In Philippines, we don't like to buy brand new clothes; instead, we go to the ukay-ukay, which is a thrift shop store at the side of the road where secondhand clothing is sold. The reason why we prefer it aside from the cheap price is because we can get those high-quality clothes even if they're not brand new anymore, like a steal. It's a norm in the Philippines that buying ukay-ukay clothes is better than brand new clothes sold in malls. In fact, a lot of Filipino celebrities claim that their clothes are bought from ukay-ukay too. We Filipinos are so obsessed with buying clothes from thrift shops.
My mother and I had visited this weekend's ukay-ukay stores here in our city. I'm amused by how many cheap and quality pants are displayed. In fact, I was able to buy three different pants. I bought two black pants and one pair of jeans. All are high quality, and the jeans don't even look like a secondhand instead; they look like a brand new. The clothing displayed in the ukay-ukay stores is actually imported from different countries, and maybe some of it is a factory defect. But upon looking at the jeans, I cannot see any defects. Instead, it looks branded, just like what we can buy in the mall. This is why buying ukay ukay clothes is such a steal. In malls, you don't buy clothes for their price; you pay for the brand.
I am not honestly fond of going to ukay-ukay, but since my mother is into it, I was influenced to choose ukay-ukay rather than going to the mall. In fact, even wealthy people don't prefer malls; they prefer ukay-ukay too. So if you are patient and don't mind shopping in crowd, then you might like ukay-ukay. It will take you a lot of HOURS if you really want to buy an almost branded clothing because most of the clothes in the ukay-ukay are assorted. Some are new arrival, and some are old as old. Another thing is you cannot fit them in the fitting room, so you do the estimation. One of the biggest perks of buying in ukay-ukay is you can ask for a discount, and it depends on the seller whether they would accept it.
I believe buying in ukay-ukay or thrift shops is a skill. You need to be persistent in looking for something, patient in looking for the right size, and good communicator in asking for a discount.
Have you already visited an ukay-ukay or a thrift shop in your country? What do you like about it?
