By Terry Lee Derrick
Staff Writer
A consignment clothes store for men — it’s an idea that causes one to ask “why hasn’t this been done already?”
Flip, the new store with designer clothes at bargain basement prices, is a great idea come to fruition. “Flip is hip” as their slogan says and they certainly are. The owner, Klane Maples, had the idea for the last five years and has finally made it a reality.
As Klane explains, “There are all these consignment stores in Nashville for women or, if they carried men’s clothes, you would find like one rack for men in a corner with stuff from the ’60s and ’70s.” When asked what gave him the idea initially for a consignment store for men he said, “A friend of mine, who always buys the best clothes, offered to give me some expensive suits. They were a bit large for me so I thought ‘well I will just sell them’. That’s when I began to realize that this was an idea whose time had come. I thought why not open a store for men where they can bring their great clothes they don’t wear, for whatever reasons, and make some money back. Plus everyone likes a bargain, wealthy or not, so a lot of men would be interested in buying as well as selling.” When asked how he reaches the men who would have quality clothes to sell he said, “I know personally guys who buy nice clothes but also I keep up with who is who in the papers and so on and I have no problem letting them know, when I have the opportunity to meet them, what I do and that this opportunity is available.”
At the time there was a leather Armani coat that retails for $2,000 for $299. There were beautiful Armani, Austin Reed, Brooks Brothers, Jos. A. Banks and Zenga sport coats and suits at a fraction of what they cost new. There are lots of new looking designer ties, dress shirts, slacks, topcoats and leather coats and jackets. They even have shoes, such as Cole Hann, Bass and Tommy Bahama and belts. There were also quite a few pairs of jeans and sport slacks.
“We want to pick up more hip, fun designer fashions so hopefully we will have more of that coming our way,” says Klane. Mark Shaffer is the store manager and is there Monday through Friday and Klane takes care of things on the weekends. There is a 60/40 split between store and client with 40 percent going to the client. The store, which looks great as well, is located at 909 Eighth Ave.
For more information or directions call Klane or Mark at 615-256-3547.