Brand items at secondhand prices

Do you ever buy second hand wear? Apparently quite a lot of people do and they do not need to be poor. These days many visit the thrift shop just to look for brand bargains at very cheap prices. Many of these shops don't sell secondhand stuff, but mainly stock items which have gone out of fashion.

The other day I had a go at my older son when I teased most of the clothes of his younger brother are brand names which his mom buys from quite expensive shops. The young one wears from Timberland, Gap, Next, Bossini, and Tape a l'oeil and many more which I don't care to remember.

He shot back that he buys from Gucci, Lacoste, Zara, Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas and Nike. They are top of the works.

Ha, I just smirked.

But its true he reiterated, I might buy from the Italian Street, but they are international brands.

He is right. The shops in the Italian Street in downtown Amman might sell second-hand clothes and wear, which many people in Amman buy from because a great many are under the poverty line, nevertheless they offer top quality brands.

Well, for the most part these shops do. But you need to look around, offering you brand bargains at much cheap prices, scaled down at a fraction of what you would buy in high street shops and malls. But they are the same material.

The Italian Street, named so because of the Italian Hospital that was established in Jordan by Italian missionaries and nuns back in the late 1920s and 1930s, is today famous. This is despite the fact that it is now a back road of a large and congested area of a busy metropolis.

One can stroll through though at a snail's pace, almost window shopping, going around from store-to-store to see the different kinds of brands, and ones you never heard of, but good just the same.

Quite frequently, there are clothes, mainly T-Shirts, trousers, shorts, jackets and shoes and more waiting to be grabbed.

Shoes are organized along rows, but T-Shirts are strewn in big heaps and piles at the back of warn out shops. I am told they come in bales and bundles from all around the world and shops have no time to organize them. So it's like first come first served, they are creased and quite often they need a good wash.

Frequently hands and arms are seen dipping in the pools of clothes to get ready fit wear. My older son keeps going to the Italian Street with his friend to hunt for bargains. I keep telling him 'next time to get may a couple of T-Shirts', but he never does.