Word: buffaloes
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Stevenson isn't a buyer at an exclusive boutique. She's a store manager who decides what items to accept for resale at a secondhand-clothing shop called Buffalo Exchange. It's part of a growing chain of stores in a growing industry, and it just may be the cool place to find trendy fashions at a fair price this summer. These are not the musty, downmarket stores of yore. The best ones are as carefully curated as a Soho boutique; put a premium on current styles, not vintage novelties; and turn a healthy profit...
...rise of fast fashion, which uses a speeded-up production cycle to rush designer-inspired clothes to moderately priced retailers like Zara and H&M, has breathed new life into secondhand stores like Buffalo Exchange by boosting their supply of barely worn apparel. "H&M is our bread and butter," says Stevenson, 27, as she flips through a carousel of blouses from H&M, American Apparel, Benetton and the Gap with prices ranging from $7.50 to $14 apiece...
...Buffalo Exchange, which earned more than $3 million last year on $43 million in revenue, has 32 stores nationally, making it one of the largest purveyors of recycled clothing in the country. Three more stores are planned for this year. Crossroads Trading Co., based in Berkeley, Calif., rang up $20 million in sales last year at its 22 stores and also plans to add three stores. The number of resale shops is growing 5% annually, according to the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops. There are no national estimates of the size of the used-clothing industry, since most...
There are both art and science to the new generation of used-clothing stores. To keep their stock looking current, shops sneak some new clothes into the mix. At Buffalo, about 20% of the items for sale are new pieces--mostly shoes, jewelry and hosiery--purchased by headquarters and distributed to each outlet. "It gives our stores a more contemporary, avant-garde feel," says Kerstin Block, the Swedish-born founder of Buffalo, who originally hoped to be a museum curator before opening her first store in Tucson, Ariz., in 1974. Since no store gets more than two or three...
...turn to be judged on my fashion sense. By 5:30 p.m. on a Friday, the Buffalo Exchange store in Brooklyn is buzzing. After scouring the racks, I find my very own bargain: a short-sleeve, scoop-neck black shirt for $7.50. It probably retailed for $25 not three months ago. "That's a good, basic summer shirt," says Stevenson approvingly when I show her my purchase. I leave the store with a smile, pleased that my choice has passed muster with a pro. But for $7.50, it really doesn't matter. At this price, there are no fashion victims...