California Apparel News

Derek Wong started a fashion career printing T-shirts. But when it came time to move on to his next project, Wong didn’t feel like going high-end or designer. He saw opportunity in thrift.

Wong and a partner started the downtown Los Angeles­–based e-commerce site DollarTShirt in September 2015. The website (www.dollartshirt.com) sells used T-shirts in good condition for $1, then ships them for an at-cost sum. The shop also offers clothing from high-profile brands at retail price points that range from $5 to $20.

Wong said that the project’s goal was to take the bricks-and-mortar concept of a neighborhood thrift store and transfer it online. “We’re trying to go as low as we can,” Wong said of prices. “We are trying to make it as affordable to the consumer as we can.”

The thrift and secondhand market is competitive. Veteran thrift organizations such as Goodwill run e-commerce sites. (Goodwill’s is at www.shopgoodwill.com.) Chains of secondhand clothing shops such as Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads run locations in popular fashion retail streets such as La Brea Avenue and Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.

At its most basic level, the thrift business is getting a donation and charging the consumer a very low off-price sum for that donation. Many use the thrift business as a vehicle to fund nonprofit projects. Wong and his business partner, Ferguson Agwu, intend to build partnerships with a group of nonprofits eventually.

If there’s a lot of margin in selling a garment that one got free, Wong said that he and Agwu put in a lot of sweat equity in selling the donated clothing, constructing an e-commerce site to sell the clothing and photographing it. Friends donate clothing. Agwu’s family also is involved in exporting used clothing overseas.

Wong forecasts a lot more work on this project. “Thrift is a very competitive industry. Like a liquor store, there’s a thrift on every block. All of these shops have their own buying strategy. We’re trying to see if this business model works,” Wong said.