Secondhand Shopping in Singapore: Save Money by Shopping Smart!

According to CNN, H&M has a stockpile of unsold clothes worth US$4 billion.

Sustainable fashion has been at the forefront of change towards an eco-friendly environment. Although renowned apparel brands that promote mass production and urban capitalism is ever present in shopping malls all over the world; there are individuals that have ditched the high-end lifestyle and have opted for eco-friendly options such as bartering, thrifting, and clothes-swapping.

Fast fashion has been consuming the environment and preying on the society that thrives on instant gratification. However, being trendy isn’t in anymore, being eco-friendly is. Here are some stores in Singapore that offer secondhand shopping:  

Style Tribute

Just because you are passionate about luxury goods does not mean that you cannot do your part in driving towards eco-fashion. Style Tribute, founded by Belgo-French Stephanie Crespin, is the leading pre-loved luxury priced marketplace in Southeast Asia.

Stephanie founded Style Tribute in Japan because she believes in focusing more on utility rather than possession. Their mission? To reinvent the way we look at fashion consumption. Each product placed on the resale market has an extended life of 9 months, this decreases to 30% in carbon, waste and water wastage. So not only will you get it at a cheaper price, but you are also helping the environment!

If you visit their website, you will see that the retail price is shown beside the selling price for you to compare the price difference between original and selling price. They also offer SGD15 off for first purchase if you subscribe to their mailing list.

Carousell

If you have not been living under a shell, you would have heard of Carousell from your friends and family. Carousell is one of the first few companies in Asia that focused on an online C2C (customer to customer) marketplace. It was first launched in Singapore in May 2012 by Quek Siu Rui, Marcus Tan, and Lucas Ngoo.

Here are some of the site’s key points:

• Allows for the sale of both new and second-hand items
• Many different payment methods depending on the seller and delivery methods such as meet up to collect goods and cash payment
• More flexible as you can negotiate price and location to meet etc.
• Mobile app available

So whether you want to buy or sell a preloved item, no matter which industry it falls in, head over to Carousell for an easy, secure and fast transaction! (As long as it’s legal, of course!)

Refash 

Refash was founded in January 2016 by Aloysius Sng to empower women to shop quality fashion. Their vision? For every woman to think like-new first. With both an online and offline presence, Refash has more than 15,000 customers annually.

How it works:

Online: Sign Up → List the item(need to pay Refash 19% for handling fee) → Mail the item to the buyer

Offline: Sign up and go under one of the partner payout scheme → Courier/Drop off→ Refash will handle the rest (More you sell, lesser the commission fee) → paid in credits (Shopping vouchers from certain brands)

Refash offers SGD 10 off first purchase when you first subscribe. Brands such as Topshop, Zara, and Cotton On are available up to 70% off retail price, score!

Gumtree

Founded by Michael Pennington and Simon Crookall in 2000, Gumtree is a free classified website that enables the purchase of secondhand and new items around your local area. You can post a listing anonymously and without charge!

As Gumtree requires potential buyers to contact sellers themselves, it allows users to view the sellers’ phone number and/or email via contact form even without an account.

Just be careful when you surf the website, there are plenty of trolls on the internet!

Reebonz

Just like Style Tribute, Reebonz offers pre-owned luxury items such as handbags and wallets. Started in March 2009 by founders Benjamin Han, Daniel Lim, and Samuel Lim. Reebonz targets customers in the Asia-Pacific region. Available in countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, it is modelled around the concept of ‘accessible luxury’.

You must sign up with a free account at Reebonz. If you are interested in selling, you can choose from the two options:

1. “White Glove” – where they sell your pre-owned items for you. They will provide professional photography and pick up your items. Additionally, you will get paid within 7 business days once items are sold. The only qualifications you need to meet is either you have 3 items or total value exceeds SGD$5000 or more
2. “Closets” – where you sell the item yourself. Additionally, if you opt for the “closets” options, the use of a mobile app is also available