From Seoul to Manila, there’s a new way to be in fashion without spending a fortune: renting clothes or buying pre-owned designer bags.

Fashion evolves at the speed of light.

Fashionistas who cannot bear to miss out on the next-big-thing have no choice but to use their last penny on shopping.

Gladly, two saviours named ‘rent’ and ‘reform’ are here to help you stay fashionable and still keep most of your money, even during this economic slump.

In an outfit-rental shop near Gangnam subway station last week, an anchorwoman-wannabe was trying on a white jacket. “I passed the first camera test wearing a dress suit from this shop, so I’m here to borrow another one for my next interview,” she said. “Some of the other girls buy suits every time there is a test but, believe me, it can cost you a house.”

At clothes-rental shops in Seoul, which are concentrated in the posh southern district of Gangnam-gu, it takes but about 50,000 won (US$46) for a makeover. If you take out a membership—a one-time down payment of 100,000 won that’s refundable if you decide to get out—some clothes are even cheaper. Most shops offer a selection of anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of items, including shoes and bags.

“Our earnings increased much more compared to the same month last year,” said Kim Min-ju, the CEO of Change Lady, a rental shop which opened last year. “It is usually college students or career women who come before an important interview, wedding or party. Some customers put in orders even from Busan after checking out our website.”

For those who need party outfits, Nonhyeon-dong is the place to go. There are more than 20 shops where you can rent designer goods like Gucci, Chanel and Valentino.

The clothes-renting business started more than five years ago. But, before last year, these places catered mainly to singers and bar hostesses at nearby clubs, and most of the clothes were very revealing.

But, thanks in part to the increase in Western-style parties, the kinds of customers have been changing.

“The general public takes up about 15 per cent of the market now, and is continuously increasing,” said Lee Bum-kyu, who is CEO of LUX, a rental shop in Yeoksam-dong.

Rental shops are very busy on Fridays because party girls come in crowds to rent dresses. “I can borrow 20 pieces of clothes for money that’s not enough to buy one,” exclaimed a regular customer. At LUX, the fee to rent one dress is normally 50,000 won ($45), but paying a flat sum 500,000 won ($452) allows a customer to rent 20 times.

Rental shops are also generous with the after-service. If you get your dress ripped while partying too hard, the dress shop will bring another dress to the club door.

The shops also have professional coordinators on hand to help customers choose their outfits. “People now are very interested in new trends,” said Lee. “The first thing they ask is ‘What’s hot now?’ Some even demand very specific items they want.”

Another trend that is taking root is ‘clothes reform’. There are many online communities where you can learn about the basics of clothing repair.

Those who lack the skill to fix up clothes by themselves can of course turn to professional reform shops. For example, the area around Ewha Woman’s University in central Seoul, which is known for its many low-priced and fashionable boutiques, there are more than a dozen such shops.

Customers these days visit not only to get their clothes fixed, but to change them into a new, trendier design. “This pattern is back in style. I just need to tighten it a little,” said a college student who brought her mother’s checkered skirt. It only cost her 10,000 won ($9) to take home a new skirt.

“We used to lead the trend, but our customers know better these days,” said Lee Jeong-se, the CEO of Young Reform. “Their demands have become so precise and complex that even our workers, who are practically designers themselves, often get headaches.”

Bag it

Penny-pinching bag hags who won’t settle for anything less than the real McCoy can get a quick fix at a new, multi-brand outlet in Makati, the Philippines’ financial district, teeming with previously owned designer bags—from Louis Vuitton to Gucci, from Chanel to Prada, from Dior to Fendi—sold at a fraction of their original prices.

The place is also shaping up as a trading post for such covetable goods, as fashionistas are welcome to sell, trade or even pawn their designer bags.

Aptly named Bagaholic, the store is owned and managed by Gigi Asok-Bambroffe, a Filipina married to a Briton.

Bambroffe resorts to such a nuanced Filipino word as hibang (crazy) to describe how addicted to bags some of her loyal clients are. “Like I have a client who once went here with five bags to unload. Instead of pocketing the proceeds, she brought home with her a different set of bags,” she said.

It takes one to know one. A true blue bag lady herself, Bambroffe parlayed her passion for collecting Speedies and Birkins into a thriving business of pre-owned originals ranging from sometime ‘it’ bags to rare vintage finds.

A number of Bagaholic’s merchandise, especially from LV’s prolific design team, pre-Marc Jacobs, is no longer produced. Bambroffe pegs the bags’ prices depending on how rare and well maintained they are.

As far as Filipino women are concerned, LV, particularly the Speedy in its many versions and sizes, is still the brand of choice, while the Monogram is still the LV variant to beat.

“Prices can range anywhere from 20 to 70 per cent off from the original,” she says. “I peg the prices myself based primarily on the bag’s condition.”

“Some of these bags were gifts that their recipients didn’t use even once,” says Bambroffe. “It was impossible for them to return the bags to the store without offending the giver, so they simply kept them until they learned about Bagaholic.”

Thanks to constant exposure and endless research, Bambroffe claims to possess the ability to spot a fake a mile away. Quite a number of times, she has refused some bags for their questionable appearance and poor workmanship.

She cautions bag hags who love buying pre-owned stuff to carefully examine a particular item’s workmanship inside out. The lining is one component counterfeiters usually love to scrimp on.

“I think that’s my advantage over goods sold at ebay,” she says. “The chances of you buying a fake are minimised, if not eliminated, because I personally oversee every item that makes it to my store. I sometimes road test the bags myself.”

Bambroffe doesn’t claim to be infallible. But should a customer feel that he or she bought a fake at Bagaholic, she’s willing to give that customer a refund, as long as the person can prove that the item in question is really bogus.

“What’s a few thousand pesos if it would mean saving my store’s reputation?” she reasons. “Fortunately, no one has ever come forward to contest the authenticity of my bags.” (By PARK MIN-YOUNG, The Korean Herald And ALEX VERGARA, Philippine Daily Inquirer/ ANN/ AsiaNews)