Tasteful Tuesday

Men's clothes are sold much more easily than woman's clothes. That's my conclusion after spending Sunday trying to sell my stuff at the fleamarket. 

We (that's my flatmate and friend D. and I) had a bunch of stuff, mostly clothes, that we wanted to give into the loving care of new owners ("getting rid of" sounds way to harsh in my opinion), so we teamed up with our friends R. and T. and rented a stall at the monthly fleamarket here in Neukölln. Our success at selling was mixed. After deducting the costs of the stall and the car we rented to get the stuff there, D. and I made a profit of 8€. R. and T. made much, much more. And that's where we get to my initial statement: While D. and I had only women's clothes to sell (not surprising with both of us being female), T. and R. sold a lot more because (being a heterosexual couple) they were selling both male and female clothes (and mostly sold the guys stuff). I think that's because women are pickier than men and women's fashion changes a lot more than men's fashion. 

My dilemma is that I can really understand those women who rejected my clothes, even though they were really cheap. I mean, part of the reason why I have so much stuff to sell is that I'm prone to make those spontaneous purchases, you know the one's where you think: "Heck, why not, after all it's really cheap" even though you don't really need it and/or you're not sure about the color and/or fit. On the other hand, some of the stuff I'm selling is stuff I really like. The only reason I'm giving it away is because it does not fit (usually belonging into the category of purchases under the headline "One day I'll fit into it".  Or not.) Rejection of these things really hurts. Really. 

Another thing I noticed, is that it is mostly thin women who stop and look at the things. The sturdier ones, the ones that actually fit into my clothes mostly did not. I'm wondering if that is because they expect not to find anything anyways? Could be. After all why should shopping for clothes at a fleamarket be less frustrating than shopping at a store. From time to time when another girl with a wonderfully curvy body like mine passed the stall I had the urge to shout: "Come here, you beautiful plump goddess. I have clothes that'll fit!" I did not. Possibly because while being comfortable within my own body, I'm still not always comfortable drawing attention to it and can vividly remember the times when I would be mortally embarrassed if someone mentioned my not-so-mainstream figure.
My résumé of the day is, that while it was great fun (the weather was gorgeous, watching the people canvassing the stands is fun in itself and I'm proud to say that I managed to drive the transporter without incident) it's unlikely that I'll repeat the experience in the near future. What is left of my clothes (about 3/4 of what I originally put aside to sell) will be taken to a clothes swap party with friends in 2 weeks and what is left after that I'll take to the clothes drive of our church.
Happy Tuesday!