast and chances are their expensive brand name winter coats will not even fit the bill for next winter unless it is bought too large – but that might ruin the whole point of the style. Half of the clothing will get ruined anyways if you have playful, messy kids.
Stained, torn, faded, clothes with hemlines and outdated clothes are not accepted in consignment shops.
“My kids are always dressed pretty topnotch,” says Roslund. “You can’t even tell the difference. The clothing looks brand new and since they actually aren’t, it bothers me less when my kids make a mess of them,” she says.
Roslin also considers herself a ‘fashion nerd’ and frequently gets compliments on the outfits she and her children wear. (It is the number one reoccurring comment from friends on her social networking page.)
“With our little ones growing so fast, they triple in size the first year. And do they really know (or care) if they are wearing ‘new clothing’"?, asks Charmaine Sanderson, owner of Lullaby Lane. “It just doesn’t make sense to purchase new when they just wreck them anyways.”
“Experience tells us that 90 per cent of the clothes we sell are brand names, and very recent fashions,” adds Sanderson.
Consignment stores are currently looking for your favorite brands. These stores also have regular recycled clothes for those who do not want to be labeled, of course!
For the environmentally-friendly parent, a benefit to buying consignment or second hand is that these clothes are, in fact, recycled, thereby eliminating the process of manufacturing new clothes, using heavy pesticides on cotton, using non-biodegradable nylon and polyester, etc. There are a few environmentally-safe and biodegradable materials used to make clothing, but it would be exhausting to have to check labels on absolutely everything in a store in hopes of finding the ‘green’ picks. With consignment clothing, you are reusing old materials and saving the environment one step at a time.
So after somebody buys consignment, they can say they saved money, have high fashion, helped save the environment and are dressed with original flare. Chances are, there will not be any other little ones who match your child’s unique style!
Next time you see a child sporting a gorgeous name-brand outfit, instead of assuming their apparel must cost a fortune, think: ‘They must have bought consignment.’
Breanna is a journalism student. She considers herself to be pretty cheap when it comes to shopping.
Calgary’s Child Magazine © 2024 Calgary’s Child
