Local woman makes more than $10,000 selling back her clothes

Do you have some old clothes sitting in your closet collecting dust and wasting space? You might want to think twice before throwing them out.

Your old clothes could be worth some serious cash, if they’re still in good condition.

Shelly Lowen lives in the desert seasonally and has easily made over $10,000 selling back her clothes.

She said it all adds up .

“It’s something I’ve always done and it’s something I do regularly. It’s not something you can just wake up and do and make $10,000. It’s something that accumulates over many, many, years of doing it,” Lowen said.

Lowen sells a lot of her clothes at Clothes Mentor in Palm Desert.

Unlike consignment stores, where you don’t get your money until your clothes sell, they give you cash up front.

“You come in, we select from the items we would like to take from you, that sell well for us. And then we pay about a third of what we sell it for. Which is about 70 percent from retail prices,” owner Teresa Lanning said.

Lanning said the store has been open for almost a year and business has been steady.

Gabriella Lopez was trying to sell back her bag she hasn’t used in a while.

“Yea cause I don’t use it. I have another purse I wear all the time, so might as well sell this one,” Lopez said.

This is all part of the growing resale market with revenues now topping 16 billion dollars a year.

Clothes mentor looks for items that were bought within the last two to three years and are in relatively good condition.

Lanning said to get the most cash for your clothes they need to be clean and without holes or stains.

Lowen said resale is the most affordable way to stay on trend.

“I like new things all the time and like most people I cant afford to buy a new outfit everyday. So I improvise,” Lowen said.

And when asked if that $10,000 goes back to buying more clothes…

“Of course it does,” Lowen said.

She said it’s all part of the clothing circle of life.