Buy-to-sell culture has saved our students

It’s 5am on a Thursday morning in Soho, the vibrant city of London is at its quietest.

A few late night revellers still wander the streets. Another corner is turned and you’re suddenly met with a heaving crowd of youths dressed in edgy clothing, rollies in hand.

I am in fact referencing the infamous London Supreme store.

Student rents are pricey enough in Bristol, so as you can imagine in London they are through the roof, (before you even factor in the £7 jaeger bombs in Ministry).

However, some savvy students have found a unique way to bring in some extra dollar. With an incredibly high mark up, camping out for the latest Supreme drop can prove to be crazy profitable.

A H&M jacket bought for £200 and sold for £1298

Maybe if you were part of this buy-to-sell culture you could afford those fancy shoes that Sally’s dad bought her.

London students, among avid collectors, will spend their Friday evening queuing outside the West End store waiting to pick up the new shoe release Saturday morning. You wouldn’t want to forget your camping chair for that one.

But with hundreds of pounds to be made, perhaps it’s worth the 12 hour wait. The business is a growing one, with increasingly large profits to be made, especially if you hold on to your stock for a few months.

One tee, bought last year for £350, is now worth nearly a grand, with box logo tees almost doubling in value this year.

Some people will even use this business adventure as an opportunity to kit themselves out in highly fashionable garms. While waiting to sell on, students will wear their purchases, fitting in to the London scene; it’s just a shame they can no longer make an appearance in Fabric.

A job with a large wage, no VAT and the perk of an on fleek wardobe, what’s the catch? I guess you just have to hope you don’t spill any wine on that £700 tee at pres.

Alan Sugar would be proud.

This 1/50 tee, which is advertised as ‘a must have item for any supreme collection’, comes with just a small price tag. At least the seller is generous enough to offer free P&P and it was in an art gallery, so it must be pretty.

I guess that’s what my student loan is for?

Supreme collaborations are especially rare, with prices to match. This particular jacket, from a collaboration with The North Face, is one of the more expensive items for sale. George, a second year Economics student at LSE, bought one such jacket for £560, selling it for £650 in 2015. With the recent sky rocketing of prices, I’m sure this early sale was a regrettable one, but we can’t all afford to invest over half a grand over the course of first year.

This is more than just a business opportunity, it’s a community, where like minded people can share a passion. The Basement Facebook group, whereby people share clothes, music, photos etc. of this kind, has over 65,000 members- that’s a pretty decent starter market to sell on your new purchases to.

So if you’re looking to earn some extra cash before Christmas or just want to up your edginess by gaining some extra waviness points, take a trip to Soho and seek out a new career path. Just don’t forget your £2,500 leopard print puffer- it’s pretty chilly out there.