Buying from ukay2 shops takes a lot of courage. Kase antimano you’ll be using or wearing it yourself. So you must be prepared from all those awful gestures na mapi-feel mo from other people, when they know where your clothes came from.

Anjan din yung time na you feel proud of it kapag alam mong the person your bragging it about eh yung katulad mo ring mahilig maghalukay sa ukay2. Pero doubtful ka naman ipagmalaki if they are the kabaligtaran type of person.

Well you can’t blame others for not liking it. Kase nga naman first of all, ukay-ukay is second hand clothing. Meaning, it has been used already. And the worst pa eh hindi mo kakilala yung unang gumamit nuon. Kung anong klaseng tao ba siya, is he/she hygienic or the creepy part eh kung buhay pa siya haha.

Before kase yung mga ukay-ukay shop has a distinctive smell of “amoy baul” and this is one of the significant reasons why would be customers stay away from ukay-ukay shops. Naging banned pa nga ito before because of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) na some experts say na pedeng dumikit ang virus sa mga clothes, particularly siempre yung ukay2.

Pero I admit nag evolve na rin ang mga ukay2 shops today. Nawala na yung amoy baul at mas organized na ang mga items. I’m not saying 100% of all shops ha, pero so far sa mga napapasok ko lately, around 8 out of 10. And take note nahahaluan na rin siya ng brand new. As in yung may tag price pa! Maybe from overstocks or overruns na naisama sa mga bundles.

So why did I say ukay is okay? Mainly because you can buy branded clothing that’s around ¼ of the original price. Another is that you can find interesting clothes (yung kahit nde branded pero unique or kakaiba)  that reflects your personality. And lastly is yung passion mo as a bargain hunter eh para bang napu fulfilled everytime you find one or more good items inside an ukay2 store.