I’ve been working on this article for a long time. As someone who enjoys thrift-shopping tremendously and has gotten quite good at it over the years, I decided to compile the most extensive guide to thrifting, ever!!!
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” – English proverb
If you’re short on cash, need clothes, or just looking to experiment with style on the cheap, second-hand stores are the way to go. There are many misconceptions about thrifting: that it’s dirty, only poor people go there, the clothes are old and worn-out. None of these things are necessarily true – I, for one, consistently find stuff that’s new, like-new, and even with tags still on! Most fashionistas I know enhance their wardrobe with thrift shop and flea market finds, and enjoy looking for hidden treasures.
Thrifting not only helps you save money, but also opens your mind about style and possibilities. Here are some tips on how you can avoid the common mistakes and thrift like a pro!
DO be open-minded. Everything here is one of a kind and has potential if you’re willing to look hard enough.
DON’T expect to walk in and see a bunch of things you like, right away. Thrifting requires digging, so be mentally and physically prepared for it. I find it immensely satisfying to walk out with a Betsey Johnson dress and a cashmere sweater at a fraction of the price after 40 minutes of digging. :)
DON’T expect everything to be clean and perfect. Most things here are pre-owned, which means they’ll need to be laundered or dry-cleaned. Most thriftstores will reject stuff that’s unsellable and downright dirty, so you have nothing to worry about.
DO check for rips, tears, spots or moth holes. Some spots can be dry cleaned, some can’t – it’s a risk that you take while thriftshopping. Take any wool & silk fabrics to dry cleaners immediately – in case of a hidden moth contamination, you don’t want your whole closet to get eaten.
DO factor in dry cleaning costs and/or time spent fixing an item into your decision-making. These are the hidden costs that can really sneak up on you if you’re not careful.
DO find out when your local thrift store gets in new stock – you’ll get first dibs on the best stuff!
If you brought a shopping buddy, DO separate and agree to meet up at the cash register in an hour. The higher your concentration levels, the better the results.
DO go thrift-shopping while traveling. Larger cities like New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles offer amazing second-hand shopping that can’t be beat. Ask what the best places are and go, go, go! One of my favorite places is the Fairfax High School flea market in LA – I found so many cool things!
If you have time, DO open yourself up to experimentation – try new styles, patterns and cuts you wouldn’t normally wear. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
DO skip out on brands like Gap, Old Navy, and Abercrombie & Fitch. You’re here to search for gems, not clothing for the masses!
DO learn how to spot expensive fabrics – the most efficient way to look through racks of stuff without getting overwhelmed. Search for colors and patterns you know you like, and zone out the rest.
DO try everything on if you can. Just because it was only $5 doesn’t mean you want to end up with something that doesn’t fit! (Trust me, I’ve stepped into that hole more than once.)
DO wear easy on/off clothes – flip-flops, a t-shirt and a long skirt with an elastic waist work best. Larger, more established thriftshops like Goodwill will have fitting rooms but smaller places may not; a long skirt allows you to try on pants without flashing strangers. If push comes to shove, you can create a make-shift fitting room by hanging long dresses on racks around you – or ask a friend to hold up a dress while you change in the corner.
DON’T buy it if it doesn’t fit or requires major fixing. I once got a jacket knowing full well it was too big, and it just ended up sitting in my closet until I finally gave up and donated it back to Salvation Army.
NEVER buy something just because it’s cheap. As tempting as it might be to buy that scarf for $2.99, if you’re having doubts, it’s probably not worth it. Leave it for someone who really wants it.
DO donate often – recycling is good for the environment and will make you feel good about not being wasteful!
Deerlings: Do you believe in thrift-shopping? What is your favorite item you found in a second-hand shop? Share your tips with us if you have any!
Great article! I wish sometimes that I could thrift for a liveing:D
Doe Deere Reply:
June 30, 2010 at 4:31 pm
I know! Wouldn’t that be fun??
Wow great list! I will share this… I absolutely love thrift shopping still trying to find some more places in Miami … I have been donating to salvation army cuz I found a drop off site. :)
I absolutely LOVE thrift store shopping. A friend of mine found a pair of Batman converses for $10.00 once. My favorite item would have to be a dress I found stuck in the middle of a rack–it’s a simple black and pink dress, but its super comfortable. :)
My absolutely favorite thing from a thrift store is an old coat that I redid and made it look like something out of the 1800s. Ah good times…
Doe Deere Reply:
June 30, 2010 at 4:26 pm
I would kill to see a picture of that!
Awesome awesome guide!! Indeed I would say this is quite comprehensive. I absolutely ADORE thrift/secondhand shopping. I live in SanFran and it’s a complete goldmine, especially up in the stores on Haight street. Not the cheapest, but their selection is insane. Almost all the secondhand stores here are incredibly picky so their stuff is always great.
Berkeley also has some great true cheap thrift stores which have occasionally yielded up bizarre/delightful treasures.
Also, garage sales can be the absolute best if you have time/manage to find them. The stuff there is usually a lot cheaper than any store and you know who you’re buying items from :)
Theres an antique shop near me that has a bunch of bins full of old costume jewelery for $1-$10. I have found some beautiful necklaces there and even a ring that looks like a disco ball that people always ask me where I bought it. :)
I found a beautiful pair of brown corduroy boots in a local thrift shop once. They were only about $10 and fit and feel great. I’ve worn them so much, they go great with so many of my outfits.
I love shopping at thrift and vintage stores. One thing to note is that you should seek out smaller city thrift stores because sometimes bigger city stores are more picked over. I have found a lot more gems in smaller cities then in Boston or NYC. For instace, Portsmouth, NH & Salem, MA have awesome thrift/consignment/vintage shops.
Melissa Reply:
June 30, 2010 at 4:22 pm
What are the names of some of the shops in Salem, MA? I’m there often because my aunt lives there & I would love to check them out.
tokidoki Reply:
July 1, 2010 at 10:25 am
My favorite in Salem is Modern Millie http://www.modernmillieshop.com/.
And if you happen to love vinyl records like I do, Record Exchange in Salem (256 Washington Street) is awesome! They have an amazing used record collection. I can’t go to Salem without going into both of these stores.
Doe Deere Reply:
June 30, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Excellent advice. Some of the best stuff I’ve found was on Long Island, 1.5 hr away from the city!
I love thrift shopping ,its so much fun for me.Flea markets also.And i have this sunglasses collection….i all vintage sunglasses that i couldnt find at so called normal stores.My mom started that collection for me :)She loves thrifting too and we love to go together :)
Doe Deere Reply:
June 30, 2010 at 4:29 pm
It’s a great friends/family activity! I just went thriftshopping with a friend – we dedicated an entire day to just exploring random stores – and had so much fun!
I pick up a pair of Victorian style Guess boots for $10 dollars at Goodwill a couple of years back. Best 2nd hand buy ever. I love them so much and wear them all the time. I always get compliments when I wear them. :D
Great post. I love thrift stores. When I was young I went because I was poor (well more poor than I am now, lol) and I could get more stuff at once. Now I love to go to find something different. I’m spoiled though because we have a thrift store here that is mega cheap. I’m always getting heels for .50. When I was living in Maryland I had a little sticker shock. They’re also awesome for putting together costumes. When my sis and I went to an 80s prom we got our whole outfits @ this cool place by her house http://mysp.ac/dgPpKo It was the type of store you mentioned without a dressing room, which sucks, but oh well.
I looooove thrifting. In fact my entire wardrobe is compiled of recycled/found clothes. I didn’t buy a single thing!
I love all the thrift shops in Greenwich Village, NYC.
I found the most amazing vintage yellow petticoat at one.
Hi there,
great guide my dear :)
I buy 98% of my threads from markets, charity shops, eBay & car boot sales.
Once you get hooked on thrifting it’s very hard to return to the high street; hangers upon hangers of identical garments with whacking great pricetags; Na’h give me a mound of motley attire to rummage through any day!
My best ever buy from a charity/thrift shop was an amazing Azzedine Alaia dress that I later sold on eBay for an equally amazing profit ;)
…xXx
This is a FANTASTIC article. I love all of your articles, but this one really spoke to me.
And my favorite thing I ever found was my high school prom dress. It was electric blue with a corset top and a HUGE ballgown skirt and a bow on the back. The best part was it was only $3 :D
I get a lot of my jewellery from second hand and charity shops. The other day I bought two necklaces, a massive cocktail ring and a beautiful hairclip for £2. It’s so satisfying walking out of a shop with a handful of things for a fraction of how much a necklace or bracelet would cost in a highstreet store!
I love thrift stores! After a long absence from my life, my mom came back and introduced the art of thrift shopping. My best purchase ever was a pair of go-go boots that were probably made wrong because there were a crap load of them in every size. They were fushia, amplified to a cosmic degree! Seriously. They fell apart after about a year and now they’re sitting in my closet at my parents house. I really miss those boots. I used to get the weirdest looks and comments from random girls at school, but the all the middle aged women and up loved them!
the best thing i have ever got was actually the first time i went thrifting. i didnt but clothes but i did get this beautiful antique carousle. its so detailed and colorful. it was only ten dollars which is a huge steal. i had to argue with an old lady for it cuz she said she saw it first haha.
Great advice- especially the part about being prepared to dig! I’ve never had the patience for thrift shopping, and I think it’s because I don’t mentally prep myself for the adventure of it all. I did once snag a classic blue wool pea coat for like $5.00, so it’s not as if beginners never win, but…
I also agree with your advice to pass by mass produced lines- the benefit to thrift is that you can get unique pieces that you may have missed out on during their first run. I do have ONE exception though- for anyone in the food service industry, thrift shops are THE BEST place to get those white button down oxford shirts so many restaurants make you wear (why spend $30 on something that you’ll want to pitch in a month because it smells like grease & pasta sauce?)
My latest and favorite second hand find was a brown velvet dress with leopard print lining for my baby girl. The brand is BabyGap. I know you said to stay away from mass produced brands such as Gap, but I live in NZ and we don’t have Gap here so it’s rather unique :)
Great tips! I shared your post with my readers today, http://www.labargainhunter.com/2010/06/tips-for-thrift-store-shopping.html. I love thrifting, too! Last week I picked up a designer skirt with the tags still on it for $4! I’ve been doing a lot of furniture thrift shopping lately. It takes patience, but you can find some incredible treasures at insanely low prices.
I LOVE thrift shopping! The best thing I have found was a few summers ago I found a knee length leopard print jacket for $10. I don’t know if it was that low because it was the middle of a Texas summer or because there was a tiny hole inside the pocket, but I snatched it up real quick and wear it every fall!
Thrifting is so last decade, the new underground trend is designer dumpster diving! You know how much great stuff I’ve found in the trash!
Hehe, if only you could come to my Enchanted Forest Thrift Shop. We stock tons of cool clothes and fairytale fashions and the best part is the price policy-all my clothes sell for a mere 25 cents! I’m so sick of seeing people donate clothes to thrift shops thinking it’s going to help the poor when the shops end up overcharging for the items. I like to actually give good deals to my community…
Ariel Grimm Reply:
June 30, 2010 at 8:41 pm
My favorite thrift store in town, The Corner Store is so wonderful! They save the best items for me and give me great deals. They sold me two amazing pairs of green fairy wings (the kind that normally go for $40) for $3! They even give me stuff for free, I’ve got an antique forest green armchair and ottaman set from them! Come visit me and I’ll show you…
Me and a good frind of mine have always had such amazing fortune finding thrift treasures that we have always hoped to set up a business, so we can shop for a living. It’d give us an excuse to get those speacial lil things that are too small or too big; don’t think we didn’t think of all those skirts we just had to put back over the years.
Oh, to pick one item*?!* I’m gonna have to go with THE dress…it must have been an honest to goodness home-made square-dancing dress…great big pink floral pattern on a seafoamy green background cut just above the knees, puffy short sleeves, square neck, white lace trim at the hem & sleeves & neckline, and a high waist circle skirt that just blossoms when I spin, le sigh. Oh, Doe, the first time I slipped her on and my BF slid that pretty green zipper up my back I knew it was meant to be: she waited for me! The dress fits me like it was tailor-made FOR me, which doesn’t EVER just happen when you have the proportions I do {woe is me-my double Ds} and hasn’t happened since. 4 dollars bought me a little slice of heaven that day: I’ll never forget the moment I saw her hanging there.
I can’t thank you enough for giving me reason to conjure such a joyful occasion. =D
luvs luvs luvs you, Doe, dahrlink
Doe Deere Reply:
June 30, 2010 at 10:35 pm
What a great story! I enjoyed reading, you must be a writer?
I’ve been eagerly awaiting this post and you didn’t disappoint — excellent tips! Thanks for the advice.
Thanks for the article. I LOVE thrifting! Thanks for the tip on the LA flea market you like going to. I live close to LA and will totally check it out.
<3
Great article. You had a lot of great points. I have been thrift shopping with friends and they hate it because you have to look through everything, and can’t shop like you would in a regular store because of all the searching through stuff, but I think thats the fun thing about it!
I love it too! My last trip in Montreal i picked up some of the cutest dresses and tops.
I spend a good bit of time near/in NYC these days, I would love to hear about the good spots there if you don’t mind sharing :)
My tip is to also try to find the thrift shops in more “upscale” neighbourhoods, especially the bigger ones like the Goodwill and Value Village tend to be less picked over – my theory is the rich people tend to donate better stuff and buy new, but I can’t confirm that.
Ally Reply:
July 1, 2010 at 8:41 am
You’re right. Here on Long Island, the best places are in the affluent neighborhoods on the North Shore where the selection is noticeably better (while still at the same low price).
I don’t have much luck here I live in a small unfashionable town but I’d love to try thrift shopping in Melbourne I know that would be worth while :)
One of my favorite and most interesting skirts came from Goodwill, a loverly brown and pink floral circle skirt at knee-length, trimmed in brown. It’s so me! Pink and brown together is my favorite, I can rock those colors.
Second favorite is a whispy black circle skirt. I would never have been able to afford that brand if it were new!
I’ve tried thrifting many times in the past and have been successful to some degree, but these last couple of years it’s just been impossible. Maybe I don’t go to the right places, I don’t know, but I can never find something that’s actually wearable. This guide is really good and I’ll keep it in mind next time I try. I’m going to Las Vegas, New York and London soon and I’ll definitely check out some thrift stores or markets while I’m there. Any tips on where to go?
Thanks for the list Doe – so helpful!
Doe Deere Reply:
July 1, 2010 at 8:05 am
You’re welcome! It was about time I shared. :)
Great post! Thanks for sharing :) x
I love vintage shops (a little more than charity shops)and im so lucky that here in Newcastle in England we have loads of vintage shops, most of them all bunched up in a little allyway where most people wouldnt think twice about, unless you know the way of the thrifter.
My favourite item would probably be (i cant choose one so i’ll list 3)
- a set of mini coke can earrings (well, they were from a market stall)
- a mushroom necklace from another market
-a dice earring and necklace set i got from a cute little vintage store called shangri-la where i would go in every wednesday after school last year and just look at the amazing stuff. sadly it’s closed now. :o)
I have so many awesome pieces that I got at various thrift stores that it’s hard to pick my favorite! possibly a 1980s strapless prom style dress that’s all gold, it’s incredible. or a rainbow checkered skkirt with bells on the bottom, i call it my clown skirt. I live in reno nv and we get a lot of really odd, extravagent items that people sell after the Burning Man festival.
There’s a charity shop five minutes down the road, so I walk there on weekends. Because I’m in school, I prefer to save my pocket money rather than spend it all on clothes from the high street. I have found so many gems – a cashmere sweater, an Armani top, a D&G t-shirt and a Yves Saint Laurent hand bag! It’s amazing what people will give away.
Yes, I thrift-shop a lot. I don’t know why people say it’s dirty or lame or only for the poor, it’s a good way to hunt for clothes and a lot of my clothes come second-hand, like from eBay or thrift stores, and I still dress pretty well, I like to think! If I bought all the clothes I have brand-new I would literally be broke, all the time. XD Plus, I guess I just assume that fashionistas do a lot of thrifting, so it kind of comes as a surprise to me sometimes when someone who does buy clothes from the Gap or wherever tells me they object to buying thrift-store or second-hand clothes. I don’t see the problem if you can get rare and nice clothes that you couldn’t find anywhere else for a lower price!
First off, you are adorable! I first found your blog several weeks ago when I Googled “80s makeup” for a dance performance I was doing.
Second, I enjoy thrifting, but in doses. I’m a power-shopper, which means I have to be in the perfect mood to thrift since it does take some extra time/energy :) But when you score something fab, it’s worth it!!
xoxo J
I love these tips.
As for the fav items I have found at thift stores.
I must admit I love candlebras, so I am always drawn to those when I see one.
A great item I found, A Gucci coat dress (still had the tags on them only 10.00), and some berets. I made the mistake of not trying it on, but can believe it fit my grandma (she’s 100 now) My grandma looks like a million in her Gucci dress and plaid gray beret that matches the dress perfectly. People always run up to her at the grocery cause they think she looks so cute.
At our regular grocery store, as soon as we walk in, they call security for grandma, cause people just want to hug her all the time cause of her berets, (all I found at the thrift store for a 1.00)
Oh my goodness, I grew up thrifting! I just love the adventure of it, the thrill of the hunt. Plus you find things that are completely unique!
My most recent find that delighted me to no end, was a vintage romper with the old tag still on it! It was only 4.99 and makes me feel like swing dancing and sipping shirley temples :D
Thank you so much for this, I really want to go thrifting when it’s close to school starting. I always have issues, but I think this guide will help! Again, thank you so much!
I never started thrifting until maybe 5 years ago, but I adore it now!
I’ve found everything from a beautiful embroidered Betsey Johnson cardigan that some poor soul shrank to a couple Target brand dresses that I adore!
I have to say I second Haight Street in San Francisco! Wasteland and Buffalo Exchange are awesome! I even found an authentic Shriner fez at Buffalo!
[...] A rundown of thrifting: do’s and don’ts. [...]
My fave thing I found is a wild Louis Vuitton bag. It’s light pink with little purple smily-faced flowers on it! Totally adorable!
xx
I love charity shops I have thoughs of cloths from them. I dont do wot is my fav but I did find a matrix jacket it is brillant and looks fab. I monstly get skirts nearly all the skirts I hav a charity. I am glad people are looking more to charity shops now I hav been going to them ever since I can remeber. I love your stuff and I love the article.
Agh, I love thrifting. Wish there were more thrift shops near me.
But I did find a really awesome pair of black and white zebra-print skinny jeans, and a black high-waisted skirt with abstract pink designs on it. So pretty <3.
I have done yard sales, tlc sales, resale shopes, thrift store, and consignment stores most of my life!!! Love all of them! Great site.
I absolutely LOVE thrifting! <3
Too bad my mom doesn't believe in it, it's a pain to shop with her! D: She doesn't believe in recycling clothes! D: She hates donating our old jeans and tee shirts! :(
And I was at a Crossroads Trading Co. once and found a 200 dollar Guess? sweater for 20 bucks. :DDDD should have gotten it!
I’ve yet to find a good thrift store in NYC and I live here, haha : ( Any suggestions?
My favorite item was probably this super mod high waisted skirt (up to below chest!) with red and black polka dots all over it no rips tears or stains and in my size :) good times of Value Village ;)