Men's Clothing
Buy and sell men’s clothing in Costa Rica.
A man in Costa Rica can need two wardrobes: a saco and a jacket for cool evenings in Cartago or Heredia, and linen shirts and pantalonetas for a week in Guanacaste. Both turn up here, new and pre-owned, from dress shirts and polos to jeans, chinos and full suits. Between private sellers, the pieces worth trading are branded ones in good shape, such as Levi’s jeans, a Lacoste polo or a suit worn to a single graduation, since secondhand clothing shops already cover the budget end. Read the size label before anything else: much of what is sold here carries US sizing.
Sacos, jackets and linen shirts by altitude:
nobody dresses the same in Cartago as in Liberia, and what is worth owning changes with the height above sea level. In the Central Valley a lined saco, a light jacket or a cotton sweater gets worn most evenings of the year. On the Guanacaste and Caribbean coasts the useful pieces are linen and cotton shirts, short sleeves and pantalonetas; a heavy jacket there is just luggage. Jeans, chinos, polos and T-shirts work everywhere, and a suit with a matching jacket and trousers remains standard for weddings and graduations. Training kit is in men’s sportswear, belts and ties in men’s accessories, and the shoes to go with a suit in men’s shoes.
Collar inches, waist by inseam and Lacoste numbers:
size a dress shirt by its collar, not by S, M or L. US brands give the neck in inches, a 15.5 or a 16, often followed by the sleeve length. Jeans and chinos read waist by inseam, so a 32×30 is a 32-inch waist with a 30-inch leg. European brands use their own numbers: on a Lacoste polo a 4 is a medium and a 5 a large. Then read the fabric label. Linen breathes and creases. A polyester-cotton shirt dries fast and barely needs an iron, but holds on to sweat smell longer than pure cotton.
Secondhand clothing shops and the price of used Levi’s:
new branded jeans at the Levi’s level sit around ₡35,000 to ₡45,000 at shelf price. Secondhand clothing shops, which import used clothes from the United States by the bale, sell most everyday pieces for a few thousand colones; private sellers rarely beat that price on a basic T-shirt. What does sell is what those racks rarely hold in good condition: clean Levi’s, a polo with its logo intact, a saco that fits. Branded jeans with no thinning at the crotch can ask around ₡12,000 to ₡18,000. A suit worn once keeps its value best, because it has barely been used.
Collars, crotch seams and crocodiles on a used piece:
on a dress shirt the collar fold and cuff edges fray first, and yellow underarm stains do not wash out, so turn it inside out before you agree a price. Hold jeans up to the light at the crotch and inner thigh: thin denim there is where the tear starts. On a saco, look for shine at the elbows and press the lapels for bubbling, the sign of a fused interlining coming loose. A tailor can shorten sleeves and hems cheaply; shoulders are another matter, so a saco has to fit across the back as it is. A genuine Lacoste crocodile is a patch sewn on from inside, with no stitching showing around it on the front, and the knit fabric of a fake is often thin enough to see your hand through.
Measurements that help sell a used suit or pair of jeans:
a label size alone does not do it, because the buyer is weighing US, European and store sizes against each other. Lay each piece flat and give centimetres: armpit to armpit and collar to hem for shirts and sacos, and for trousers the waist measured across and doubled, plus the inseam. Photograph it in daylight, front and back, then the labels and any flaw. Say it has been washed and whether the trousers have been hemmed, since a short hem cannot be let down far. Most buyers want to try a saco on before paying, so suggest a place to meet where that is easy. A suit bought for one graduation is exactly what the next graduate’s family is looking for: give the jacket and trouser sizes separately and say whether they were bought as a set.