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Ropa americana online: the local market for used clothing

By ucsanha, on 15 August 2015

Screen Shot 2015-08-13 at 16.23.47

A Facebook announcement from an online shop in northern Chile announces “Jackets, Vests, and Sweatshirts”

Ebay, Etsy, Alibaba, and Taobao have changed the way many people around the world shop. Now, you can get virtually any product from anywhere, delivered right to your door. Tom McDonald has even observed companies that have sprung up to make this possible in rural China where even courier services does not deliver (also see his blog about business Facebook pages). But in northern Chile, people aren’t really all that concerned with getting interesting things from far off places. To them, ropa americana [American clothing, code for used goods] is the cheapest and least impressive form of dressing. If one is looking for style, the department stores in the larger cities will do just fine.

But this doesn’t mean that there’s no market for these goods online. Many people, particularly older women, have developed “shops” through Facebook in order to sell used clothing. Just like their counterparts who operate physical used clothing shops in the semi-formal markets around the city, these women buy used clothes in bulk, and sell it to individual consumers. But instead of renting a stall, they take pictures of the individual items to upload to Facebook accounts that they have just for that purpose. When a potential buyer likes and item, they will negotiate a price (usually about $4 for a tshirt, a bit more for jeans or a dress, up to $20 for a coat), and a time and place to meet for the exchange. While new customers may simply ask the price as a comment on the picture, or send a private message through Facebook to arrange a drop-off, regular customers will send WhatsApp messages asking about specific items, hoping to get the best of the best before they even make it to the Facebook page.

Paola, who sells clothes mostly for men told me that a miner requested she meet him as he got off the bus, coming home from his shift at the mine. He had ripped his coat while at work, and was afraid of being very cold between the bus drop off and walking a few blocks home. Paola agreed to meet him at midnight at the bus, for just a few extra dollars.

So while in many ways social media has the ability to expand consumption options globally and allow people access to cosmopolitan goods they might not have imagined a decade ago, it can also take on a form that is distinctly local and personal. Like Paola meeting the miner at his bus, this is just one way that social media can truly strengthen the community bonds that people feel in their local place.

5 Responses to “Ropa americana online: the local market for used clothing”

  • 1
    UCLSocNet wrote on 23 September 2015:

    #Facebook stores with local sensibility, in Northern #Chile online shopping is personally delivered. http://t.co/OwmhDZzyy5

  • 2
    UCLpress wrote on 23 September 2015:

    RT @UCLSocNet: #Facebook stores with local sensibility, in Northern #Chile online shopping is personally delivered. http://t.co/OwmhDZzyy5

  • 3
    UCLSocNet wrote on 1 October 2015:

    In Northern #Chile, #selling goods online is about building community. https://t.co/n6eKrQsCAE

  • 4
    Ronaldo Crespo wrote on 1 October 2016:

    It´s very bright to buy clothes that have a good strength and that is colorful. But it’s much more brighter to save an amount of money that can be considerable by buying from second hand.

  • 5
    Live Roulette TV wrote on 13 October 2016:

    Good to know about facebook online store in Northern Chile.