What's New

Half Price Sale December 1-7

11/30/2019

For the first week of December (12/1-12/7), all items older than one month will be 50% OFF!

We will not be accepting consignments during the sale.

We will resume our regular consigning hours on Sunday, 12/8.

Please be aware of our consignment procedures:

No consignments on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Please wait one month between consigning visits.
There are three ways to consign with us:

1. APPOINTMENT: We will look through your items during your appointment and return any items we cannot accept for sale (up to 15 adult items and/or 25 children's items). You can make an appointment here, but feel free to call us if you're having any trouble.

2. SMALL BATCH WALK-IN: We will accept walk-ins for consignments of 5 or fewer items.

3. DROP OFF & DONATE DISCARDS: You may drop off up to 15 adult and/or 25 children's items during our consigning hours without an appointment. We will look through your items at a later date and donate any items we cannot put out for sale.
Consigning Hours:
Wed - Sat: 11-5
&
Sun: 1-4

Half Price Sale September 1 - 14

8/31/2019

For the first two weeks of September (9/1 - 9/14), all items older than one month will be 50% OFF!

We will not be accepting consignments during the sale.

We will resume our regular consigning hours on Sunday, 9/15.
Please be aware that our new consignment procedures are still in effect:

No consignments on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Please wait one month between consigning visits.
There are three ways to consign with us:

1. APPOINTMENT: We will look through your items during your appointment and return any items we cannot accept for sale or that exceed our item limits (15 adult items and/or 25 children's items). You can make an appointment here, but feel free to call us if you're having any trouble.

2. SMALL BATCH WALK-IN: We will accept walk-ins for consignments of 5 or fewer items.

3. DROP OFF & DONATE DISCARDS: You may drop off up to 15 adult and/or 25 children's items during our consigning hours without an appointment. We will look through your items at a later date and donate any items we cannot put out for sale.

Consigning Hours:
Wed - Sat: 11-5
&
Sun: 1-4

Consignment Changes

5/15/2019

Dear Consignors,
The change of season is underway (albeit painfully slow!), which means many of you are cleaning out your closets. We're loving the great clothes you're bringing in, but once again we're getting overwhelmed. Maybe it's because there are more than 5,000 of you and only 5 of us! The appointment system has definitely helped (A LOT), but we're finding that our Drop & Donate option is where we're falling behind. Often, we're receiving large consignments, which require a lot of extra time for us to sort through. Therefore, we're amending that consignment option a little:

Please, if you're consigning items without an appointment, make sure you do not bring in more than 15 items at a time. Everything else about consigning with us will stay the same, but we do need to control the size of the batches we're taking. We've included a list below of tips to help you pick the best items for consignment.

Here's a reminder of the three ways to consign with us:
1. By Appointment: Schedule an appointment online or over the phone. Bring your bag to us during the scheduled time slot and we will look through it on the spot. We will keep up to 15 adult items and/or 25 kids' items and give the rest back to you.
2. Drop & Donate Discards: Drop off a bag of 15 items or fewer during our consigning hours. We will look through it at a later time and keep what we can (and put those items on your account) and donate the rest to local charities. We have some great relationships with area social services organizations, so you can trust that your items will find a good home.
3. Small Batch Walk-In: Come in during our consigning hours with 5 items or fewer. We will look through your items on the spot, keep what we can, and give the rest back to you.

All consignments must happen Wed - Sat 11 - 5, or Sun 1 - 4.
All consignments must be at least one month apart.

Keep an eye on our website and Facebook page - there are some weeks when we don't accept consignments at all, and we may update our policies in the future.

Thank you!
Dirt Chic

P.S. Don't forget to come shop our 1/2 Price Sale during the first week of June! We do not accept consignments during these sales.

Tips for Successful Consigning

Choose seasonal clothing that is stylish and in great condition. Click here for a list of items we do not accept: www.dirtchicvt.com/faq.html
Wash clothing; clean dirt or dust off of shoes and polish scuffs, if possible. Make sure there is no deodorant residue on shirts and dresses. Make sure the clothing hasn't been exposed (in storage or elsewhere) to unpleasant odors, eg. smoke, mothballs, must, etc.
Look over items closely in a well-lit area to make sure there are no stains, missing buttons, or signs of damage.
Check collars and underarms of tops and inside areas of bottoms for staining.
Fold items neatly in a bag or bin to avoid wrinkles.
Make sure it has been at least one month since your last consignment and double-check the website for any updates about consigning.

Photo by Julia Luckett Photography

Appointments Start 10/10

10/6/2018

Well, we're very sorry to report- the day has finally arrived: Appointments. Please see above picture... this is our current reality!
For nearly ten years, we've resisted taking consignments by appointment; we've tried to make consigning as easy and stress-free as possible. Over time we've had to add in some limitations (how many items we accept, how often consignors can bring in new items, how many days/hours we're open to consignments, etc.) in an effort to stem the tide. But we've reached a tipping point, and there doesn't seem to be another reasonable solution; the flow of incoming inventory is just too strong. Every day we're averaging 30-40 consignments, and the numbers are only increasing. With each consignment containing up to 15 adult and/or 25 children's items, it is physically impossible to keep up. It's not simply a matter of manpower. We have fine-tuned our business to maintain our mission – to sell nice, diverse, fashionable clothing to people of all ages and styles at an affordable price – and that would be much harder to sustain if we were to grow in size or staff.
As it is, it will take us months to get up to speed on the inventory we currently have (see above picture again!). So as of this week, we will no longer be accepting walk-in consignments. Consignors will now need to set up appointments to bring in items. We have enhanced our website to accommodate this-- hopefully it will be easy for everyone to navigate. We still ask that you space out your visits by at least one month, to allow all consignors a chance to come in.
There will be one exception to the new appointment policy: if you would like to drop off your consignment without an appointment (though still with at least one month in between, please), we will go through it on our own time and donate what we cannot accept. We have many wonderful charities with whom we work closely to find the extra clothing good homes. If this is what you decide to do, please limit the number of items you bring in to 30. Please note that Mondays and Tuesdays will remain "off" days for all types of consignment, donations included. We do not want to become a donation repository, and if this starts to become the case, we will have to eliminate the drop-off option.
Please know that this decision was not made lightly. At this point, it really is our only choice (in case you haven't see above photo yet, take a look now to see what we mean!). We know that this will likely upset and/or turn off certain consignors, but we hope that the majority of you will understand and appreciate our need to make this change. At the end of the day, we are trying to run this business in the best way possible – for us, the consignors and customers, and the community – and the choices we make are based entirely on that objective.
If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! Please visit our website for all the details on consigning by appointment. And as always, feel free to come to us with any questions.

Sincerely,

The Crew at Dirt Chic

1/2 Price Sale: September 1-14

8/28/2018

For the first two weeks of September (9/1 - 9/14) all items older than one month will be 50% OFF!
We will not be accepting consignments during the sale.

We will resume our regular consigning hours on Saturday, 9/15.
Please be aware that our new consignment policies are still in effect:

Consigning Hours: Wed - Sat: 11-5 & Sun: 1-4
No consignments on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Please wait one month between consigning visits.
We accept up to 15 adult items and/or 25 children's items per visit; you may bring in more, but we cap our intake at 15 and/or 25.

This Week @ Dirt Chic

5/29/2018

Wednesday & Thursday (5/30 & 5/31): accepting consignment 11:00am - 5:00pm.
Friday (6/1): Half Price Sale begins!
Please note, we will not be accepting consignments during this sale: 6/1 - 6/7
We will be back on the regular consigning schedule starting on Friday 6/8.

Dirt Chic has four annual half-price sales: the first two weeks of March and September and the first week of June and December. All items older than one month will be discounted 50%. We do not accept consignments during these sales.

This post is no longer current - please visit our Consignment page for the most up to date information Consignment Policies

5/15/2018

Dear consignors,
Thank you for your patience while we've taken some time to catch up on consignments and revise our policies. As promised, we're sending out an update on our guidelines.
We've taken your suggestions into consideration and have tried to make the changes as minimal as possible. Much will remain the same; the main adjustments will be how often consignors can bring in batches and at what times. Aside from that, consigning at Dirt Chic will remain largely the same.

Our new policies will be as follows:
We will still be accepting consignments Wednesday through Sunday; however, we are shortening the consigning hours on those days. We will accept consignments starting 1 hour after opening until 1 hour before closing. Please remember we do not accept consignments on Monday or Tuesday.

We will need at least one month between consignment visits. Previously we had asked consignors to wait one week between bringing in batches. We've learned that this is not enough time, based on the growing number of consignments we're receiving and the regularity with which many consignors are visiting.

We will still accept up to 15 adult items per visit (you may bring in more, but we will cap our intake at 15). However, we will start limiting the number of children's items we accept at one time to 25. If you are bringing in both adult and kids' items, please place them in separate bags. And please pre-sort your items before bringing them in for consignment - we cannot accept items in questionable condition (rips, stains, missing buttons, or other damage). They must be clean, seasonal, and folded neatly in a bag, not on hangers. This helps streamline the intake process.

We will also be adding two more half price sales during the year: the first week of June and the first week of December. This will be in addition to the two half price sales in March and September, and we will not be taking consignments during any sales. Please be aware that items older than one month will be 50% off. We understand that this will result in some items generating less profit for consignors (and us), but it will help maintain space on the racks and is in line with our motto of making stylish/good quality clothing accessible and affordable to everyone. We realize we may not be the best fit for all consignors, but this has always been our priority, and find that we form the best relationships with consignors who share the same view. Please consider this when coming in with financial expectations for your items.

We are committed to keeping our standards of quality very high, which means we have to be extremely picky about the items we choose to take. We have to make decisions that are good for the business, which benefits all of us in the end. Quality, style, demand, and floor space are among the many things we factor into our decisions. Our goal is to avoid more unscheduled consignment freezes in the future!

Thank you again for your flexibility over the last two weeks. We'll resume taking consignments tomorrow at 11AM.

Warmly,
The crew at Dirt Chic

This post is no longer current - please visit our Consignment page for the most up to date information Coming Soon: Consignment Policy Changes

4/24/2018

Dear consignors,
Happy spring! We wanted to alert you to some challenges we’re facing at Dirt Chic. Nothing bad— all good problems! But we need to address them before they get worse.

We're seeing a significant increase in consignments, and it's reaching an unsustainable level. We want to provide efficient service to consignors and customers; however, we currently receive much more inventory (good inventory!) than we can process or comfortably put out on the floor, and it looks like this trend will only continue.

We've always tried to make consigning an easy process, and have resisted requiring appointments, but through the years we've had to put some limitations on how much we take in (15 items at a time, no more than once a week) and when (not Mondays and Tuesdays, and not the first and last half hour of the other days). We’re still falling way behind; we’re currently operating at a 1-2 week deficit, which means that when you bring in a consignment, it can take up to two weeks before we even put your items out for sale. We are in a constant state of catch-up, and that makes it difficult to address other basic needs at the store.

Please be aware that we will be making changes to our policies in the coming weeks. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause; we hope you understand that any changes we make are out of necessity and a desire to make Dirt Chic an even better place to do business.

In the meantime, you can help us process incoming consignments faster by pre-sorting your items— making sure clothing is neatly folded in a bag or bin, and doesn’t have any stains, tears, odor, missing buttons, wrinkles, deodorant marks, collar or underarm discoloration, etc. We do not accept items in questionable condition, and would prefer not to spend valuable time sorting through them.

Thank you in advance for your help and understanding, and stay tuned for updates!

Sincerely,
The crew at Dirt Chic

Thank you!

Easter Hours

3/29/2018

We will be closed on Sunday, 4/1. We will reopen on Monday, 4/2 at 10am.

Please remember that we do not accept consignments on Mondays or Tuesdays - consigning hours are: Wednesday - Saturday 10:30-5:30 & Sundays 12:30-4:30.

Thank you!

Biannual Half Price Sale!

2/27/2018

It's that time of year again! Dirt Chic is having its biannual Half Price Sale!

For the first two weeks of March, all inventory older than one month will be
50% OFF!

We will not be accepting consignments during the sale.
We will resume our regular consignment schedule on Thursday, March 15th at 10:30 AM.

Thank you!

<<Previous

Archives