a few pointers in ukay-ukay-ing

first, this post is made due to the 'rise of the multinational ukayukay in naga'. no, just kidding. but really, we can see that in Naga there are so much ukayukay shops. we can not do anything about it - except buy. but, we must take note of a few things.

1 sanitation. whenever we buy clothes - any kind of clothing - WASH IT. Never wear the clothes without washing. that would be eww. Perhaps, it's okay if we wear it for a few seconds, just to see if it fits. After all, it would be a waste. But only for a few seconds! (and take a BATH afterwards) Those things are, after all, a bit dirty. After sitting for a lot of hours and after going through a lot of hands, those clothes aren't really in a ready-to-wear-after-buying condition

2 price. the reason we go to ukayukay is the price. for the price of one t-shirt bought in oxygen, we could probably get around 4 t-shirts from the ukayukay (depending on the quality, of course, and the skill of making tawad) but really. price is definitely low - so this is the place to go especially when money is not that good. however, take note of a few things. the cheapest ukayukay in naga is in the supermarket. (REASON : the shopkeepers pay low rent - come on its the market! Plus, there are a lot of stores in the market, hence competition. and to attract buyers, they need to lower their prices) However, if you don't want to make halukag in the supermarket (and if you're going somewhere fancy after wherein you don't want to smell like fish) you may want to go to those ukayukay stores where presentation is important. one store automatically comes to mind. Shally's store (im not sure if it's spelled properly) which is near bichara is VERY presentable. it looks like a REAL clothing boutique. so many fashionable things (i bought my prada glasses and my reversible bag there -glasses originally for 200, bought for 150 and bag originally for 500 bought at 400) At shally's store, there are a lot of good things. and they look much better at the supermarket simply because they are organized in a very beautiful manner - talk about ukayukay with AIRCONDITIONING! so, if you want to go ukayukaying somewhere fancier than the supermarket, go to places like shally's but expect a higher price range. after all, they spent money on all those manequins. plus shally's place is really full of people.

a tiny note on prices : the TAWAD PRINCIPLE. always make tawad. Prices in ukayukay are negotiable. at times, they are severely overpriced as well. (if you encounter an ukayukay store carrying 'good' stuff but overpricing their merchanidise, LEAVE! there are a lot of ukayukay stores out there. save your money for those!) now, EVERYONE makes tawad (only those who are willing to spend unwisely their money wouldn't) due to this, the shopkeepers automatically raise the price of their products higher than their 'expected' price. (IE : they want to sell a bag for 300 php. but, whenever someone asks for the price of the bag, they would say it's worth 350 php) so, the technique is to lower the price to a range where you think they wouldn't give in. (so for the bag, you call the given 350 bag at 250 - any price offered lower than 250 would make you seem like an idiot) now comes the difficult part - HAGGLING.

here are some things to do when haggling :

A - buy a lot. when you buy a lot, automatically prices drop further. after all, you would be increasing their revenue so they can afford to let a few more pesos go. it's for the greater good.

B - claim a damage. they would sell damaged stuff at a MUCH cheaper rate

C - befriend the owner. my mom's technique (she knows them ALL!)

D - temporarily leave and come back later. this would feign disinterest. hence, the shopkeeper would rather give it away at a low price than be stuck with it.

E - be a suki. they would love to have you come back again and again

F - feign lack of money. obviously.

G - (the most common) - PLEAD. being an incessant annoying nagger would be very beneficial in haggling

Anyway, that's for haggling. Usually, the buyer and seller negotiate a common price. (for the hypothetical bag, the agreed price must be around 275 php - marking the bag down 25 php of its estimated value, yet giving both parties satisfaction of a bargain well done) NB : as a rule of courtesy, the moment both people agreed to a price, you SHOULD get it. If you already agreed on the price, you can't say, Oh, I don't want it. That's just plain rude.

Btw, another note on making Tawad, don't seem too overly interested in the thing. the moment that the shopkeeper notices your keen interest on the item, they will mark the item higher. just feign indifference.

3 pants. just a short note on pants. ALWAYS TRY THEM ON. (good advice for plus-sized people) after all, if it doesn't fit, ukayukay people probably won't exchange them. FIT them on the store. there is however one old wive's tale. holding the pants in front of you, if you can make the pants fit around your neck, it will PROBABLY fit. if the ends can't meet around the neck, it won't fit. and it it's too loose, it's too big for you. however, if you feel that it fits perfectly around the neck, try it on PER SE. you still need to feel it. i know some of you are 'changing room shy' but don't worry. no one will peek. trust me

4 quality. aaaa, the greatest thing to consider when buying clothes - QUALITY

sometimes, we just want a 'rag-tag' cheap old shirt for sleeping. so in that case just buy the cheapest one you see.

however for great quality, we may have to scavenge, my friend.

in ukayukay standards, what are the standards of quality?

A - for the kind of cloth used. look at it. is it still 'firm'? is the cloth still 'intact'? are there any 'holes'? in other words, does the cloth look new and unused? You can tell it. if the cloth is faded, then its probably low quality. however if the cloth is really good, then that's high quality and high priced.

B - for the print and design and cut. if the print is faded than its low quality. plus, (the thing i hate most about ukayukay) if it advertises a specific SCHOOL OR BUSINESS, than that's low quality. what do i mean? there are some ukayukay shirts that have prints on them that show a school (an unheard of school) and some event there. i had a shirt that talked about this 'heart run' that happened in 2000. now those shirts are low class. expect lower price. the good quality shirts have prints that are qualifiable.

C - condition - is it new or worn/torn? how old does it look like? does it look clean?

D - size

now taking all these into consideration, we can now see how good the stuff is. however, the better looking it looks like, expect higher pricing. and the cheaper it looks, the cheaper is the price.

5 timing. there are times, wherein we go out expecting to buy stuff, yet coming home empty handed, since there was nothing available. and there are times, wherein, unexpectantly, we find out that we lack enough money to buy all the great stuff we see.

in other words, timing is everything. new deliveries come every week at around friday or saturday. so if you want to be the first try ukayukaying on those dates. conversely, every thursday, there's hardly anything good since people probably bought those already. so, try finding out exactly what dates the deliveries come in.

and don't expect that inevery delivery, there's something new.

finding exceptional ukayukay finds is really difficult. it depends on a keen eye for quality and good luck in timing.

to close, i would say a few words. there is nothing wrong with ukayukaying. fine, i have clothes from bench and penshoppe, but i also have clothes from the ukay - clothes of good quality yet priced more cheaper.

however, it does take practice. after all, i'm at the ukayukay a lot of times these days looking for clothes to wear going to manila.

ukay-ukay is an art.