SECOND-hand garments shops proliferate in the country. 

These shops are not the second-hand garment shop of Eloys and Ellys of the 1970s and ’80s. These are the more popular shops where international branded items are sold.

Called ukay-ukay in the Visayan language and wagwagan in Northern Luzon, second-hand shops have sprouted all over the country because expensive clothes are sold dirt cheap as seconds.

Items such as Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior and Giorgio Armani can be found.  Lucky buyers rummaging through piles of used clothing just have to be patient to find items.  Sometimes even signature shoes and handbags are displayed on shelves.

Ukay-ukay started in Baguio and Cebu years back.  From Baguio, these shops mushroomed in neighboring town of La Trinidad then eventually sprouted everywhere.  In Luzon, when Baguio back then was the wagwagan haven, Metro Manila shoppers would motor to Baguio not only for vacation but to hunt for imported bargains.

Ukay-ukay now is a marketing phenomenon.  In every shopping district you will find a shop that sells seconds and they even flaunt their shops of selling seconds. 

In contrast to ambulant shops that peddle their stores in sidewalks, ukay-ukay sellers rent store space.  There is even a three-story building in Quezon City that sells only ukay ukay clothes.

Like any marketing practice, ukay ukay has a bright side at the same time a dark side with dangerous consequences.

On the positive side, it provides for jobs to business opportunities to the marginal sector.  People looking for livelihood have turned to ukay-ukay. 

Some vendors pay for about P5,000 to P10,000 for a shipment that contains hundreds of pieces of garments, shoes, bags, toys and linens.  The items bought, in turn, are sold from P20 to P150 depending on the items and its quality.

Students and employees who cannot afford branded items have turned to ukay-ukay shops for more fashionable items.

Ukay-ukay shops provide employment to unskilled workers that help vendors in looking over the shops.

Ukay-ukay items are brought in as donations from abroad such as Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, the US and other affluent countries.  Specifically these garments and apparels are intended for calamity-stricken areas.  Good-hearted individuals donated these apparel to cloth people who lost their belongings because of fires and typhoons.  This is one of the dark sides of the trade.  It does not honor the intention of the giver, which is to give relief to calamity victims who lost property and loved ones. 

People must be aware that signature clothes sold in ukay-ukay were diverted away from the poor and needy. Thus, fashionistas are to keep off from ukay-ukay. 

Ukay-ukay is a reminder of the deprived clothing that the poor and needy should have had.  The clothes are free and beautiful which God intended as a gift to dress up His children.  But syndicates sold them for profit.  Woe unto them!

Ukay-ukay items are smuggled goods.  Just recently, the government seized million pesos worth of smuggled ukay-ukay shipment down south.   By buying at ukay-ukay, consumers further enrich syndicates that evade the protective screen of the government. 

Moreover, these retailers do not issue official sales receipt; proof that it do not pay taxes.  By not paying taxes, these shops give unfair competition to also small but law-abiding retail stores.  Legal retail stores with business names do not only provide jobs but skills in marketing and store operations/management—ukay-ukay stores do not.

It is also worthwhile knowing that garments and apparel brought into the country were not subjected to strict sanitary process.  Visit an ukay-ukay shop and you will sniff musty air, this is due to the molds and germs that are still resident in the clothes.

Ukay-ukay has its good side.  A friend from Baguio, for instance, boasts of buying a signature leather jacket.  He said that the poorer sector of Baguio were able to buy thick clothing through ukay-ukay.

Ukay-ukay presents a far dangerous side.  

****

Send your feedback and queries to konsyumeratbp@gmail.com. For in-depth information on consumer issues, listen to Konsyumer Atbp. every Saturday, 10:00-11:30 a.m. over dzMM 630kHz. For consumer complaints, call the DTI Consumer Assistance Hotline 751-3330 or Text DTI<space>complaint and send to 2920 for Globe and Smart subscribers.

THE government has disclosed seven priority infrastructure projects for implementation under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme and the public-private partnership (PPP).

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to implement seven off-season plantings for palay until 2010 in its bid to ensure it would be able to hit its rice self-sufficiency target in three years.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—After the fresh fruits, executives of big business establishments in metropolis are now interested in buying seafood from the island province of Sulu to be brought and sold in their supermarkets in Metro Manila.

WHILE the Philippines leads economic powerhouse China and nears India in terms of competitiveness in information technology, the country must always be up on its toes to reap further benefits of a high-technology-based economy.

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Buoyed by an expanding market and an average 38-percent annual export earnings since 2004, Japanese ultrasonic sensor manufacturer Nicera Philippines Inc. will infuse an additional P200 million worth of investments to expand its Subic operations, company officials said Tuesday.

A FILIPINO entrepreneur from Cebu is making waves in the international scene with his metal craft by supplying famous companies like Armani, Ralph Lauren and Polo with high-end quality furniture, furnishings, home accessories and gift products.

SECOND-hand garments shops proliferate in the country. 

These shops are not the second-hand garment shop of Eloys and Ellys of the 1970s and ’80s. These are the more popular shops where international branded items are sold.