Save More, Dress Thrifty

April 7th, 2010 • Uncategorized

Everybody loves a good bargain especially when it comes to high priced fashion. But what can you do if you don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend on the hottest fashions? That’s where your friendly neighborhood thrift store comes in.

Thrift stores have long been the savior of impoverished fashion budgets everywhere. Those who go know there is a never ending supply of gems to be found… but you have to be diligent. Take a look around. Is everyone around you dressed like they’re ready for fashion week? Hardly. It’s known as the law of averages. On average, most people aren’t wearing designer threads, therefore, most of the clothes turned into thrift stores aren’t going to be designer threads. You can’t defeat math.

So here are some tips for shopping thrift stores:

1. Go early and go often. What’s true for catching worms (apparently) is also true for snagging good thrift store clothing. Get there early or else you’ll be left with a pile of picked over clothes leaving nothing but XXXL sweaters and beer stained hot wing stained bowling shirts. You’ll also want to go often as thrift stores are constantly getting in new drop offs.

2. Try the higher-end thrift stores. Slogging through endless piles of mostly heinous pre-owned clothing can be trying. Enter the designer thrift stores. The staff at these stores do a lot of the footwork for you. They pre-screen what people drop off and weed out the fodder, many of these stores’ staff also dig through other thrift stores in the city bringing back the cream of the crop. There is a trade-off of course. The clothes at the fashionable typically cost more than that found at the local Salvation Army Thrift Store, yet still a tremendous bargain. In Los Angeles you can find great second hand clothes at stores like Buffalo Exchange and Jet Rag.

3. Be creative. Part of the fun of shopping at thrift stores is that you can find one of a kind articles and funky stuff you don’t see everyday. Make your own fashion statement and mix up clothes of contrasting styles and eras to create vividly contrasting styles. Think Olsen twins.

4. Make friends with the employees. This may be more effort than it’s worth but if you have an insider at the thrift store who can let you know when a particularly hot item comes in, and maybe even set it aside away from the masses, then you may be able to save some time and effort.

5. Raid your parents’ closet. Your parents’ closet is the the nearest and cheapest (read free) thrift store around. Especially if they’re hoarders.

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