US News

IT’S A BAD CONSIGN OF THE TIMES

With the economy in shambles, women accustomed to wearing different posh handbags on their arm every night are now finding themselves selling beloved Louis Vuittons at pennies on the dollar

Wall Street titans are also foreclosing on their wardrobes, essentially pawning their $4,000 Thom Browne suits at the city’s designer consignment shops.

“We have a lot of young professional girls who just lost their jobs, who aren’t working now and no longer need their Chanel bag,” said Maria Ridolfi, owner of A Second Chance on the Upper East Side.

“They need some cash flow,” she said, noting business has been up 25 percent over the past few months.

Customer Myra Goodman, who recently sold a Chanel bag and several furs, said it has been a new experience for her.

“I’ve always bought stuff, but I am selling more in the last few months because the economy is affecting everyone,” she said. “Selling has helped balance my appetite for fur shopping and it has helped pay off some credit-card debt.”

High-end consignment shops have long been a staple of Manhattan life for socialites and fashionistas, but now even clientele accustomed to paying full price are emptying their closets.

“We have men who have never consigned before coming in,” said Milo Bernstein, owner of Ina, which has locations around the city. “Several men came in who worked at hedge funds or in the financial industry. There’s been an influx of Thom Browne suits.”

Consigners say the increased inventory has also inspired more buyers to come to the stores searching for deals on designer goods – but the bargain hunters are more cautious than in years past.

“They still want the ‘It’ bag, but they are not willing to spend a lot on it,” Berinstein said.

A bag originally purchased for $1,200 might be consigned for $300 and then resold for $700, store owners said.

The boom in consignment has also caused an increase in customers trying to sell counterfeit handbags as the real deal, Ridolfi said.

“It probably happens once a week,” she said. “Someone brought in a Fendi Spy bag and said she’d bought it herself and had the receipt. Sure enough, it was fake. When we called her on it, she changed her story and said it had been a gift.”

Additional reporting by Amber Sutherland