Clothes sold at street stalls for a few yuan or just over ten yuan a piece come from three sources: shoddy new goods from small workshops, old clothes that are recycled and refurbished or resold after donation, and accumulated overstock from garment factories. This is a review of the supply sources behind low-priced clothing sales channels such as night markets, urban villages, and fairs. The article reminds consumers to focus on identifying second-hand old clothes that have been re-tagged and resold, while remaining open to legitimate low-priced overstock.

Key Points

  • The first source of low-priced clothing is products from small workshops: poor fabrics, poor workmanship, often with defects or holes, and prone to shrinking, fading, and pilling after being worn a few times.
  • The second is the old-clothes channel: it may be clothes discarded by others, recovered, and resold, or donated clothing that has been tagged and sold as new.
  • The third is garment factory inventory overstock: stockpiles caused by style, pattern, or fashion trends, which factories clear out at low prices, with the price directly related to depreciation after new releases.

Small Workshop Goods: Cheap First Because Fabrics and Workmanship Are Cheap

A considerable portion of clothes costing a few yuan to just over ten yuan comes from small workshops. These clothes are pushed to extremely low cost in both material selection and processing, with rough workmanship, and may already have defects or even holes when purchased. Channels such as night markets and fairs are highly price-sensitive; once the retail price is too high, volume stalls, so merchants tend to stock in bulk at low prices. Quality problems often only emerge after use—after washing and wearing a few times, shrinking, fading, and pilling appear one after another.

Refurbished Old Clothes: When the Selling Price Is Unreasonable, Be Even More Alert

The second situation deserves more attention: the clothes look decent in fabric and workmanship, appearing to be goods worth several hundred yuan, yet are priced at only ten or twenty yuan. A clear mismatch between price and quality may mean the clothes were discarded by others, recovered, and resold, or that donated clothing has been tagged by some merchants and resold. Having a tag does not mean it is brand new; a closer look still reveals flaws: dirt marks, an overall worn look, pilling, and localized wear may all be signs of prior use. Consumers have no way to confirm the true source of such old clothes, which is also the core risk warning given in the article.

Factory Overstock: A Low-Priced Opportunity with Quality Assurance

The third situation is low pricing that matches quality. Garment factories accumulate inventory every quarter due to factors such as style, pattern, or fashion trends, and unsold goods ultimately can only be disposed of in one low-priced batch as overstock. The factory disposal price is already very low, so the retail price can also be pushed down. The article argues that when encountering this kind of clothing that is both new and of acceptable quality, it is actually worth buying.

Implications for the Industry

Behind low-priced channels are three different supply chains: overstock generated by overcapacity, shoddy new goods produced by cost compression, and second-hand old clothes of opaque origin. Distinguishing disposed overstock from recycled and refurbished old clothes is both an identification issue for consumers and a traceability question that the old-clothes circulation segment needs to answer.

Source: Where do the 15-yuan clothes at street stalls come from? After reading this, would you still dare to buy them again? · Originally published on 2022-10-24