From Retail to Resale: A Trend to Slow Down Fashion

In the world of fashion, consumers are starting to realize that “fast” often means “wasteful.” Fast fashion is the Louis Vuitton pursesbusiness model where clothing designers produce trendy fashion apparel and accessories through a fast and cheap process. These products may be replicas of fashion designs that were featured on the catwalk, or they may be promoted by celebrities and online influencers. But this endless cycle of mass-produced, low-cost goods forces manufacturers to make compromises along the way. Workplace conditions, wages and environmental considerations are ignored to meet consumers’ demand as quickly as possible.

And when the trends move on to some new look, what’s left? These fast fashion designs don’t get the same workmanship or high-quality materials as luxury brands, and the products often aren’t made to outlast the trend.

Sustainability and A Circular Economy

Fortunately, there is a growing trend of fashion-conscious consumers who are making a deliberate effort to embrace shopping with a different mindset. High fashion brands are known for high quality workmanship and these goods can last a long time when cared for properly. Buying a pre-loved handbag puts couture brands in reach for more customers, but this altered behavior benefits more than just the consumers who recognize the cost benefits. It also helps the environment through sustainability and encourages a circular economy.

A circular economy tackles the new threats we are facing today, such as climate change, biodiversity, waste, and pollution. Instead of following a take, make, and waste linear system, a circular economy moves to a reuse, share, repair, refurbish, remanufacture, and recycle goods. This makes it more of a closed-loop system that places less burden on the environment to produce new raw materials.

If everyone does their part, we can make a difference for sustainability. The choices we make when shopping can have multiple advantages not only to our wallet but also to the environment. But shopping with a more thoughtful mindset still requires smart choices. Buying designer or luxury items at a resale location whether it be online or in-person, also has risks, so be sure to shop at a reputable retailer who can authenticate the products they sell.

Kamaaina Loan now has that ability to authenticate brand name purses and handbags for a nominal fee. This gives you the ability to see for yourself the authenticity of a designer handbag. While you’re there, check out their selection of pre-loved Louis Vuitton handbags.

Stuck with Unused Gift Cards – Turn Them in For Cash

When it comes to gifts, purchasing and giving a gift card makes shopping for any occasion quick, easy, and best of all convenient. On the other hand, if you are the recipient of a gift card and have no plans to use it, you may not realize its value. You may even feel it will only go to waste or it will just collect dust in some corner in your miscellaneous drawer. Before you decide to toss it in the trash, bring it to Kamaaina Loan & Cash For Gold. We will check the balance with our online system and pay you cash for the value of the gift card. It’s that simple. And since we here at Kamaaina Loan & Cash For Gold have been in business for 44 years, you know where to go to turn your gift cards in.

 

FAQ:

  • What if I made a minimal purchase but there is still an unused balance? Can I still turn it in? Kamaaina Loan will verify the balance on the card first, then give you cash for that card.

 

  • What if my unused gift card is for a business that is not located on Maui. Can I still turn it in? Yes, Kamaaina Loan will accept a wide variety of gift cards, even for retail or restaurant chains that do not have a local presence on Maui.

 

  • Will Kamaaina Loan & Cash For Gold also accept VISA gift cards for cash? Yes, VISA gift cards are also welcomed to be turned in for cash.

 

  • What if I cannot remember how much my gift card is worth? Kamaaina Loan will verify the balance with their online system.

 

  • Is there any kind of gift card Kamaaina Loan & Cash for Gold will not accept? Yes, if the card is expired. If you’re not sure, bring it in and we will check it first.

The price of gold is on the rise.

If you have been keeping up with the news recently, you probably already know that gold prices on Monday hit a record high! This comes as no surprise to us at Kamaaina Loan & Cash For Gold, having been in the gold business for years. This is what happens when the economy is unstable. Since we have been in this state of flux with the coronavirus pandemic happening around the world for a couple of months now, the price of gold and other precious metals has also been affected.

So, if you have been cleaning up around the house, as we all have been doing, you may have come across some gold or other precious metal pieces that are just collecting dust in some drawer or jewelry box. You may have even considered parting with those pieces. Well, now is the perfect time to head on over to Kamaaina Loan & Cash For Gold, to get cash for those gold or other precious metal pieces. Our sales team is always friendly to all our customers and will be happy to assist.

Please remember before heading out to Kamaaina Loan & Cash For Gold, bring and wear a face mask. We are diligent about keeping our location safe for our ohana and customers.

Kamaaina Loan interior

Now’s the time to pick up that hobby you’ve been putting off.

Kamaaina Loan interiorWith this “new normal” in our adjusted lifestyle, you may find yourself with a little extra time on your hands. Now’s the time to start that new hobby you have put off starting. While everyone is spending more time at home, you may feel you could use another electronic device, if so, stop in and visit us. We have a selection of musical instruments such as guitars and a variety of ukulele. We also have electronics such as amplifiers available for sale too, so everyone in your neighborhood can enjoy your new found talent. If you need an extra device, we have iPads and laptops available too.

For those who enjoy their extra time outdoors, living in Hawaii has its benefits where we can enjoy the warm tropical breeze and sunshine all year round. If you are looking for a fun way to get out yet respecting the social distancing, we can help with that too. We also have golf clubs, fishing equipment and other outdoor sports equipment available for sale.

In case you were wondering, yes, we are open for business during this time and we have taken extra precautions to make sure you are safe while shopping with us.

Kamaaina Loan customers with masks

For the safety of our staff and other customers, we ask that you remember to wear your mask when you visit us. If you do not have a mask, we have some disposable ones available. We have also taken extra precautions while you shop by having hand sanitizers available throughout our stores. Additionally, every couple of hours we disinfect the entire store. Plexiglass shields have been installed on our counters to keep our customers and our sales team safe when interfacing with each other and completing a sale.

If you are planning to stop in and shop, Kamaaina Loan is open on Market Street in Wailuku from 9 am to 6 pm Monday – Friday and from 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday. We are closed on Sunday. You can also shop with us online. We will be happy to hook you up with something to keep you happy.

#maui #mauiretail

You Need that Fast Cash?

Sometimes you just need $20. There are a lot of ways you can go about getting it. You can ask friends and family. You can try to sell something on Facebook yard sale. There are quick jobs like cutting someone’s grass or washing the car. 

 

No time for any of that? When you need cash right now and you don’t want your friends and family to know your business, a pawnshop is a quick and easy way to go. All you have to do is take an item into the pawnshop that they could sell. The pawnshop will make you an offer and they won’t even ask what you’re going to do with the money. You can sell your item or just borrow money on it for cash. 

 Get your next $20 at the pawnshop, because some things are nobody’s business but your own.

 

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Wash that smartphone!

A smartphone, properly scrubbed

A smartphone, properly scrubbed

All good things come to an end, and when that happens to your smartphone, you should wash it. And, no, I don’t mean what my one-and-a-half-year-old grandson did to his mamma’s new iPhone 6S.

In a pawnshop context, washing your phone means scrubbing it of personal information before you sell it. Older model smartphones lose value quickly but they still have some value: A Pew survey last year found that 68% of American adults have a smartphone.

That means 3 in 10 don’t and probably would like to acquire one if they could afford it. Pawnshops are one place that can happen

When Kamaaina Loan (or any other pawnshop) buys a smartphone for resale, it will scrub it. The simplest way is to do a factory reset.

However, at least with Android phones (which is most of them), a reset does not necessarily wash the phone clean.

Earlier this year, Avast, a software security company, purchased 20 used smartphones from pawnshops in Europe and America. 60% had not been reset: an error on the part of the person who sold the phone to the pawnshop and of the pawnshop as well.

However, here’s the problem: of the 40% that had been reset, half still had recoverable personal information on them.

Avast said that was because some older versions of Android’s OS have a factory reset that does not clear data.

Worse, some sellers just deleted their files without doing a reset. That left the files easily recoverable with commonly available and free software.

Avast says the thing to do is to overwrite your unwanted files, which is what the reset does.

We’d add that destroying old files in unwanted equipment applies to anything with a chip in it. Even copiers save everything they see. The old copier itself may be dead but its brain lives on.

 

#maui #mauiretail

And now, a good word for fakes

But not from us. We hate fakes.

No, it’s Jack Ma, head of notorious fraud site Alibaba (the Amazon of China, some call it, which seems unfair to Amazon). In a story reported at CNN Moneym, Ma said

“The problem is that the fake products today — they make better quality, better prices than the real product,” Ma told investors at a company event Tuesday. “The exact factories, the exact raw materials, so they don’t use the name.”

Excuse us while we retch.

First of all, we examine designer goods in the pawnshop all the time, and while some fakes are better than others, they aren’t “better quality” or even as good.

We note that just to get it out of the way.

The problem with Ma’s continuing criminal enterprise is not (or not only) the quality of the fakes he sells. It’s theft of intellectual property. And it’s destruction of the value of real goods by pretty-good fakes.

For example, the market for collectible Kingdom of Hawaii coins has been nearly ruined by fakes. Sold by Jack Ma.

We bet Jack Ma would not be so happy if someone set up a fake Alibaba site that directed shoppers to a warehouse in, say, Belarus and took away the dollars now going to Jack Ma.

There is also the matter of additional costs imposed on honest merchants like Kamaaina Loan, who have to take steps to intercept and reject the fake garbage that Jack Ma pumps into the stream of commerce.

It would be a good thing if Alibaba was treated like a chop shop or other similar criminal operation and shut down. We aren’t saying we expect it, but it would be a good thing.

If you think we are kidding, just go to Alibaba and search for “fake coins.”

 

#maui #mauiretail #visitingparadise