What to buy secondhand, and what to buy new
Some accessory categories are dramatically better secondhand. Others are a false economy. The dividing line is repairability.
We link to Amazon, which is a new-goods business, so it is worth being straightforward: for several accessory categories the secondhand market is simply better, and you should use it. The dividing line is not sentiment about sustainability. It is whether the thing can be repaired and whether age improves or degrades it.
Buy secondhand: brooches. This is the clearest case on the list. Brooches were made in enormous quantities through the mid-twentieth century, they were made well — proper pin backs, real settings, hand-set stones — and they are unfashionable enough in the resale market to be cheap. A vintage brooch at $15 is usually better constructed than a new one at $40. There is essentially no downside; a bent pin is fixable and everything else is decorative.
Buy secondhand: silk scarves. Silk lasts decades, vintage prints are more interesting than most current ones, and the only real risks are stains and perished edges, both of which show in photographs. A hand-rolled hem is the quality marker and it is visible if you ask for a close-up.
Buy secondhand: leather bags, with care. Good leather improves. The question is only whether the hardware and stitching have survived, because those are what cannot be economically repaired. Zips can be replaced; a torn strap attachment usually cannot. Check the corners, the strap joins and the zip pull, and ignore surface scuffing, which conditions out.
Buy secondhand: solid gold and silver. Precious metal does not degrade and can be polished and re-sized indefinitely. Scrap value sets a floor under what you pay. This is the one jewellery category where secondhand is unambiguously the better deal.
Buy new: anything plated. Plating is a consumable layer and you are buying someone else's remaining fraction of it, with no way to assess how much is left. A secondhand plated chain may have a year in it or a decade, and it looks identical either way until it does not.
Buy new: elastic anything. Scrunchies, stretch bracelets, hair ties, elasticated belts. Elastic perishes on a clock rather than with use, so age alone has degraded it.
Buy new: sunglasses, usually. Lens coatings scratch, hinges loosen, and UV filtering cannot be verified by looking. A scratched lens is worse than no sunglasses, and you cannot see a worn UV coating at all.
Buy new: pearls, unless you know what you are doing. Restringing is required every few years and secondhand strands are frequently overdue; the cost of restringing can exceed what you paid. Imitation pearls with lifting coating are also very hard to spot in a photograph.
The photograph checklist for any secondhand accessory: ask for the inside, the hardware close up, and the point where a strap or clasp attaches. Sellers photograph the flattering face of a thing. The failure points are on the other side and a seller who will not photograph them is telling you something.
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