Published on: April 29, 2020
I hope everyone is staying safe and well. In this post, I will share some tips on getting started with thrifting and finding secondhand bargains. Particularly, I’ll give thrifting tips related to how quality pieces “feel.” That is, what fabrics are worth buying and how to identify them. But before that, let me share some of my latest finds with you. These are from early March, when thrift stores were still open in London (gosh I miss those days!)
My new favorite sweater…
The first one is the Sézane sweater I mentioned in my previous post. I have only recently discovered this French brand, and I’m in love particularly with their sweaters. They are incredibly soft, well-made and pretty. Moreover, their focus on environmental and social sustainability is very attractive to me. Hence, I had been frantically searching eBay for newly listed Sézane items for weeks (more on finding bargains on eBay coming soon!). The brand isn’t super expensive, to begin with – sweaters start roughly at £90 – but it’s become quite popular. Thus, finding affordable secondhand pieces online is challenging. I had found a pretty cardigan on eBay for £33, however, but I was still looking for the perfect crocheted sweater, preferably in blush pink.
I went to Traid in Clapham Junction, which is one of my favorite charity shops in London. It’s not exactly cheap, but not as expensive as the charity shops in e.g., Notting Hill or Chelsea. There are certain brands that they tend to mark up, but other than that, sweaters normally cost around £8. The store isn’t huge, but they carry a good selection.
I started going through the sweater racks, as I always do, when I spotted a pale pink mohair sweater that looked like something Sézane would make. My heart skipped a beat when I learned that it was, indeed, a Sézane sweater. It was in great condition, too, and happened to be my size. Moreover, it hadn’t been marked up, so it cost me £7.99. After some research, I found out that the style is called “Maiya.” This has quickly become my favorite sweater.
On this same trip, I also found the most amazing Yves Saint Laurent shearling coat that was 50 % off and would have cost £120. It wasn’t something that I would wear, however. Thus, I left it at the store, even as my heart broke a little when I thought about how much I could have sold it on eBay for. But I knew I had to leave it, and I stayed strong.
…and jeans
The following day I went to a Fara charity shop in Fulham. Fara supports children in Romania, and its stores are among the best curated and affordable charity shops in London. They put a lot of effort into their displays, and the clothes are always neatly organized. There are actually two Faras in Fulham, and both are worth a visit. In one of them, I found a pair of skinny mom jeans from Grlfrnd. This is an LA-based denim brand that has somewhat of a cult following, and it’s sold at Revolve among others.
These are 100 % cotton. While I’m normally pretty faithful to my stretchy skinny jeans from e.g., Frame, Mother, and Rag & Bone, I’ve recently started to gravitate towards a more relaxed fit. These are the “Karolina” style. I really like the high waist, and the light color is perfect for spring and summer. These retailed for roughly $215, and they’re in excellent condition.
I spotted both pieces quite fast and knew that they were of good quality before even looking at the brand tag. This gives me a segue to talk about some of the ways to spot great finds while thrifting.
Thrifting tips – why should you know your fabrics?
If you have been to a thrift store, you know that they can be big and slightly overwhelming. Moreover – let’s face it – most of the stuff that you see is not exactly high-end, but the racks are often packed with worn-out lower-end labels. The task of going through all the racks can be daunting and very time-consuming. Thus, thrifting tips on identifying good-quality pieces can come handy, particularly if you’re just starting thrifting.
Here, I focus mostly on spotting good finds for you to wear. If you’re looking to resell, these thrifting tips would look slightly different, even if the basic rules are the same. In this case, you would need to consider the cost-of-good and your profit margin (I will write a post on this later). If you’re “only” thrifting for yourself, you would obviously focus more on finding pieces that match your personal taste, and the resale value is secondary.
Either way, the first thing to look at (or rather, feel), is the material. The fabrics of higher-end pieces are generally different from the fabrics used by fast-fashion retailers. This makes sense, of course, because quality materials are more expensive than their lower-end counterparts. The fabric also plays a very important role in determining how much life you get out of your clothes. You can wash quality fabrics over and over again, and they don’t pill as easily.
How to learn to identify fabrics?
It takes practice to be able to identify good fabrics without looking at the material tag. However, this gets easier the more you go thrifting. In the beginning, I was quite clueless about fabric to say the least. However, gradually I got better at this. Learning the feel of different fabrics has drastically cut down the time it takes me to go through a rack, and thus I consider it one of the most important thrifting tips.
To start, when you go to a thrift store, you can practice by touching the clothes and then reading the material tag. This gives you an idea of how different materials feel. After a while, you’ll notice that you don’t have to check the tag anymore. Another good way to practice is to go to a high-end department store and touch the fabrics that designers use to make their clothes. Yes, this might look a little creepy, but who cares.
What fabrics should you look for?
What materials should you look for, then? My rule of thumb is to go for natural fabrics as opposed to synthetic ones. They generally look better for way longer and feel nicer against your skin. Natural fibers are more breathable than synthetic fibers, too. That said, there are increasingly good synthetic alternatives for e.g., wool and silk if you’re vegan.
Personally, I’m a sucker for fabrics such as cashmere, merino wool, silk, linen, pima cotton, and real, buttery-soft leather. I have cashmere sweaters (thrifted, of course) that I have had for years, and they still look great. Nothing comes close to the softness and coziness of a good cashmere sweater – well, except for maybe alpaca. The price tag of cashmere clothing is often hefty, however, which is why buying your sweaters secondhand is a good and wallet-friendly option. It’s obviously also more sustainable (and I can’t help but think of the cute cashmere goats that provide the wool. The least we can do is give these amazing sweaters a new life.)
I have only recently discovered cashmere pants and omg had I been missing out! They are so cozy to lounge in at home, i.e., an essential piece in the current situation. I found my 100 % cashmere pants at Traid in Brixton for £19.99, which wasn’t too bad, considering that they were new and retailed for £250. While the cashmere pants were somewhat of a unicorn for me, I regularly find cashmere sweaters while thrifting.
Linen is unbeatable in the summer – it keeps you cool and comfortable even on the hottest days. Lately, I’ve been in search of linen shirts, as they are easy to dress up or down, and a few wrinkles here and there just add to their character. As cashmere, linen tends to be pricey, however. This is one of the reasons why I love finding linen clothes at thrift stores.
Silk is, well, silk.
It takes practice but it’s worth it
All these materials are easy to identify at a thrift store, as they have a distinct feel to them as compared to e.g., acrylic or polyester. Once you learn how these materials feel, you’ll find it a lot easier to spot quality items at a thrift store, as the clothes made of these materials tend to be “higher end.” I have found amazing pieces from designers that I had not heard of solely based on the feel and the material of an item (e.g., a pair of leather Paraboot ankle booties that I feature in another post. As I said, learning to identify quality materials requires practice, but it is SO worth it. Not having to check the brand or material tag of every single item on a rack saves you a ton of time.
In my next post, I will talk more about selecting an area to thrift to increase your chances to find high-end items.