9 Secrets to Successful Clothing Consignment
<img src=”https://storkladysale.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Spring2013Blanks.jpg>
9 Secrets to Successful Clothing Consignment
1. After gathering all the clothing you want to sell, throw it in the wash so that it looks (and smells!) it’s best. Run an iron over wrinkled pieces – or use Downy Wrinkle Reducer (Love this stuff! Gets the wrinkles out & makes the clothes smell good too!).
2. As you hang each piece, button all buttons & zip all zippers. Make sure all buttons & zipper-pulls are there and in working order.
3. Hold clothing up to a window to look for stains in the natural daylight. The lighting in the public sale building shows everything, Natural daylight will reveal stains you might miss when tagging at night or in the basement. Do not waste your time preparing and tagging clothing that the consignment sale will not be able to accept.
4. Clothing sold in sets or outfits sell best! Use pins or zip ties to make sure the set stays together. If pieces become separated, it is nearly impossible for the consignment sale to pair them back up. Rubberbanding the hangers together won’t cut it – hangers should be tied together with string or ‘zip-tied’ together. Even better, be sure the clothing itself is attached to each other.
5. When attaching tags to your clothing – be conscious of where you attach the pin or tagging gun barb. Customers will not buy clothing if it looks like a hole will be left behind when they get home and remove the tag. Attach tags in the clothing label inside the neck, or when facing clothing, in the thick seam of the right-hand sleeve’s “armpit”. Tags do the least amount of damage in these areas.
6. Use GREAT descriptions when entering your tags. Your clothing will be shopped through by a few thousand people – tags fall off. Sale volunteers will be able to put your tags back on your items IF they can identify the item based on your tag’s description. If a tag is found that just says “pants”, “onesie” or “blue shirt” they will not be able to retag your item. They need to know for sure that they are putting a tag back on the right item – they may have 3 pair of pants without tags and won’t know which pair your tag belongs to. However, if your tag says “Gymboree pants khaki flower at hem girls” or “Carters 2pc PJ’s boys l/s shirt pant airplanes” they have a MUCH better chance of matching that tag back up and selling your item!
7. Put a small piece of masking tape or printable label on each piece of clothing with your consignor number and the item’s inventory number clearly visible. With this info, a lost tag can be reprinted and your item can go back on the selling floor rather than sit in lost & found for several days.
8. If you are attaching your tags via safety pins, take an extra moment to make it virtually impossible for your tags to fall off, be removed or switched. After pinning on the tag, take a piece of clear packing tape and wrap it completely around the top half of the tag. Be sure to completely cover the safety pin (front and back), but do not cover the barcode. Try it once & you will see how secure it makes your tags!
9. When you are ready to transport your clothing to the sale location, organize your items into size and gender groupings. Use a rubberband to bundle the organized clothing into easy to carry handfuls. Stack the bundles of clothing in layers on a flat open bed sheet. Gather up the corners of the sheet and tie or pin them together. You will end up with a ‘sack’ full of clothing that you can swing over your shoulder. You can move a lot of clothes easily this way.