Intro

If you’re here, chances are you’re already a fan of thrifting and have some experience with selling items that you’ve personally purchased. You’re enjoying the experience of selling second-hand online or in-person, business is going well, and you’re interested to see if you can scale your business further.

It goes without saying, but every business is unique. Each with its own set of growth opportunities — what works for one business might not work for another. That said, the one constant for all businesses looking to grow is the need for a steady and reliable source of high-quality products.

This is a fast-growing market. Consumer demand is on the rise, countless tools and channels are available to help you scale, and Thrift Vintage Fashion has developed a simplified approach to sourcing to help you meet your demand.

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Step 1: Understanding Your Business

Before jumping into anything, ask yourself a few important questions:

• What are your overall goals for reselling?
• What am I selling a lot of? Can I sell more of that?
• What do my customers look for that I don’t carry? Should I carry those?
• Is it important that I personally select each item, or am I open to a sourcing partner if the condition/quality/price is right?
• What role could a sourcing partner play in my growing business?
• Have I fully explored all channels for resale (online or in-person)?
• How much stock can I hold? How long does it typically take to move?
• Can I afford larger orders if it saves me time/money?

If you’ve decided that you are ready to explore supplemental supply options, you can begin exploring partners that can provide assistance.

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Step 2: Exploring Wholesale Partners

Recycled clothing wholesalers (often referred to as “textile recyclers”) are large-scale operations that specialize in selling recycled clothing. These wholesale operations are the “source” for nearly all of the recycled clothing found on the second-hand market.

Thrift Vintage Fashion differs from more traditional wholesalers because we source our products from all textile recyclers. We only source trending categories based on our own experience with reselling, and we provide an added layer of quality assurance to ensure maximum resale potential.

Important things to ask when looking for a wholesale partner:

• Do they carry the categories I am looking for?
• Does the price work for me?
• Do they offer order size flexibility?
• How fast do they ship? Do they have reliable stock quantities?
• What work will be required from me? Do I need to grade?
• How is the company reviewed? Do other resellers work with them?
• Do they offer loyalty benefits and good customer service?

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Step 3: Testing Wholesale Partners

Once you’ve selected a partner that works for you, we recommend ordering a small sample first so that you can evaluate them properly. A few items to look out for:

• Is the condition up to your standard? (no unexpected holes, stains, etc.)
• Are the pieces trendy? Can you resell them?
• Was the customer experience what you expected?

If the partner passes your test you can begin sourcing with them. It is still recommended that you start slowly and work your way up to larger order sizes.

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Step 4: Managing Your Stock

Once your stock has arrived and has been washed, it’s time to take inventory of your new pieces. Separate your pieces and begin determining your resale price for each item — TVF includes resale guides for all product categories.

We recommend that growing resale businesses develop and maintain an inventory tracker. Having a tracker in place will allow you to stay on top of your shifting sourcing needs.

Stock trackers can include:

• Category breakdown
• Item descriptions
• Purchase date & cost
• Anticipated resale value
• Resale cost & resale date

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Step 5: Keeping Up With Inventory

Only you will be able to determine when it’s right to restock your supply, but here are a few helpful questions to ask yourself on an ongoing basis:

• What categories are selling well and why?
• What categories aren’t selling well and why?
• Am I getting low on a specific category? Should I restock?
• What categories can be thrifted vs. supplemented from wholesale?
• What savings would be gained from larger order sizes?

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