Skillful Thrifting is Mindful Thrifting!

$250 Trina Turk dress for $12. The shoes are also thrifted.

Tips for spotting high quality, designer, and upscale brand clothing and shoes in your local thrift store. They are there! Thrifting is an acquired skill. Here are some pearls of wisdom from a very experienced thriftress. 


I've been thrifting since high school, many many years ago when it was still horrifying to people.* 

See? I'm cool.

*some people still have an aversion to thrift-shopping, and I used to be a little embarrassed about it. But I've stopped feeling this way. Thrifting is so much better for our planet than buying new, factory-made clothes. I feel that it is a responsible thing to do. This is not carte blanche for looking tacky, though.

You can't just go into a thrift store and start grabbing stuff. You end up spending $$$ on things you won't wear, so you've actually ended up wasting money, time, and closetspace. No good.

I think everyone has different goals when they thrift. When I was younger I just wanted stuff that would fit my heavy-metal-trollop-meets-bohemian-priestess aesthetic. I didn't care about quality at all. I altered a lot of things - not for fit but to add fringe or ruffles or chains or whatever...

Now I look for things that will fit my style and that are as high quality as possible. I have become much more discerning in my dotage.

How to Find The Good Stuff

The first thing I notice is fiber type. If it's a natural fiber, I stop and pull out the garment to check the quality. If it seems like a good quality item, I check the brand, and so forth.

Here's what I look for, in this order, as I go down the rack: 

• natural fibers
• wool, cotton, hemp, etc. - check the label;
• feel all the fabrics. you will begin to be able to tell fiber content by feel. Don't be afraid to touch! Touch everything!
• acrylic is tricky. Remember that acrylic can feel very much like a natural fiber, so be careful. This happens mostly with sweaters;

• quality 
• full or half lining;
• check the stitching;
• construction;
• hem, etc.;

• brand/designer
• check the label for the brand or designer name;
• use your phone to check prices and availability of that brand or designer;
• check google for retail price ranges for that item or a similar one (new); 
• check ebay for price ranges for that item or similar used items;
• I HIGHLY recommend doing this;

• versatility / whether it will go with anything else in your wardrobe
• which shirt, pants, etc. it will go with;
• which shoes you could wear it with
• boots, heels, flats, etc.;
• how many different outfits/shoe types/heel heights could it work with?

• cost-of-wear 
• how many times you will wear this garment and if it's worth the cost;
• remember that higher quality items will last a lot longer than low quality items;
• examples
• a $2 tank top can be worn once a week before it wears out in about one year, so each wear is is about 4 cents; 
• a $50 pair of leather pants will be worn 5 times a year for at least 5 years (more, if you take good care of them), so each wear is $2 or less;

• fit 
• ALWAYS TRY IT ON before buying;
• it fits! awesome!
• it doesn't fit! dang!
• can it be altered by you?
• can it be altered by a professional?
• can you make something else out of it?
• can you give it to someone specific?
• is it their style?
• is their size?
• can you sell it?

• built-in bra
• i have vowed to never wear a bra again; 
• i'm old now so i can do shit like that;
• #sorrynotsorry;
• you don't have to do this.

One of my favorite things in life is a great bargain. I once found a $1400 pair of Juicy Couture gray suede leggings at TJ Maxx for $100 (in my size) and almost stroked out. 

Here are some bargains I found at Thrift Town (Menaul and Carlisle, Albuquerque NM) the other day. I'm just going to say that someone over there is starting to get hip to the actual values of things. Gone are the days when you can walk into a thrift shop and buy a designer gown for $2.00. Also, some very tasteful lady who wears a size 7 has been dropping off amazing designer shoes lately.

I noticed this dress because of the high quality of the fabric (silk) and cut. Plus it was fully lined.

Beautiful stitching. Moulinette Soeurs is an Anthropologie brand. New dresses are between $100 and $400 on the Anthropologie website. Ebay has a lot of them with prices between $1.99 (!!!!) and $300.

I was attracted to this one because of the fabric, cut, and lining. I'm not crazy about this print, but I was curious as to the brand.

This brand is sold by JC Penney. New dresses like this one are between $60 and $90. Ebay has these from $9 to $45.

  

These are the coolest leather pants I've seen at Thrift Town. Great quality, skinny leg, and flat front. Naturally, they're TOO FREAKIN SMALL. 

Cache just closed down this year (2015), and the clothing is showing up on ebay and Amazon for pretty good prices. Bids are starting at around $35 and Buy-it-now prices go up to $170. I wouldn't buy these for this price. I think you could do better on ebay. NICE to have a phone to check this stuff!

Nice quality, basic, lined white linen dress in great condition.

Brooks Brothers 346 line is specifically made for their own outlet stores. The items are not as high quality as the regular BB stuff. Ebay has them from $20 to $80.

 Happy thrifting, everyone!