Discussion of the flow of dresses between countries

[irohamomiji]

Hi All,

Recently I've been thinking about the international(everything but Japan) second hand market for lolita and how it compares to the more closed Japanese market and other closed markets ( I think Korea has a pretty closed 2nd hand lolita market? ). I know that many international lolitas, like to buy hard to find prints of y!a and mbok, as well

Comments

[chiichick]

1.) If you tend to buy a lot in the 2nd hand market where(country or continent) do most of your items come from?
Most of my second hand purchases come from the sales comm so all over the world really.
That being said I visit my sister in Japan and often purchase new and used items from those shops and bring them back over here to the US.

2.) Have you ever heard of a dress purchased internationally make it's way back to Japan?
Well, I have sold on the sales comm to people living in Japan before so I think so :)

3.) Give some general trends you're noticed.
It seems like more and more shopping services are popping up to purchase on Japanese auctions but I also see more and more sellers restricting them.
It feels kind of sad to think we are taking from the Japanese market without returning BUT that also means that we are earning our money in our own countries and spending it in theirs. So that's an interesting thought

SORRY if double comment, LJ is messing up for me

[irohamomiji]

Nah , no problem. Lj is always funky

Thats good to know. Maybe there is a way from dresses to come full circle.

I've always wondered to what extent is the influx of items from their market to ours, and if they ever notice it? I know some seller on mbok will not sell to ss or non-japanese people. But I just thought that was mostly culture, and not because they want to keep the dresses in Japan.

[pet_chan]

1.) Firstly I prefer to buy second hand lolita clothes from my country (Czech republic) a then from Europe, because of customs and shipping cost. While browsing on egl_comm_sales, I look only at DS posts from Europe (but I am looking for random clothes I like, not for a particular print).

[irohamomiji]

I've heard the horror stories about custom fee in Europe.
Also, do you feel as though most Czech lolitas sell within the Czech republic or is it more open to Europe?

[pet_chan]

First they try to sell in the Czech republic, and if the item doesn't sell there, they try to sell it abroad. But many girls can wait for months till it sells... it's so much easier and cheaper to sell within our own country. Some people are even afraid to sell abroad and won't do it. And I think that many european girls do it this way. They sell either in Facebook groups of their country, or on this site: http://www.votocvohoz.cz/ for czech, http://www.kleiderkreisel.de/ for german / austrian. It's a great site to sell clothes, browse clothes and without fees! :)

[irohamomiji]

Thanks for sharing the info. I can understand why many people are afraid to ship abroad. The price is always more than you expect, and I'm always terrified it won't make it.

[milkteamilk]

I know there are a lot of non-Japanese Lolitas who are living in Japan, even if just temporarily for school, so I don't think it's too unlikely that they would take their Lolita there and end up selling or trading it within Japan

[kazenojeshika]

XD I was just thinking of having some sort of crazy awesome system so we'd know where Loli items have been. Maybe different brands could start releasing tracking devices sewn on/in their pieces, and then the tracking devices could somehow tell when the piece was bought and sold and where they were shipped to and from, and there would be some big chart(s) online showing the statistics the tracking devices revealed....

...Maybe it's a pipe dream, but still. It'd be awesome.

As for the questions:

1. I've only bought two items second-hand. One came from the US and one came from Spain (I live in the US). I don't specifically try to buy from the US, although I prefer buying in North America. I'm scared of customs. ;-;

2. I have now that I've read the comments section of this post. I hadn't specifically heard of it before then, though.

3. In my experience, it can be difficult to find a specific item on the sales comm, although it probably depends on the item.

[duplica_chan]

1.) If you tend to buy a lot in the 2nd hand market where(country or continent) do most of your items come from?
I just buy within the european union because of avoiding customs and cheaper shippin g+ i have no paypal account

2.) Have you ever heard of a dress purchased internationally make it's way back to Japan?
no. But i see that dresses travel from friend to friend through the whole world. eg I bought a dress, sold it to a friend in germany and she sold it to a friend of mine in norway etc.

3.) Give some general trends you're noticed.
IW is not very popular xD and it's nearly impossible to sell a dress without a loss, at least if you#ve bought it new

[wabbie_chan]

Oh dear, I hadn't noticed what you said about IW. That's a pity because it is one of my favourite brands but then again it means I get to buy cheaper second hand. Also with the abundance of lucky pack and oddment pack items, there are so many IW dresses in the community that sell for around $150.

[rocketlaunching]

I've noticed that with meta as well.

[wabbie_chan]

1.) If you tend to buy a lot in the 2nd hand market where(country or continent) do most of your items come from?
I buy 50% from egl_comm_sales and 50% from y!auctions and mbok. So I guess that half of my closet comes from Japan. When it comes to the community sales though I mostly prefer buying from within Europe since it is cheaper and faster so I'd say that another 30% is Europe and 20% the US and China.

2.) Have you ever heard of a dress purchased internationally make it's way back to Japan?
I once traded a brand dress with a girl that was situated in Japan so I guess it happens.

3.) Give some general trends you're noticed.
Most of my buyers, especially for bigger pieces like dresses and skirts, are located within Europe. I suppose that lolitas within Europe tend to buy more from Europe but this is nothing new.