Once a necessity through my college days, thrifting has now become a passion and full on love affair. All of the unique and colorful vintage clothing I have found through the years have made for the best festival fashion. I agree that a thrift store is not the most glamorous place to shop and there are times when you will leave empty handed after hours of searching. However, the thrill of the hunt and the excited feeling you get when you’ve struck gold are what makes it all worth it. I also realize that thrift store “gold” varies from person to person, but in this article I’m going to focus more on vintage (and sometimes name brand) clothing and accessories. Even if finding furniture and collectibles is more your thing, I promise that you will find plenty of my tips helpful during your next thrifting adventure!
So here we go, 10 ways to make your thrift shopping more enjoyable, get the best deals, save time, and ultimately find the funkiest clothing for your next music festival:
1. Come prepared
It’s important that before you even arrive to the thrift store that you’re equipped with these essentials: charged phone, headphones, hand sanitizer (self-explanatory), snack bar, water, and coffee. The music (if any) that usually plays at a thrift store is horrible and will not make your shopping enjoyable, so don’t forget your headphones. You also want to make sure you pack a little snack bar, water, and coffee drink to help keep your stamina up. Thrifting can get exhausting, but these energy boosters will help you keep going!
2. Check for sales!
A lot of thrift stores will put their sale dates on their website, so check before you go. One of my favorite thrifts here in Tampa even allows you to sign up for exclusive deals via text message where they’ll send daily sales directly to your phone. Once you’re at the store check to see if they have any sale flyers by the door or a sign showing what the sales are for that day.
3. Know how to spot vintage
Have you ever been shopping and you see something bright, colorful, and sparkly out of the corner of your eye and dive right for it? It may have been wedged in a crowded rack of clothing, but there was no stopping your eyes from seeing that beautiful blouse. Well, the same scenario applies at a thrift store. It would take you hours if you were to flip through every single hanger on the racks. Save yourself the time and frustration by simply skimming through the racks and only reaching for the clothing made of quality fabrics in colors you like. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the racks are going to be full of cheaply made fast fashions, so spotting vintage that is made of nice fabric will usually be easy. Don’t worry if spotting pieces isn’t easy for you at first, over time you will develop a sharper eye and this process will move quickly for you.
4. Check the label
To help you piece together whether or not a piece of clothing is vintage, you’ll want to check out the label. Some giveaways that the item was made in the 90′s or later is that the tag will say ‘Made in U.S.A.,’ there’s a union label, or the appearance of the tag is vintage (you’ll get a better idea of this the more tags you look at). If the label is leading you in the direction that the piece is vintage, the next thing you should do is pull out your phone and go to the Fashion Guild’s website and do a quick search on the label. This website is a killer resource filled with hundreds of fashion labels from dedicated vintage fashion lovers.
***Whether it’s vintage or not, if you love it and it’s a good price then rock it.****
5. Go thrifting often
Inventory changes daily, if not hourly, at thrift stores so check back often. I try to got to my favorite thrifts weekly, but if I keep leaving empty handed I’ll spread my visits out monthly.
6. Learn the inventory cycle
One of my favorite sayings is “the answer is always no if you never ask.” Many thrift stores have a certain system for rotating new inventory on the floor. Some sales associates are even willing to share this information with you if you ask nicely. If they don’t, then oh well. But if they do then you can plan your shopping there accordingly and get better deals, as well as first dibs on new items.
7. Use the shopping cart
If the thrift store has shopping carts then use it. I promise it will make your shopping more enjoyable rather than getting tired from holding a bunch of clothing in your arms. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to stop in the middle of thrifting to walk all the way back to the front and grab a cart because I had too much to hold. Sometimes the aisles are really tight and only allow room for one shopping cart, if that’s the case and there’s already someone in the aisle, follow behind them, not against them, or just go into an empty aisle.
8. Move quickly
The number one complaint I’ve heard from people when they go thrifting is that it takes too much time and they often walk away with nothing. While walking away empty handed is sometimes the name of the game, there are a few ways that you can move faster while thrifting. First, avoid the crowd and try to get in there as soon as the store opens (especially big sale days) and avoid the weekends as much as possible. Try to have an idea of what you are looking for before going thrifting and go to those sections first, if you have time to browse after than go for it. Lastly, like I said earlier, learn how to spot certain fabrics and styles by skimming through the racks rather than flipping through every single hanger.
9. Try things on
Please try everything on. Most thrift stores have a no return policy and I can’t tell you how times I’ve noticed clothing was damaged while trying it on in the dressing room.
10. Check for damage and stains
Get in the habit of immediately looking for holes in the fabric, broken zippers, missing buttons, loose stitching, and unsightly stains. If you do find any of those issues then you need to decide whether or not this damage will be worth your time, money and effort having it repaired.
11. Don’t force it
Last but not least, if you have to talk yourself into buying something, chances are you probably won’t wear it once you take it home. Even if it’s a good deal, but you’re not 100% in love with it, then move along. There’s nothing worse than spending money on clothing just for it to sit in your closet only to be given back to the thrift store
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