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So I know I’m waaaaaay late to the game with the RealReal here, but for the longest time I had a bit of a bias against them because of some stories on the PurseForum of people buying fake bags on the RealReal (and since they have a no return policy on bags, some of them were in a pickle). So I kind of steered clear. But Fashion Week/Month on Instagram must have infiltrated my brain because I started looking for some designer clothes to augment my normal normcore/classic style. I first looked on eBay and there was nothing, but a quick google search led me to the RealReal. So I finally decided to try them out to buy some clothes.

First of all, I decided to shop through their iPhone app so I could scroll through on the go. And I have to say, their app is awesome. It’s so easy to browse, search and to save your favorites (your “obsessions” as they like to call it). I also love that you can save your specific searches (what they call “feeds”) and then easily browse them all from one page (with the newest items clearly visible across several feeds—genius!). For example one of my feeds is “Acne Musubi” (yep, I’m still eyeing this bag but I’m just biding my time with the hunt) and “Steven Alan: Women”. You can also refine the search by size and other factors to tailor the feed specifically for what you’re looking for. Buying through the app was also super easy. Just plug in all your info and done!

The shipping time varies depending on where you’re located. But since they have an east coast and west coast facility, some items will reach you sooner than others. I like how they will ship items separately just so you can get your items asap. I ordered some things on Monday and got them on Tuesday! The other half of my order is coming next week Monday. They’ll let you know when things ship but you don’t know what is in which box.

The items I got were in excellent shape and clean (seriously so much better than a thrift store). They all come with large tags which you only remove when you want to keep the item.

So here are some of the things I didn’t like about The RealReal:

1) $12 shipping and $12 returning!! Yep that’s an arm and a leg so you better buy all your items in one order for the month and one return. I kind of get it since they’re dealing with 2 warehouses and they’re shipping with UPS. But still, eeek!

2) And since returning is so expensive, I wish they would take more than just 3 pictures of each garment. Like at least the inside or tags, especially since Asian countries still make fake branded clothing and I need to see the tag to determine authenticity.

But overall, I think shopping at The RealReal for clothes is a great way to participate in the sustainable circular economy as well as give your wallet a break. And it’s especially great if you want to try designer clothes but aren’t sure how well they’ll fit into your current closet. At least you can experiment without a huge financial commitment! As for me, the more pregnant I get, the more I feel like wearing something other than my really classic clothes. For some reason I’m starting to feel frumpy in them, so now I want to try new things and have fun with my style!

{Dec 2018 Update: So I’ve been quite addicted to the realreal since this first post and have purchased a ton of stuff ($12 shipping and returns be damned). And that’s because I’ve found some really great Jenni Kayne items and Hatch Maternity items on there for a really good price. But I will say about 1 out of every 10 items of clothing I get have been covered in animal hair and not washed so I don’t even want to try them on. So their QC on some of these items are not as great as you want buuut it’s still worth it to me to be able to buy and try things without paying full retail or having to deal with individual sellers on eBay.}