Have you ever been interested in the idea of thrifting or wanted to thrift but you just couldn’t get into it? You never could find anything you like or you just got frustrated when you went? I was also that person at one time. I loved the vintage look of the clothes that other people thrifted but I just couldn’t get the hang of thrifting for myself. After a while, I was able to really get into thrifting and develop my thrift skills, so I will be sharing my thrift tips with you!
WHERE TO THRIFT
The first thrift tip is establishing what kind of clothing you’re looking for: whether it’s contemporary clothing at a cheaper price or vintage clothing. If you’re looking for vintage clothing, you may want to look for areas that have a population of people with an older demographic. You can also google ‘’thrift stores near me’’ and scope them all out to get a feel for what you like best.
GO ON WEEKDAYS
Going thrifting on weekdays as opposed to weekends is very helpful because you will notice a bigger load of donations before the big crowds come in on the weekends.
KEEP A THRIFT LOG IN YOUR NOTES
The key to thrifting is trial and error. You have to scope out different thrift shops to see which one speaks more to your personal taste and keep a thrift log. A thrift log in your phone notes or on paper can assist you with keeping track of everything. You can write down and keep tabs on what stores had the most clothing in your style, the quality of the items, the addresses, which days are the best for each thrift store and their discount days. To figure out the best days to go you can either see by going frequently and keeping track of what days you had the best finds or asking an employee what their biggest stock days are. You can also write notes about the selection in each store. Write notes like which stores have nice men’s t-shirts, a huge load of outerwear, good books, or a wide range of women’s clothing.
ONLINE THRIFTING
I know thrifting can be very time consuming and it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so thrifting online is also an option. There are so many online sites for thrifting and buying secondhand clothing including the most commonly used, Thred Up. My biggest tip for online thrifting is taking advantage of the filter tool. When you use the filter tool, you can specify what category of clothing you’re looking for, specific brands, what size or color and your price range to help find what you are looking for.
GOING TO VINTAGE STORES
Vintage stores are set at a higher price range than thrift stores but with vintage stores, you have the luxury of not having to search through a bunch of pieces. The good vintage pieces were already picked out and sorted through for you. Sometimes you can come across items that you won’t typically find at a thrift store when you shop at a vintage store.
LOOK THROUGH EVERY ITEM
I always seem to find my best picks when I take the time to really look through the pieces so I recommend putting on your best playlist or a podcast and flipping through the racks.
DON’T BE AFRAID TO VENTURE IN OTHER SECTIONS
Thrift stores have so much to offer and you’ll be amazed at what you could actually find there. They have jewelry, decor, furniture, shoes, books, bags, belts and much more so you should venture out and discover everything the thrift store has to offer.
NARROW DOWN YOUR OPTIONS
If you’re more of a regular thrift shopper and you know what you like and what you’re looking for, you don’t have to use the method of looking through every item. You can skim the racks and narrow down your search by looking at the material and color of the item to see if it’s something you would be interested in picking up.
CHECK NEAR FITTING ROOMS AND MIRRORS
My final thrift tip is to check near fitting rooms and mirrors because that’s the pre-selected section (likely where someone would put clothing items back that didn’t work out for them). If it was worth them trying on it could be something that can work out for you. You should also check through random racks that have not been sorted through yet because that’s the new merchandise that hasn’t been merged into the rest of the clothing yet.
I hope these tips can help you guys feel less intimidated by thrifting and encourage you to go out and try it because there are so many hidden gems just waiting to be scooped up and thrifting is all about practice and developing that eye for what you like.
What's Your Reaction?
