Ethical Consumerism and Lolita Fashion

[honeyteaclover]

In my everyday life, I'm one of those consumers who scrutinizes labels on every product in the grocery store. I try to be a conscientious shopper. I've started thinking a little more about my consumer choices when it comes to lolita clothing, and I thought I'd present a particular issue to the EGL community and gather your thoughts.

Comments

[deliciousncandy]

I think you kind of missed a lot of points, but whatever. It's actually fairly easy to tell who is inflating their prices, "e-stores" sell things for almost 35% more than pretty much everyone else does and they still have stock from years ago that no one is buying, infact most smaller e-stores like that who sell on egl tend to price things much higher for some reason.

A lot of the issue is mostly that people don't always know the price they should pay for a second hand item, and if it's something they like enough they'll just buy it, and generally if they find out later it was worth almost half less than they paid, they'll probably feel a bit cheated.

Also, it's a bit odd that you say closet child is only in it for the money but then go on to wonder why they wouldn't ban people who are giving them business by buying up everything.

I really think you're underestimating them a bit though, lolita is a niche fashion and while it does have a lot of followers a simple secondhand store isn't the most lucrative thing without customers. It's pretty looked down on for people to scalp especially in Japan, many brands don't agree with it and there are probably customers who complain about it in Japan because they're actually shopping and not just trying to make a quick buck.

[mboarder]

Oh I thought honeyteaclover said that they price things the same as regular. I don't really check the comm sales so I don't know (thats why I said probably). I was going to suggest that someone made a list of the accounts that do this so people know where not to buy from, like how there is a scam store list and stuff, but I forgot :/

And you are right! Sorry, often when I say things they contradict each other, because I tend to over-analyze stuff and then not go and correct what I have written. Its up to closet child what they do, and I do not think they are in it just for the money, but I think there still might be a small element of "those people are making more money off the same clothing items than we are! Maybe we are underpricing..." going on and that is one reason why the prices got raised. It could also be to deter the resellers, but it just seems odd that they would do that rather than banning them from the store. I'm not saying that the core goal of all those stores is to make money, but I am sure it does play a factor in the pricing, else they would all be out of business. I hope I am explaining myself ok. That's what I meant to say above.

[agewa]

One of my friends, who lives in Tokyo and isn't a Lolita, but bought some Mary Magdalene on a whim several years ago, wanted to get rid of them and sell them to Closet Child. She was shocked to discover how little second-hand stores offer to pay you for your stuff considering the prices they sell them for afterwards.

(She ended up selling her stuff to her LJ friends. Like, she sold a MM coat for 5,000 yen - and Closet Child had offered her even less than that.)