Grailed is a website where you can “buy and sell used men’s wear and clothing.” Their mission: “spreading high-quality men’s clothing by making it affordable for everyone.” A friend who buys a lot clothes online sent me the link. Now that I’ve poked around the site, I see the allure.
Forget the time you found a vintage Pendleton jacket at the consignment shop in Portland, Oregon. Stop searching through poorly curated goods on popular auction sites. Grailed bests ebay for second-hand shopping. Featuring men’s wear sharpens the site’s focus, excludes a lot of junk and sketchy sellers.
The Grailed story
At Grailed, you peek into the closets of fashionable men with (mostly) good taste. What you’ll find are items they no longer want. Many sellers explain why they’re parting with these goods in the descriptions. My favourite explanation so far is from BigFiya’s Wardrobe: “Selling this because my back, arms and shoulders are too big for it now due to weightlifting.”
There are two versions of Grailed. The main site caters to luxury brands such as A.P.C., Acne and Alexander McQueen. Grailed Basic is for those who want to pay less for Uniqlo, Gap and H&M.
How to signup and shop at Grailed
At each site, there’s an easy signup where you enter your email address and a password. You can search by category (tops, bottoms, outerwear, raw denim, footwear, accessories and suiting) and designer. Narrow your search using sizing criteria, location of seller and price range.
The buying experience
See something you like? If you’re ready to buy, purchase it right away. All transactions go through PayPal so you have some security if the goods fail to arrive or arrive in worse shape than advertised. There’s also room to bargain with the seller. Click “Make An Offer” and enter your price. You can email the seller questions about fit or condition through the site. If you’re interested but not sold, place the item in your fitting room and review it later.
How steep are the discounts?
The discount depends on the item and the seller. I noticed an olive peacoat from J. Crew on sale for US$137. It retailed for about US$250. Club Monaco sells Wolverine 1000 Mile boots for CDN$400. At Grailed.com, I saw prices from US$150 to US$275.
One minor flaw for us Canucks is that most prices are listed in U.S. dollars. Sellers list shipping costs for the U.S. in the description but you’ll need to make an offer to receive a quote for shipping to Canada.
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Pierre Hamilton is a freelance writer from Toronto, where some of his best friends describe him as an acquired taste. He enjoys bourbon and scotch, but craves craft beer, overproof Jamaican rum and great non-fiction. He has a very limited style knowledge but knows what he likes. He also produces a monthly music podcast called Sound Considerations. Follow him, but not too closely, on Twitter.
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Photo courtesy of Zuhair Al-Traifi.
