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CLOTHES MENTOR: Customer Shares Her Resale Experience

Read this article to see one customer’s experience with selling items to her local store. You can also see the original article with more photos at springbargains.com.

Clothes Mentor customer buy receipt and cash

I’ve never sold or consigned clothing before, but with trying to make sure that I’m only wearing clothes I love combined with the unfortunate event of gaining weight in the past year, I had some newer clothing that doesn’t fit well and I thought I’d try consigning it.  (OK, not really consigning, where you don’t get paid until the store sells it, but taking it to a place where they give you cash for it up front.  But I always think of it as consigning because I always think of these stores as consignment stores!)

I chose to consign at Clothes Mentor, because it seems like a lot of the other stores in town (Plato’s Closet, Seven Status, Hut no. 8) cater towards a younger crowd and my clothing is likely not hip enough!  I’d been into Clothes Mentor once, and thought that the clothing I wanted to sell was on par with what they sold.

So, I took a small box of clothing in to see how it worked and if I’d actually get anything for it.  They paid me about $2.50 per item the first time, and then after realizing I really wasn’t going to fit in a few things in the near future, I sold clothing a second time and got closer to $3.00 per item.  Here’s what I learned.

#1 – They are serious about the two-years-old-or-newer rule.

They really won’t take anything that’s older than about two years, even if it’s still theoretically in style (according to my finely-tuned sense of fashion – ha!).  I had a couple of dresses from Banana Republic that were really cute, but several years old, and they passed on them and everything else that was older than two years.

I did figure out that you can look at the tag on your clothing to see when it was manufactured, so you have an idea of how old it is.  The tag on side of the garment on most name-brand clothing has a date on it, like this:

Clothes Mentor clothing label on plaid shirt

I haven’t found that off-brand clothing has the date on the tag, but they also will not take anything that’s not a name brand, so for purposes of selling clothing, it doesn’t really matter.  I personally wouldn’t even bother taking in something that’s not a name brand, no matter how cute it is, because in my experience they really aren’t going to buy it.

(By the way, if you are going off the date on the tag, I think that they have a little leeway with it, because clearly stuff that was manufactured in July for a fall line of clothing would be in stores for awhile, so I would guess that it’s probably 2.5 years after the tag date.)

Frankly, I was a little surprised at a few of the items that they rejected, because I knew I’d seen stuff in the store that was older-looking than what I’d brought in, but they clearly know how to run the shop, not me, so I wasn’t upset or offended that they didn’t take some of my items. 🙂

#2 – You need to bring in clothing without any damage.

They don’t seem to like items that have any sort of damage, even a minor thing like a pulled string that could be easily be cut off and be as good as new.  So, I would definitely check your garments over well, and clip any loose threads.  (I also think that it doesn’t hurt to bring in clothing that’s folded neatly and not horribly wrinkled.)

#3 – They won’t take turtlenecks.

This one surprised be, but I learned the second time I sold items that they won’t take anything with “high necks” (in my case, it was a turtleneck).  I asked why and they said they just don’t sell well.

#4 – Expect to get an average of about $3 per item.

When they pay you for the items, they give you a receipt that shows what they purchased from you, but it doesn’t say how much they paid for each item.  In my case, the first time I sold items, they bought a pair of shoes, some tops, and I think a scarf; and I got an average of about $2.50 per item.

The second time, I had a couple of pairs of pants and some tops and got just under $3.00 per item.  I’m totally speculating here, but I think they probably paid more for the pants and less for the tops, because some of the tops were just t-shirts.

I’m sure if you brought in some really nice dress apparel, you’d probably get more per item, but I wouldn’t expect to get too much more.

One other thing that I will mention is that you drop off your clothing and then have to come back to pick it up and decide if you want to accept the offer that they give you for the clothing that they do want to sell.  The first time I did it, they were really busy with drop-offs and mine wasn’t done until several hours later.  (You have to pick up the items they didn’t want in 72 hours.)

The second time, they told me they’d have it ready in about 15 minutes – I chose to go run another errand instead of sticking around, but just keep in mind that it could be a really fast process or it might be a few hours, depending on how busy they are.

Overall, I’d say that consigning/selling at Clothes Mentor was a great experience.  Since they pay you on the spot, it’s a great way to get extra cash quickly even if you won’t get rich doing it. 🙂  I would totally do it again – hopefully next time because I’ve lost a little weight and can sell items as I’m sizing down! 🙂

Have you sold or consigned clothing?

I’m far from an expert!  Please share your tips for consigning or selling adult or children’s clothing!

Ronald G. Olson

President

Ron Olson has been President and a Director of NTY Franchise Company since October 2006. Ron’s background included starting his career at Dayton’s Department Store, where he held many management positions. In 1977 he opened his own furniture store in Minnesota, which was a Drexel Heritage prototype store. In 1988 he co-founded Grow Biz International, now called Winmark. The first franchise rights that Olson purchased and started marketing was Play It Again Sports. Olson continued buying the Franchise rights for Once Upon A Child, Plato’s Closet, and Music Go Round. Today there over 1,000 Franchise locations.

Under NTY Franchise Company, the franchise rights were bought for Clothes Mentor and New Uses. In 2013 Olson bought Laptop Exchange and changed the name to Device Pitstop. In 2014 the company opened NTY Clothing Exchange and NTY Kids, now Children’s Orchard. There are currently 204 stores sold and 133 stores opened under the NTY Franchise umbrella.

Chad Olson

Chief Operations Officer

Chad Olson has been Chief Operations Officer of NTY Franchise Company since January 2007. From May 1994 to December 2006, he held various positions for Winmark Corporation (f/k/a Grow Biz International, Inc.), including Field Operations Manager for the Once Upon a Child concept from 1999 to 2002, and Regional Operations Manager for the Plato’s Closet concept from 2002 to 2006.

Sarah Primmer

Vice President of Finance & Human Resources

Sarah Primmer is the Vice President of Finance and Human Resources for NTY Franchise Company. She joined the company in January 2014. Prior to joining NTY, Sarah spent over 25 years as the controller and business manager of a local sales and marketing firm calling on Target stores.

Michael D. Smith

Vice President of Strategic Planning

Michael D. Smith has held numerous roles with NTY Franchise since 2010. He is currently the Vice President of Franchise Development and Strategic Planning. From December 2000 to July 2010, Michael held the position of Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of the franchise company Laptop Xchange. From June 1994 to December 2000, Michael held numerous roles within the Grow Biz International brands of Play It Again Sports and Computer Renaissance. These roles included Corporate Store Management, Field Operation Specialist, and Franchisee.

Jenny Mann

Vice President of Operations | Executive Director of IT

Jenny Mann is the Senior Vice President Clothes Mentor and Children’s Orchard. In February of 2024, Jenny took on her current role overseeing IT, Marketing and the e-commerce platforms for both brands. Prior to this, Jenny was the Director of Marketing for NTY Franchise Company since January 2013. Jenny started with the NTY Franchise Company in 2008 with Clothes Mentor and has held many roles, including; Store Manager, New Store Opener, and Regional Operations Manager. Before joining NTY Franchise Company, Jenny worked for Old Navy (Gap, Inc.) and Target in management roles.

Michelle Vaudrin

Senior Director of Operations

Michelle Vaudrin is the Senior Director of Operations for Clothes Mentor and Children’s Orchard. Prior to joining NTY Franchise Company in March 2016, she worked in leadership roles for Burlington, American Eagle and Macy’s. Michelle attended University of Wisconsin-Stout with a degree in Retail Merchandising and Business Administration. She brings extensive background in training of strategies, merchandising, customer service and multi-unit store operations to the team.

Ashley Huebner

Director of Marketing

Ashley Huebner oversees NTY Franchise Company’s marketing and advertising efforts to drive sales, build brand awareness and lead the planning on how to effectively market both brands. She leads creative initiatives for NTY Franchise Company, driving the brands’ vision in aesthetics, tone, and trends to elevate our brand position as a leader in the resale category. Ashley joined the Clothes Mentor team in March of 2015. Ashley has 8+ years of Graphic Design experience. Ashley holds a strong background in design, user experience, and a passion for creativity. She holds a BA degree in Advertising and Art.

Jessica Fix

Franchise Contract and Office Administrator

Jessica Fix is the Franchise Contracts and Office Administrator for NTY Franchise Company. She started with the company in January of 2018. Jessica works alongside the Franchise Development Team and provides office support to the headquarter office. She has 20 years in the franchise industry, previously working for Carlson Leisure Group/Travel Leaders Franchise Group in a variety of roles, such as Database Coordinator, Legal Contract Administrator, and Executive Assistant to the Franchise Sales Team.