Style Icon: Gudas, eBay Bargain Queen

eBay. Everyone is familiar with it, understands what it is used for and most likely has been on it themselves or has known someone that has. The website is most popularly known for selling things like old furniture, vintage cars, NFL jerseys and objects of that sort. However, what you probably didn’t know is that eBay has an expansive array of designer clothing for sale. In fact, eBay has an entire section specifically designated to fashion where you can buy anything from the new Prada bag to Eddie Bauer Women’s flannel lined jeans. I can guarantee you there is something for every type of style on that website.
I first heard about shopping on eBay from Middlebury’s very own Kathleen Gudas ’16.5. Gudas has a natural eye for fashion and is always seen looking very put together. I would describe her style as classic vintage. She wears lots of patterns and bright colors but in a very casual way.
“I loves comfy clothing: jeans, boots, and a chunky sweater,” she said. “I also loves silver jewelry.”
Gudas grew up in Binghampton, New York where she currently lives with her parents, sister and dog. She was educated in Binghamton until her freshman year of high school when she transferred to the Westminster School and repeated a grade. She ended up at Middlebury partly because Westminster has such a large contingency of students that continue on to study the College, but she also has family connections to the town itself. Gudas’s grandparents used to live in Middlebury; Gudas even took her first steps on the Middlebury golf course. In a way, attending Middlebury was simply bringing her life full circle.
You could say Gudas’s love for fashion emerged through her passion for jewelry. When she was younger, she and her sister had a small jewelry business where they participated in local trunk shows and sold their merchandise to a few retail stores.
“I didn’t become interested in clothing until around junior year of high school. I had some friends who sparked my interest in fashion, and I started to look at fashion blogs and read magazines from then on,” Gudas said.
When she began making money and buying her own clothes, Gudas started her mission for great deals and got into “bidding wars” on websites like eBay.
Gudas thinks that people underestimate eBay and even claims that she gets most of her clothes from the site.
“If I see something in a magazine that I think looks cute, I’ll look up the item or style on eBay, and something always pops up,” she said. “It’s always much cheaper than the original price. Even if the clothes are pre-owned, you can usually tell by the pictures how much the person actually wore them.”
So why don’t more people shop on eBay to buy their clothing? Most likely it’s because people don’t realize that they do not need to spend a fortune on clothing, accessories or even jewelry. The same exact Frye boot that you have been saving up for could be on eBay for half of its original cost, and you could spend that other money on something far more important or meaningful. After all, we are all college students struggling on little income, so why not save a few bucks and jump onto eBay or other bidding sites?
Like me, you may have assumed that eBay only sells used clothing, when in reality you can buy clothing with the tags still on them. Nevertheless, buying clothing that has been worn “a couple of times” is very similar to buying a new piece of clothing in a store that has been tried on several times by plenty of different customers. You also have to spend two to three times as much for an item that has not been worn over an item that has only been worn once.
Gudas’s alternative form of shopping may be a great new option for many of us college students. It allows us to keep up with the trends and the high designer items without giving up every cent in our wallet. So next time you have a craving for online shopping, saw a great leather jacket in this months Vogue, or have a themed party that you need overalls for, it might be worth your time to scroll through eBay before you make a huge financial investment elsewhere.