Middle-income Filipinos don’t look so middle income these days, sporting their newly acquired designer bags and gold jewelry. The Vuittons and gold charms aren’t quite brand-new, but they could pass for it.
Along a quaint street in Manila’s business district, women are gushing over Tresorie and the store’s pre-loved bags. Here, a Vuitton Monogram Speedy fetches P30,000 (about $630), vs. P80,000 for a new one. Bottega Veneta, Hermes and Balenciaga bags carry similarly “practical” tags. Travel a few blocks more and you’ll come across Secondo, which sells “upscale, pre-owned” jewelry. A gram of 24K gold that usually makes you instantly poorer by P5,000 goes for less than a third of that amount.
For this good fortune, the middle class has only the upper crust to thank. The recession has forced the top 1 percent of our population to rethink their extravagant ways and become more entrepreneurial to sustain their lifestyle. So they trade in their old handbags and jewelry in order to afford new things. Everybody comes out happy.
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