More Thrifting Tips

Going Thrifting

Mastering the Art of Thrift-Store Shopping

By Camper English

Thrift stores are more than places to pick up other starving artists. Thrifting is an activity that costs very little money, and spending all day shopping won’t break the bank as much at Harry’s Junk & Junk as it will at Hermès. And luckily, those stores are rarely next to each other at the mall, so you’re not as tempted to cross-shop from one to the other.

In most cases, the thrift clothes are cheaper than new ones, but not always. You’ll pay more for an ironic “Hammer Time!” T-shirt now than you would have in the ’80s. These days the thrift industry runs pretty efficiently, with some people making a living (or at least good pocket change) buying items from low-end thrift stores and reselling them to high-end ones. So the trendy thrift stores in the trendy parts of town end up with only the most expensive clothes, and it can feel like the lower-end stores have already been picked over so much that they have nothing but junk.

But the advantages of thrifting are many. You can find crazy clothes at the Salvation Army and Out of the Closet you won’t get anywhere else, like an acid-washed denim jacket that says “Bad Boys Club” in neon on the back. (I actually own one of these thanks to thrifting. I’m just waiting for acid-wash to come back into style…)

read the rest of the story here.