Outfit the Kids: Another Consignment Event Set Here

Laura Gilmartin bought one of her sons a Rugged Bear sport coat. He wore it for one Thanksgiving and Christmas. The coat cost her $60 new. She’s thinking of selling it for $22.

She’s going to consign it at an event that includes clothing for teens.

Not one but two will be held in the city soon.

Gilmartin and her aunt, Lisa Going, have scheduled their Outfit the Kids event for Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 at the off Washington Street, on Rainin Road.

Laura’s four children range in age from 21 to 2; Goings’ are 19 and 14.

“We’re busy moms,” Laura said Tuesday. “We have teenagers. We know how expensive Abercrombie is.”

A consignment event empowers sellers, both women emphasized, to price their merchandise as they see fit.

Consigners earn 60 percent of the sale price of their items, 70 percent if they volunteer to work a shift at the event.

What makes their event unique, Gilmartin said, is the fundraising aspect.  They will waive the consignment fee and pay 70 percent of the prices for consigned items to non-profit organizations, like PTOs, she said.

There’s another unique feature about Outfit the Kids and its organizers.  “We’re family,” Gilmartin said.

Gilmartin and Going offer consigners help in pricing their items. They suggest that consigners ask themselves several questions, according to Gilmartin.  What would you pay for an item new? In what condition is what you plan to consign? What would you be willing to pay for it?

“People know what they have to pay at the mall,” Gilmartin said. They list the kinds of items they will accept on their website.

Price items “40 to 60 percent below” retail, their website, Outfitthekids.com, suggests, “above yard sale prices but enough below original retail prices to be a bargain for our customers.”

The Outfit the Kids organizers want merchandise presented in a certain way:  washable things freshly laundered and ironed, shoes polished, fresh batteries in battery-operated things.

Going has worked in retail, in a children’s clothing store, Gilmartin said. Gilmartin is an attorney. She said she’s sold clothes on ebay and at yard sales.

Consigners for the Outfit the Kids event drop off their items on Sept. 29, by appointment, at the Best Western. They register and price their items beforehand on line.  They must register by Sept. 20; then list their inventory by Sept. 27.

The event will be open to the public on Friday, Sept. 30, from noon to 8 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 1, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 3, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., when items may be discounted.

A special presale will be held on Sept. 30 from 9 a.m. to noon for event volunteers and consigners of more than 100 items.

Consigners can pick up their unsold items Sunday afternoon between 4 and 6 p.m. Otherwise, the items will go to a charity selected by Gilmartin and Going.

Consignment events are popular across the United States, according to Gilmartin, but not in New England.  “We said, ‘Let’s bring one to the Boston area,'” she said, and “Woburn is a great spot,” location-wise.

Two consignment will be held on two consecutive weekends here.