Preloved Kids’ Asian Wear

Ignore the age label and work from measurements. Age sizing is inconsistent between Pakistani, Indian and UK makers, and two children of the same age can be two sizes apart. Ask the seller for chest, waist and full length in centimetres, then measure an outfit your child already wears well and compare. Where you are between sizes, size up — most children's Asian wear has an elastic or drawstring waist and a deep hem, so a larger piece usually still works.

Most children's outfits sell between £10 and £35. Heavily embellished occasion pieces and small designer sets typically sit between £30 and £70. Given that children outgrow an outfit in a season or two regardless of what it cost, this is the category where buying preloved makes the most obvious financial sense.

Better than almost anything else on the site, and for a simple reason: children grow out of clothes long before they wear them out. A great many pieces here were worn once for an Eid lunch or a family wedding and then no longer fitted. Still worth checking knees, elbows and the hem, since those are the places a child's outfit genuinely takes wear.

This is the question worth asking before price or size. Heavy zari work, stiff net and the reverse side of sequin panels are all scratchy against young skin, and an uncomfortable outfit gets taken off within the hour no matter how good it looks. Ask specifically whether the bodice and inner sleeves are lined. For under-fives, a softer cotton or lawn piece nearly always beats a heavily worked one.

Usually easily and cheaply, which is another argument for buying a size up. Hems can be taken up and let down again as a child grows, straps shortened, and drawstring waists adjusted without a tailor at all. The exception is anything with an embroidered border running along the hem, since shortening it means cutting through the work — in that case buy closer to the actual size.

Listing is free. Give chest, waist and length in centimetres alongside the age label, because experienced parents buy on measurements. Say whether the outfit is lined and how comfortable it was to wear, which is information no shop listing ever provides and which parents genuinely value. Selling several outfits as a bundle by age tends to move faster than listing each one alone.