THE DOLLS KILL SAMPLE SALE AND BUYING SECOND HAND RAVEGEAR

In case you somehow missed it, Dolls Kill had a sample sale this weekend, and it was insane. If you watched their story, you could see people lining up for blocks down Fairfax, and apparently, some people even camped out to get a shot at being first in line, which is you saw the prices made perfect sense. Dolls Kill, in an attempt to clear out extra inventory before going into the build-up to this year’s festival season decided to throw a two-day sample sale where you could buy everything from boots to body jewels are crazy low prices. On the second day, there were selling all shoes for only twenty dollars a pair, which is beyond a steal seeing as 'cheap' shoes at Dolls Kill usually means you are getting something for seventy dollars.

My friend and I spent around two hours waiting in line to get into the store, which wasn't horrible. The event staff kept the line moving and were very good about making sure people didn't try and cut to the front (because some did). I wasn't really sure what to expect when I got inside. I have never been one who was really in to sample sales. The idea of bins upon bins of clothes all jumbled together with people running around like psychos with no regard for the people around them honestly gives me anxiety. It was a little hectic, to say the least, and what organization there had been had pretty much gone by the wayside by the time we made it into the store around noon.

However, I was able to find a few gems in the madness before I eventually tapped out and left to get on with the rest of my day. While I did find some cool stuff like a pink and green zebra striped pool cover-up and matching bathing suit, plus a pair of the acrylic cyber dog glasses that make you look like Robocop, the best discovery of the whole entire sale was the neon yellow/green demonia boots. A while back, Demonia collabed with dolls kill and made their iconic trinity boots in both pink and neon yellow/green. The line quickly sold out, and they then became impossible to find for resale anywhere. I did once manage to find a pair of the pink boots for sale on Poshmark, but the seller wanted five hundred dollars for them which is just insane. So to see a couple of the green ones in my size for only twenty dollars made going to the sample sale entirely worth it for me.

However there were a few things that I couldn't help but think about as I made my way home with my new goodies, and one of them was how shitty it was going to be for those who couldn't make it to the sale. A few people in line behind us were discussing how orders had been delayed over the weekend because of the sample sale and that it was really giving people who lived in LA preferential treatment over the other customers who supported the store. I see the point, but I also think that it is a little unfair to try and blame dolls kill. Unfortunately, things like sample sales really only work if you have an IRL location and their locations just happen to be in LA and San Francisco. What did bother me a little was how so many people were apparently just grabbing things with the intent of re-selling them to people who could not make it to the sale, which felt a little icky.

I personally have resold a lot of my ravewear on apps like Poshmark and Depop, and have even made private sales to people who have hit me up on Instagram about the outfits they have seen in my pictures. I don't think there is anything wrong with reselling, but I am not a fan of the scalper mentality of buying a ton of stuff so you can upsell it to someone desperate. Either way, it occurred to me that I hadn't taken a moment to talk about second-hand ravewear on here, so I thought I would give the topic a little bit of love.

I have purchased and sold quite a few ravewear items in the recent year through services like Poshmark and in the process ended up with some excellent items. I would suggest that if there is a piece, you have been searching for, but it is either out of your price range or just not available anymore, that you check reselling apps. It might take a lot of scrolling and lots of trial and error looking for the best keyword to get good search results, but if you stay dedicated, you can find some impressive pieces. For example, after Easy Tiger sold out of my favorite sequin coat, I took to Depop and within a few minutes had managed to find not only one of the coats but a beautiful blue one that isn't even available for sale anymore. Yes, it may be missing a few sequins here and there, but it is still gorgeous.

Ravewear re-sale can be a little bit tricky for many reasons as both a buyer and a seller. As a seller, you often run into people trying to overcharge for their items, and as a seller you usually get people trying to low ball you. I would suggest that you message a seller first before purchasing something from their shop. This is just because unfortunately sometimes people leave listings up that they don't actually want to sell anymore, or (as happened to me a few months ago) don't actually have the items with them, refuse to ship it to you, and then never refund you your money. Long story short, it is essential to make sure that you talk to the seller beforehand. Another tip for you is to ask for them to add photos of tags, and purchase confirmation emails from the original seller to their listing before you purchase. This is just to ensure that you are getting an authentic product especially if you are buying something from a specific brand.

Ravewear copycats have become incredibly frequent recently (I will be doing a post on that soon), which means that you now run the chance of someone selling you a 'Lipt label' set, that isn't a Lipt Label set, but charging you authentic prices. Now, this might not mean a lot to some of you, but if you are someone who looks at clothing and shoes as investments, it can hurt you in the long run. If you don't have the authentic piece, it can really hurt the resale value of your purchases. For some things, it can be as easy as asking for a picture of the logo on the product. For example, all Demonia boots are going to have "Demonia" written in red font on the inside of the shoe. If you don't see that, they probably aren't real. For clothing brands like I. AM. GIA. Which is a favorite of mine for club wear, I always ask to see the inside tag, the paper purchases tag (if they have it) and purchase confirmation, because there are so many knockoffs, and as I.AM. GIA so far has really held its value as a brand, it is crucial that you keep as much documentation of authenticity as possible so you can resell and make your money back.

So, if you weren't able to make it to the sample sale, I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean you don't get a shot at finding some of the cool things no longer in production online!