Ah, thrifting. I’m a late thrifting convert—honestly, I was never even a big shopper. I tended to wear the same outfits until—or even after—they fell apart, and I had to be dragged bodily to go shopping.
But I must have always been a closeted clothes fan, because I’ve always had friends with great taste and I’ve benefited from their occasional cast-offs or from them dragging me bodily to go shopping.
And so I’ve lately become a bona-fide thrifting fan. I’m still a bit of a newbie, however, and I make mistakes on the regular. So I’m going to share my Adventures in Thrifting with you all as I navigate the wilds of the secondhand with the help of my more fashion-experienced friends.
Let’s start with Pros and Cons:
Obvious Pro: Less spendy. I once got into a passive-aggressive fight with a friend in college because she wanted me to buy a shirt at United Colors of Benetton and it was $70 and I was like, I LITERALLY DON’T HAVE $70 IN MY BANK ACCOUNT RIGHT NOW and then she told another friend that I was “no fun” to go shopping with because instead of buying things and encouraging her to do the same, I just grouched.
And the thing is, she wasn’t wrong. That is a large part of what makes shopping fun: actually buying stuff. But if you don’t have money, shopping turns from an exercise in fun to an exercise in pointlessness. But because thrift stores are so inexpensive, you can afford to say, “Heck, I don’t really need that dress covered in plastic stars, but darned if I don’t want it,” or “I already have a billion purple shirts but what the heck? I like this one,” and you can just buy it, because instead of 70 dollars it’s seven dollars.
Con: You get way too used to amazingly low prices. And now, instead of someone who throws a hissy fit in United Colors of Benetton, I’m someone who throws a hissy fit in Target. “They want me to pay fourteen dollars for a shirt? Are they freaking insane? I literally don’t have fourteen dollar in my bank account right now!” Ha, ha, I am just kidding. I have more than fourteen dollars in my bank account. Usually.
Pro: Thrifting encourages fashion adventurousness. The prices are so low, thrifting enables you to take risks that you wouldn’t otherwise. Why not buy that weird belt or dress with plastic stars on it?
I, for example, used to be terrified of patterns and colors—for years, my closet consisted of varying hues of solid black, white and grey. If I was going to invest a sizable chunk of money in a piece of clothing, I wanted to be sure that it went with everything. But thrifting? Heck, it’s just a few bucks. Bring on the paisley and print and the plaid and the stripes and calico patterns—all in bright colors, baby.
Pro: Cheap high fashion! Even if you’re not in a big city! I’m still a newbie and tend to be easily distracted by stupid things like dresses with plastic stars on them. But if you look hard, you can find new and vintage designer clothing in thrift stores. I currently live in Tucson, Arizona, which is awesome for thrifting but hardly considered a fashion mecca. But my friend Megan of Bad Cholla vintage tells me she has an Alberta Ferretti dress, a Tocca blazer and a Trina Turk silk blouse—all thrifted in Tucson—and I’ll pretend that I know what those terms mean. I did find a pair of Theory pants in a thrift store once, and I was so happy that I wore them even when it was clear they did not really fit and they split while I was at a Subway in suburban Wisconsin. Which brings me to the my final con:
Con: The “I’ll Totally Wear This! I Just Need To Sew Back on All The Buttons and Wash Out This Stain and Take it in Five Inches” Phenomenon. Obviously, many things in thrift stores are so cheap because they are mildly damaged. It’s easy to convince yourself that you’ll make the necessary alterations, and then you end up with a huge pile of things to be mended that you never touch. So while it might be only a couple dollars to buy the item of clothing (see cheapness and lack of commitment above) and then maybe the investment of a only a few dollars more to clean and fix it, you have to weigh the investment of time, which is not inconsiderable. We’re all busy folks, and unless you really love a piece of clothing, are you going to bother to sew it? Or take it to a seamstress? Or guilt your friend that knows how to sew into altering it for you? Maybe. Maybe not.
Whew! That was a lot already. Feel free to weigh in with your own thrifting pro/cons below. I’ll be back next week with more!
I love thrifting! Unfortunately, where I am from is a hotspot for older and retired families to live, so usually the clothes section of our thrift stores is a little, uhh…dated. However, you can ALWAYS find amazing jewelry at thrift stores! Almost all my favorite jewelry has been thrifted.
Jewelry = yes! like I said this week, accessories are the way to go even if you’re not down with thrifting clothes. I live in a hotspot for retirees, though, too and I say — give their stuff a chance! There can be gems mixed in with the unfortunate stuff. Plus, retirees give away LOTS of stuff, giving you more to choose from.
I once found an $800 Lela Rose cocktail dress at an Arkansas Goodwill for $8.
Sometimes I wonder who gave it away – did they realize what they had done? I don’t even really LOVE the dress – I really need to sell it for a profit
– but seriously? It’s so expensive!
That’s a seriously good thrifting find…I too always wonder what the story behind the items is.
I liked your article very much! Such a fun! I’d like to thrift with you!
I just went thrifting today….in TUCSON! I got a Louis wallet and I also got lucky and got a Dior jacket
Awesome! Where?
Yay, Thrifting!! Love that black dress. Btw, I just read that you live in Tucson, Laura… I was just in Safford! The desert is so stunning!! I took so many pictures while I was there.
Desert forever!
I love the idea of thrift stores, but I get overwhelmed, as well. One of my BFFs is like the queen thrifter and I’ll go with her because she’ll just pull things and say “try this on.”
More knowledgable BFFs are what go me into thrifting — I would be nothing without my extremely savvy friends!
I’ve just started thrifting myself and have seen similar results. However, I go into a thrift store and get immediately overwhelmed. The only things I can handle shopping for are like… lamps.
being overwhelmed is definite thrifting con that I plan to address! Accessories and shoes and things like lamps are a good place to start, cause there are less of them
@Paolo — I have multiple friends who love thrifting who are obsessed with owls. Don’t know how that happened, but it’s true! You found the holy grail, is what I’m saying @Clare — thanks for providing reason #1,000,000 why I wish I lived in Canada (and I’m half-Canadian, so there’s really no excuse for me)
I love this! I got some great stuff recently. Half a new wardrobe for $32. My best find was a vintage Destiny’s Child tour tshirt which I cut up to make it a bit more wearable. I love it!
I’m am like the biggest thrift shopper ever. I totally get what you mean by be ruined forever by thrift shopping. I can’t go into the mall anymore to buy clothes because everything is just sooooooo expensive, even at the cheap store (“a sweater for $20, are you kidding me!”). I’m usually a Value Village gal, because it’s so much more rewarding to find something neat after searching through racks and racks of clothing. But there is also a store here that I think there are maybe 4 of in Canada called Divine, which has an amazing selection of cheap vintage, they also sell ridiculously expensive clothing, but I don’t think I’ve ever bought any of it…unless it was on for a ridiculous sale price. Anyway, Divine is neat because they literally travel all around North America looking for neat vintage clothes,which is cool because it eliminates the extreme amount of searching if you’re not into that, and they are usually around the same price as most other thrift shops. But Value Village is still my fav as i live for “the hunt”. Just the other day I found a crushed velvet red figure skater dress there, which may sound ridiculous (because it is), but I don’t care because i got it for $10.00! I love thrift stores <3
Love this article! As a broke college student/semi-pro thrift store shopper, I appreciate the additional advice. For the record. I once found a vintage Coach purse with owls on it. OWLS!
Hey, I hadn’t thought of baby clothes, Clara! But that’s a great pro! Catrina: The fact that thrift and vintage skews tiny is a DEFINITE con that I was planning to mention. However, while this is totally true, I do devoutly people that there is a certain magic to thrift store shopping. There was a Salvation Army in Minneapolis my friend and I called ‘the magic store’ because whatever your size, you managed to find flattering pants there. I HATE pants shopping (because sizes are whack, I have big hips, and my weight fluctuates, I wear anywhere between and 8 and a 14 in pants) but I’ve managed to find great pants in the 10-14 range at thrift stores. Keep looking, is what I’m saying. Persistence pays off, and great size fourteen stuff is out there at thrift stores, though harder to find.
I wrote this article about thrifting if anyone’s interested. http://www.vashtimag.com/2011/06/some-simple-tips-to-thrift-store-shopping/#comment-205
Neat!
I love love love thrift store shopping and love the “vintage” look. But at a size 14 it is usually impossible to find clothes that fit and are flattering in thrift stores. Plus most of the vintage stuff is tiny.
Catrina! I recently went into a Goodwill that had an excellent plus size section from 14 up! They had some awesome stuff. Maybe call around and see which thrift stores in your area have a plus size section? Good luck!
Let me just add: baby clothes! Babies go through clothes and shoes so fast, thrift store clothes make the whole process much more affordable! And I get stuff I couldn’t afford brand-new for her. The only con to that is the velcro is sometimes worn out on the shoes, which drives me nuts.