Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Thrifting 101


Thrifting is truly an inexpensive way to score classic staples for your closet. I'm no professional thrifter by any means but it has become a norm for me to pop into a thrift store once in a while and along the way I've gathered a few tips that may help you if your new to "thrifting".

1. Visit thrift stores in the metro area of town. This will almost gurantee that you'll find at least one good piece of clothing since metro area's have more people, more diversity, and a larger population, making their selection more varied than a store in the 'burbs.

2. Be open to trying bigger sizes. I can attest to how difficult it can be to find small sizes in thrift stores (I am a size three in jeans, skirts, and pants and a small in blouses/shirts). What I do now is look for pieces that I like or that draw my attention then I try them on no matter the size because many times the clothes were measured by different standards than what we are used to in our common shopping stores (i.e. Zara, H&M, Forever 21, etc.) Also even though an item may fit a bit large you can make it work by styling it "a la Rachel Zoe" and of course there's always the option of getting it altered.

3. Don't forget the delicate cycle on your washing machine. Personally, I prefer to get my thrifted items dry cleaned whenever possible, since I usually score skirts made from silk and other delicate fabrics, but when I'm in a hurry to wear it or just don't want to spend the extra money I wash my clothes on the delicate cycle and it gets the job done. It cleans the item without abusing the fabric too much.

Do you have any advice you've picked up while thrifting?

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