I used to have a dog that chased his tail.

He would run in circles trying to catch something attached to his own backside and never quite manage it.

As it turns out, we all do that in different ways.

Maybe we are not literally spinning in circles, but we create our own inefficiencies, make simple decisions harder than they need to be, and occasionally inflict wounds entirely on ourselves.

Reselling has taught me that lesson more than once.

Familiar Does Not Always Mean Valuable

When Lindy and I first started sourcing inventory for Second Half Supply Co., it seemed perfectly logical to buy things we already knew.

Brands.

We all recognize them. Most of us probably have favorites. If you are shopping for yourself, buying brands you already know and love makes complete sense.

For a reseller, that same instinct can be dangerous.

I am going to name a few brands here, but none of them are inherently bad. Other sellers may have completely different results because there are a lot of moving parts in any resale business.

Different customers.

Different platforms.

Different pricing.

Different sourcing costs.

Different business models.

The problem was not necessarily the brands.

The problem was why I was buying them.

Nostalgia Is Expensive

Nostalgia can be a dangerous sourcing partner.

I used to see brands I wanted when I was younger but my parents would not buy for me.

Tommy Hilfiger.

IZOD.

Polo Ralph Lauren.

Suddenly, teenage Michael would wake up and start whispering:

You wanted this thirty years ago. Obviously everybody wants it now.

Not exactly.

Are there valuable and desirable pieces from those brands?

Absolutely.

Does that mean every shirt with the right logo belongs in your cart?

Absolutely not.

Then there was another layer of nostalgia from my “wear a suit to work” years.

Perry Ellis.

Tommy Bahama.

Tasso Elba.

Banana Republic.

Plain Ralph Lauren pieces.

These were brands I associated with being nicer, more expensive, or somehow more desirable.

Do not even get me started on the women’s brands.

Lindy and I would go sourcing, find familiar labels, convince ourselves they “should” sell, and then complete the trifecta by paying too much for them.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is a recipe for disaster.

Bad Decisions Have Shelf Lives

The unpleasant thing about a sourcing mistake is that it does not disappear after you make it.

It gets an inventory number.

Then you get to look at it every day.

You walk past it while pulling good purchases that are heading to their new homes.

There sits the bad decision.

Still waiting.

Still occupying space.

Still holding cash hostage.

Still silently asking:

What the hell were you thinking?

A sourcing mistake already hurts.

Having to look at it for months is basically the business equivalent of kicking yourself in the backside every morning.

But there is an upside.

Eventually, the lesson gets through.

Tommy Bahama and My Personal Trauma

I grew up near the beach.

Show me the right Tommy Bahama shirt and some primitive part of my brain still gets excited.

Palm trees.

Ocean.

Relaxed shirts.

Vacation.

Surely this is a winner.

Then I remember the handful of Tommy Bahama shirts that have spent entirely too much time living rent-free in our inventory.

Suddenly, rational thought returns.

To be clear, some Tommy Bahama pieces can absolutely be worth buying.

The problem is that after enough mediocre purchases, the brand now makes me twitch.

I have actually become hesitant about buying the good Tommy Bahama pieces because the mediocre ones taught me such an expensive lesson.

It is not because I can point to a doll and show you where Tommy hurt me.

It is because I hurt myself by sourcing with nostalgia instead of data.

That is a much less satisfying villain.

Failure Only Works If You Learn

A mistake is only useful if it changes your behavior.

Did I overpay for some Perry Ellis shirts?

Yep.

Do I continue buying those same types of shirts now that I know the numbers?

Nope.

Do nostalgic brands still tempt me?

Every single time.

The difference is that now I have enough experience to stop, think, and ask whether I want the item because the market wants it...

...or because fifteen-year-old Michael finally has enough money to buy it.

Those are very different purchases.

One belongs in my closet.

The other needs to make business sense.

That distinction took some painful inventory to learn.

But I learned it.

And the dog has mostly stopped chasing his tail.

Happy thrifting!

Michael T.
Second Half Supply Co.

From the Hunt

Small Details Change Everything

Somewhere above, I mentioned that some Tommy Hilfiger pieces are still worth buying.

So what does that actually mean?

It means the details matter.

A label can tell you a lot.

The era.

The manufacturing information.

The particular line.

Sometimes even whether the item carries the kind of nostalgia buyers are actually searching for.

That is very different from buying something simply because it triggers your own nostalgia.

If you are buying solely because it reminds you of high school, then it probably belongs in your personal closet.

Every once in a while, your nostalgia and the market happen to line up perfectly.

But building a business around that happening is a little like putting all your chips on one number at the roulette table.

Sometimes you hit.

Most of the time, the house politely gathers your chips.

Learn to Notice What Other People Miss

In the past month, I found two pieces of player-issued collegiate athletic gear.

Neither looked particularly special at first glance.

One appeared to be an ordinary Nike collegiate windbreaker.

The other looked like a plain long-sleeve Under Armour shirt.

Under normal circumstances, neither one would automatically excite me unless the price was extremely favorable.

But small details told a different story.

Those details turned two otherwise ordinary garments into possible sports collectibles.

That is what keeps the hunt interesting.

The more you learn about labels, construction, team markings, manufacturing codes, vintage tags, and other little clues, the more often a seemingly boring item suddenly becomes something worth investigating.

I say it all the time:

Boring is good.

Boring inventory keeps the business moving.

But every now and then, you find something I like to call fun boring.

It looks ordinary.

Until you know what you are looking at.

And finding those pieces is part of what makes digging through thrift stores, yard sales, and estate sales so much fun.

Happy hunting.