Ukay-Ukay Business in the Philippines | My Personal Story

This blog post is going to be about my personal story on how I got started on the ukay-ukay (thrifting) business here in the Philippines and how you can, too!

It all just takes a little bit of perseverance and hustle.

I had been an avid fan of thrifting ever since I was.. well.. nine years old. I was sort of a kikay kid when I was younger and my mother had to keep up with my pink and frivolous taste.

She bought me thrifted stuff since I was just a growing child and clothes that were bought on ukay ukay tend to be a lot cheaper and very durable.

I grew up but I didn't grew out of my ukay phase. I prefer buying items from thrift shops as stores like Penshoppe, Bench, etc. were pretty repetitive and they were soooo common to the point where you can be wearing this blue shirt and your schoolmate might cross paths with you in the hallway of your school wearing the exact same thing.

Moving on, I met my boyfriend (now fiancee) and we both share our love for thrift shopping.

With that, we decided to open our own ukay-ukay store. 

So believe me when I say that it's really easy to start your own ukay-ukay business here in the Philippines. 

Here's why:

1. Unlike other businesses, ukay-ukay doesn't require a ton of capital to get started.

We started out our ukay-ukay store with only 8,000 php in capital. We bought a cheap bale of mixed pants and decided to buy pre-loved items from people who are close to us.

We rummaged our own closets for used, yet still presentable shirts and pants and added them to the pile. 

Just ask. You'd be surprised at how willing people are to help you out on your business and be able to get rid of their old stuff. 

For some, we even offered to buy their clothing at a cheap price and we simply resold it at twice or thrice that price. 

2. You can start, anywhere. Literally.

Most of the ukay-ukays that we love are in markets. 

Here in the province, each municipality has its own market day. 

On this market day, sellers would be displaying their items all over the street and on the public market. 

Prices in these stalls are considerably cheaper than those traditional thrift stores that have a physical shop since they don't have monthly rental expenses to pay. 

But in my case, I stayed with having my own physical store since my family is in the real estate business and we had an available commercial space near the town center. 

3. You don't have to be so worried about competition.

Sure, there may be other sellers aside from you, but none of them would have the exact same item that you're offering.

Clothes are tricky and thrifting is trickier,especially for buyers.

The upside is that what you have to offer is something that only you can offer. 

4. The profit margin is great.

Just between us, the actual average product cost of each item of clothing ranges from 10-45 pesos usually. 

Most sellers sell them for twice, thrice, or even four times their actual price and make a decent amount of money at such a short amount of time. 

What more, your inventory isn't consumable. 

It doesn't degrade or turn bad after some time. 

Clothes don't have expiry dates and they don't cost much to store and display unlike food and grocery items. 

5. Operating an ukay-ukay store isn't exhausting.

The only phase where you might need to do some labor might be in the logistics phase, transporting bales from your supplier to your store, and having to arrange, classify and hang your clothes in their racks. 

After that, you simply wait for customers to come in and check your stuff. 

So if you're looking for something that you can start right now, why not start your own ukay-ukay business here?

It's easy, fun, and in the process, you'll get to know other people and more customers, while earning money of course. 

Comment down below for any questions you might have regarding starting your own ukay-ukay business!