What is Clothes Mentor?

Just the newer, more mature version of Plato's Closet! Now I love fashion, but even more so I love inexpensive quality fashion; that's what is housed in Clothes Mentor.

I took a trip to the North Richland Hills location a few weeks ago to scope out the grounds and I was quite impressed. They offer a large assortment of gently used clothing from retailers like J.Crew, Loft, Gap, Banana Republic, etc. I found this really cute Anthropologie top for $12! The designer denim isn't too bad either. Prices range from $50-$70 from what I saw.

They also carry some decent designer handbags and shoes. Not beat up and cracked leather, but really clean, gently used items that actually have a shot at being a great sale. I have been to plenty of resale shops and I have to say this one will probably rank among my top favorites.

My last trip I took some clothes up there to see about selling from my annual closet Spring cleaning. I did pretty well. I made $60 from less than half the items I brought up there (the other items were a pass due to looking so "juvenile"). They give about a third in value for what they will sell it for which I must say in my experience with Plato's is more than fair.

Not a bad start to the Spring season. I still have more clothes to be rid of from my closet, but I am looking forward to seeing what I can find in exchange for at Clothes Mentor.

 

Mustard Yellow Anthropologie top for $12! Love the neckline detailing.

 Had a little fun pairing it with a textured jacket from Target ($11) and some skinny denim. 

Blush Pink Top from Gap for 9$. It has a sheer shoulder which is a simple, yet fun detail.

The Rack, The App, and The Flats

 

This is a continuation of last episode’s blog where I posted on the horrifying events surround the loss of my beloved no-name animal print flats. Long story short, I lost my favorite pair of flats, inexcusably leaving them at a nail salon in a hurry to get to a practice photo shoot with a friend.

I love Nordstrom Rack. It is one of my favorite places to shop and even browse when I have no spending money. Well I had just came from a hair trim and decided to visit the local Rack at the mall. I was looking to spend my $20 Nordstrom note. First thing I head for is the designer shoes. Even though most are marked $100 plus at 50% off a girl can dream can’t she? Searching through the shoes I stumble across my favorite designer Tory Burch and a few choices of the marked down shoes.

Tory Burch is what I like to call my “aspirational brand”. I cannot afford it all the time, so in my window shopping mean time I am often scoping out what I would get if I had the money. Well since I was still hurt from losing my flats last week, I decide what the heck, I’ll try on a pair of her shoes and see what the big deal is (Let me interject to say also most of the time I look at Tory Burch it is in relation to handbags I might have if I gathered enough funds so shoes aren’t a real priority.) Now I am not one to typically see the point in an expensive shoe. They get worn out so quickly and I am just not planning to shell out $235 for a brand new pair of Tory Reva’s in this case.

I slip a plain navy blue flat on my foot and I tell you my foot would never be the same! It was like my foot was surrounded by plush memory foam while walking on air! Are you kidding me?? THIS is what I had been missing out on? I tried on another pair of her shoes....same feeling, same reaction. They can’t all be like this. No freaking way! From that moment on I just couldn’t get it out of my head. Comfort will cost me though. I looked at the price tags and one by one set them back talking myself out of the best flats I had ever worn to date!

Leaving from there after purchasing a really cool chambray top, I just thought of how I might get a pair of flats that speak to me and that aren’t $235 but are still from my favorite designer. I then recall my Poshmark App. Poshmark is this cool app where you can literally shop people’s closets. On occasion there is someone who doesn’t want to take their gently worn designer item down the street to Plato’s Closet and get next to nothing for it, so the next option might be to sell it yourself.

Well I decided to try to look for a pair of Tory Burch Flats (side note, you have to be extremely careful even when doing these things because there are plenty of counterfeits and “Tory Burch inspired” products out there). So I hit the search button and start rolling through endless pictures of shoes with “Sold” marked across the image. Getting frustrated, I revamp my search by typing in new criteria for the status of unsold products. Almost as soon as I pull it up there is a perfect pair of Tory Burch flats staring back at me. They are a snake print (another great neutral), they are not heavily worn and everything seems to be in order.

I spark a convo with the owner of the closet inquiring about them and bold face asking if they are authentic. It already says it on the page and there is a box with a correct serial code and all, but I just want her to say it. Yes, these are 100% authentic. I proceed to ask why she is selling them for the awesome price of $75? Even if they aren’t authentic, they are still low priced. She claims they aren’t as comfortable on her feet and besides that she has three other pairs so it is really no loss to her.  Now, legitimately interested, I google her to see if this could be someone playing me for a fool. Nope, she is really real. I found her on Linkedin and according to her  work status, she would definitely be able to afford a pair of Tory Burch flats. Not only that, but she conveniently lives in Austin, Texas. Dealing with a native Texan made me feel a bit more optimistic.

The next thing I check out is how much a pair of Tory Burch flats can be bought for in a Plato’s Closet. After I googled I ran across a post of an excited girl who had just bought a pair of TB flats for $30! If she got them for $30, I can only imagine that the offer for whoever brought them in would significantly lower since they would have been used. The situation seemed to fit.

Finally I find a way to retrace my steps and cover myself in the event that this happens to be a total sham and I am just not the wiser. I ask if going through Pay Pal will be an issue and she says no. So to sum up, I have just bought a pair of what claims and looks to be authentic Tory Burch flat’s for $75. The girl who sold them to me has a story that checks out and the psychology behind the decision makes sense to me. Plus she was really nice and the sale was simple, just someone online looking to sell their shoes for a genuinely good deal.

I am proud to say when my Reva’s came in the mail I was ecstatic! They fit perfectly and  since I have the ideal narrow flat foot that works for flats they feel just as comfortable as the flats I had tried on at The Rack. I honestly think this is The Lord blessing me to have a little taste of victory and enjoyment in something so small as a pair of flats. No doubt these will now be my new favorite flats.