OrganizingLA Blog

Los Angeles Clothing Resale Guide

Consulting with our Los Angeles professional organizing, closet and wardrobe clients we invariably mention resale.

Good for you, good for the environment.  Bad if you have elevated expectations about the current retail value of that Chanel purse you bought 20 years ago.

Sunday's Los Angeles Times has a wonderful article on cleaning out and cleaning up when you redo your fall wardrobe.  They have a great listing of resale shops in the city.  Some we use all the time with clients, or (guilty pleasure here) for ourselves.

Crossroads Trading Company:  24-store national chain with 5 LA locations.  Specializes in contemporary classically styled pieces for a diverse clientele of bankers, punk rockers and everyone in between.  Styles must be current (how annoying).  We've written about Crossroads before here.

Wasteland:  Melrose Avenue most "fashiony" well-edited selections of things that looked like they just came off the runway.  This is our favorite store in LA for resale.  Two locations.

Buffalo Exchange:  Think Crossroads but more Gap-- and located on La Brea.  Don't bring your formal wear into this store.  They love slim-fitting men's suit and flat-front pants for men.  Skinny shirt for women.

Squaresville:  In Los Feliz, has a "killer" selection of "east side fashion" like t-shirts, high-wasted denim.  Nothing current, think 70's, 80's and 90's.

Dee Lux:  Orange County resale, for hipsters, college kids.  Take your native American-inspired t-shirts, cowboy boots, flat leather shoes, skinny denim by True Religion and Diesel.

"Closet Profits:  as summer wanes, fall clothes need their space" - LA Times

image above and various phrases above courtesy LA Times, Erin Weinger and photographer Genaro Molina

Related Articles:

Barbra Horowitz Closet Therapy (9/05)

What do I do with 1990's business suits? (2/07)

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Los Angeles USPS Heads Sexy Pilot Program For Recycling Electronics

Could recycling ever become a day at the beach?

The United States Postal Service last month began a pilot program for USPS customers to recycle their small small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge.

Los Angeles is on the short list of cities participating in the program called "Mail Back."  Designed to help consumers make more environmentally friendly choices, the mail back program includes free envelopes inside Post Offices to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players, free of charge with no postage due.

Clover Technologies Group is paying for the postage, and re-manufacturing the products, including refurbishing, reselling or breaking them down further for recycling. It all depends on the type of part, quality and age.

In addition to Los Angeles, the program is set for Washington, D.C., Chicago and San Diego.  More cities to follow in the fall of 2008 if success is met.

Could this be a big break for the American consumer wanting to recycle but finds it too difficult?  Will the infamous USPS, known for its award-winning customer service, be diligent in stocking the supply cabinets inside each and every store?  Sometimes we can't even find envelopes for Express Mail.  Well, we'll all soon find out.

What do you think of this program?  Would you drop by your local post office to mail ink jet cartridges?

Source:  Shredstation, USPS

Santa Monica Beach Image:  Faris on Flickr

Recycling Events This Saturday in Los Angeles

If you're reading our blog from Los Angeles, there are at least four recycling events happening this weekend at Universal Studios, Lancaster/Palmdale, Long Beach and Culver City.

We doubt any paparazzi will be snapping photos, so it's safe to do some spring fling without those annoying flashbulbs and dirt gathering.

Win a Beverly Hills Lunch With A Brady - If You've Got the Messiest Cable Clutter in the Nation

Win lunch in Beverly Hills with green advocates Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry, co-hosts of the VH-1 reality show, “My Fair Brady.”

The folks at Green Plug are sponsoring a nationwide photo contest for the messiest cable clutter, and just in time for spring cleaning.

One Couple Gives Up Bondage and Succumbs to Clutter

Warning:  This post is NOT for the faint of heart.

Clutter has gone controversal, and satirical.  Recyling has gotten out of control.

Not too long ago, the Onion published a very, very naughty satirical article about an Illinois couple who became overcome with modern life, children, junk mail, unsolicited catalogs, Home Depot receipts, unread issues of O, The Oprah Magazine and medical bills.

If you didn't know, The Onion is a parody newspaper published weekly in print and online, daily.  Wikipedia has a long list of published articles that went overboard.  This one is no exception.

Do not read this article if you are easily offended!

Play It Again Sports - Intelligent Resale for Used Sporting Goods

Sometimes, you just need to learn how to play the game, and be a good sport.

But you can't be a good sport if you don't have the right organizer resources at your fingertips.  Like when you want to lose your unloved sporting equipment.  You either have to donate to a charity, or try and sell it on eBay.  Both have its merits.  But here's another alternative.

We've recently discovered Play It Again Sports looking for an alternative to "get rid of" an unused snowboard for a client.

Our local Studio City location buys, sells, consigns, and trades used sporting good equipment.  We were able to sell the snowboard, the bag and a pair of boots.  This not only got some extra cash for a client, but we also felt good that the snowboard was going to live on, under someone else's feet.  The decision from the expert salesperson came fast, and the service was swift.

A quick check with the manager gave us a brief rundown of what's poopular at Play It Again Sports-- at least in Los Angeles and SoCal:

What's hot for sporting goods resale?

• Baseball
• Golf
• Exercise machines
• Water skis

What's not hot for sporting goods resale?

• Skis-- issues with liability

What's particularly important is that these stores are owned by mothers and fathers who know the value of good sports equipment, and their cost.  The deals are wonderful.  As you'd expect, they also sell some new things.  We snagged a new pair of rubber-soled watershoes for an upcoming snorkle trip.

Thanks to our Toluca Lake professional organizing colleague Sara Getzkin for the tip!