There, I said it. I am a shopaholic. I buy way too many clothes. And shoes. Bags too. But before you cluck your tongues and shake your heads, let me redeem myself. I have a great idea (so I say!) on how to derive some good, apart from contributing greatly to the economy, out of that.

As I mentioned in “Inappropriate dressing”, my walk-in is inappropriately obese, literally bursting at its seams. This is after having usurped all 4 other closets in the house, and leaving only a small panel for Husband and an even smaller one for Son. I want to reassure you however that I’m as responsible as you would expect of any middle-aged auntie, and by no means a poor example to young girls out there – I make my own keep, and spend well within my means. I practise what I teach – I save (hooray!). I just have a, shall we say, weakness, for all things beautiful. All beautiful things that perhaps in my delusional mind, would transpose just some of its incandescence to me, on me.

The laws of Physics dictate that I have to give away a lot of these collections – to make space for new ones.. Over the years, I have been doing just that, to friends, family, and charity organizations. For a few years, before I took on my current global role, the few of us including Equally Fierce and Little Swallow would organize fashion bazaars, food bazaars, even art fairs annually to raise funds for charities. A lot of my pre-loved (fashion speak for “used”..) clothes, shoes, bags and accessories went to the fashion bazaar. I recall a Louis Vuitton Speedy, an Anya Hindmarch envelope, a Herve Leger tote, and a Ferragamo clutch, a present from Husband, but I convinced him there’s no greater way to love it than to set it free for good (as in a good cause). I recall a pair of YSL Tribute which I donated and convinced a young colleague from Ops was a good buy. I hope she found some use for them! All proceeds from the sale went towards charitable causes. It was hard work but great fun. Hard work because it took a lot of time and effort, from the central collection, sorting (note to all you enthusiastic doners out there: there’s a difference between pre-loved and ready for a second lease of life, and pre-loved-to-death and ready for the incinerators..), steaming (it’s all about selling!) and pricing (low enough to be enticing, but not so low as to be undesirable – very important to grasp the shopper’s mentality). And there’s the headache of unsold stock to deal with. Great fun because of the camaraderie forged over the common purpose of doing some good. We took votes to decide which charities to give to, which worked well enough but also meant not everyone’s causes were supported.

That’s a big digression but sets the stage for my great idea! So, here it is:

1. A website where you can post your pre-loved clothes, bags, shoes – anything really – for sale at a price that you decide. A portion of the proceeds, say 20%, will be channeled towards charitable causes. If you prefer a higher percentage, that can be done!
2. You have a say which charity you want to support, by first nominating your favorite causes that are then included in a panel. You indicate which charity on that panel your proceeds will be directed to, and this will be made transparent to the buyers. If you have no favourite causes, then the proceeds will simply go towards a central pot, the beneficiaries of which will be decided at the end of every year by a vote of all members of the site.
3. There’ll be a chat forum for everyone to share thoughts on your causes, and their related activities.
4. And there’ll be an education platform on issues like budgeting and saving to help the under-privileged that you can contribute to if you, like me, have caught the teaching bug.
5. This would be THE alternative shopping site – for those who love pre-loved things, and would like to do some good whilst doing that!

What do you think? Would you shop there? Would you sell there? Would it work??

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