Do you wear second hand clothes?

Yes, I do. I see no problem with it. It’s a great way to add to a wardrobe and sometimes in doing so you are supporting your community. My favorite thrift store doubles as the GLBT financial center in Richmond, VA. They get money from the thrift operation and put it towards education and support groups.

I love thrift shopping! Not only is a great way of recycling and going “green”, as Tyra says, but I love finding one-of-a-kind pieces. I’ve found some really amazing things at various thrift stores throughout the city. In my experience, I’ve been pleasantly surprised every time I go shopping.

(And it’s a great way to save some money!)

@amandala, saving money is a huge plus! I recently changed jobs and needed casual business clothes for work. I had nothing appropriate. I have quite a work wardrobe right now. I think I must have lucked out at Goodwill and shopped after someone my size with very good taste had cleaned their closet. Everything coordinated and I found 2 or 3 tops to match each pair of pants I bought. I could have spent months and a lot of money shopping at the mall trying to find all I got in just one trip to Goodwill. Another plus is that I don’t have to worry about whether things will shrink when I wash them.

@EP, I like being able to support a worthy cause at the same time too!

I don’t, mainly because I don’t know where to find second hand clothes in my city. If I knew where to go and how to go about buying second hand clothes, then definitely I would. I don’t buy much online either.

Nope, I Do Not.

I do….especially for my kids for both toys and clothing.

There are amazing stores in my area that I frequent regularly.

I know I have saved thousands. I am very picky too…name brands, good quality.

Yes. About ten of my friends and I have a clothing swap party every six months to trade things we don’t wear. It’s a wonderful way to get great free stuff. And I find it heartwarming that when we subsequently wear each others’ stuff there’s a lot of “omg, that looks SO much better on you.”

I do, but usually only after I’ve made something else out of them. Example: A resale sweater made from pretty yarn may get unravelled and re-knit into a hat/scarf set. Does that count?

@laureth, yes that counts! Great that you have the ability to remake something like that.

@ljs, I love that idea! Do all your friends wear the same size though??

I wear them but find it can be hard to find things I need that way. Often the clothes are rather worn and not suitable for work or going out…... or it’s just hard to find things that fit. Stores that are laid out well are much easier to peruse. Sometimes I find myself skipping thrift shops just because I’m not sure if I can handle the insanity of how some of them are organized or not organized. We also do loads of clothing swaps which are fun. To answer daisy’s question, there are usually women of various shapes and sizes and we just swap with the ones closest to our size. I’m on the smaller side and also get the bonus of wearing stuff that others accidentally shrunk!

@laureth that sounds like a lot of work! :)

Only certain items. I have a couple ‘50s/‘60s vintage blazers that are my favorites.

The Goodwill stores in my town are well organized. Things are organized not only by size but also by color.

I never skip a thrift shop or garage sale. I also love antiques and have found many valuable things while ‘junking’. I have even found some valuable jewelry that the people donating/selling did not realize was good stuff. I wear an antique ring that I paid 50 cents for that I had appraised for $600.00. Recently I found a Hull vase worth $75.00 for $4.95 at a Salvation Army store. So I find it worthwhile to dig through the piles sometimes!

Oooh. Hull (salivating)

Yeah, great find.

i do, but i don’t go out of my way to find them… if somebody gives me some or if i’m in a thrift store i’ll wear them, i just don’t stop at all garage sales and stores to dig up the good bargains…

i guess i’m just lazy…

Yeah, and coming from a really small town in MS our option was walmart or a thrift store. I had to buy stuff from thrift shops and change it a bit to follow trends. I still find really great stuff.

@jessturtle: With those two options, was the stuff at the thrift store just the stuff that Walmart sold in the few years previously?

No, we had a big one that was pretty crappy but my favorite one was a hole in the wall that was set up by some older church ladies my grandparents knew and it had all these clothes from way back in the day like old bellbottom jeans with horses on the back pockets and really great jackets. A lot of it was actually handmade stuff.

Of course!
A lot of times I can find amazing things there. Or at least find something cool that I can turn in to something else.

Heck yeah. Here in where I live in Tennessee they had what is called Dig Stores. They get what looks like a 5 ft by 5ft compressed brick of clothes. Then they open the store. You pick it apart looking for stuff you like until the block is destroyed and the floor is covered in 2ft of clothes. Its a sea of clothes you dig through looking for your own diamonds in the rough. They have what is called “bag day.” On bag day you fill a large garbage bag with clothes and you pay 5 bucks for the bag. One time I bought some jeans and found a little bit of money in them. My mom does this frequently. Its a cheap hobby for her in a way. But every six months or so she accumulates so much clothinng she has to give it to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

I do. My winter jacket is from a thrift store, as is the flannel shirt I’m wearing right now.

I too buy stuff at our thrift shop. Sometimes my sister and I swap. Clothes don’t need to be brand-new, just new to my closet.

I live in NYC, so it’s easy to find stylish, well-made things for cheap at the Goodwills and Salvation Army stores here, thought it does depend on the neighborhood. Once when I lived near a wealthy part of Manhattan, I was able to amass in a few months 10 gorgeous cashmere sweaters from the 50s & 60s, when a girl’s first cashmere sweater was a rite of passage. I’m talking four-ply. All from the Salvation Army. The most I paid for one was $8. I got a vintage 70s-era Coach bag at a Goodwill once for $10.

We also have Housing Works, which is a thrift store that helps the homeless and people with AIDS. That one’s more expensive, but their clothes are either more stylish, breathtakingly gorgeous, a one of a kind piece or of designer vintage. There’s also Beacon’s Closet for the Brooklyn hipster looking for that Jefferson Starship concert t-shirt from 1981, but it’s $90. Second-hand and vintage clothes here can cost as much as clothing from retail outlets, if it’s in a desirable style or it’s a unique piece.

@daisy: nope, we are all different sizes but I guess there isn’t a huge variation. I’d say it goes from size 4 to 12 with a lot of 6s and 8s. It works out. Of course the skinny bitches make the biggest hauls because we all shrink stuff. :)

Helz yeah, probably 7th hand. I sell vintage clothing and sneakers as well.

got some great stuff off ebay, great labels that been worn once or twice – real bargains :)

Yes. Finding an amazing deal can be such a pleasure. I found this totally amazing pea coat for $25, when I’m sure I could have paid $150 for it. Fits me perfectly. And one year I found soccer cleats in my size for $3.50. They lasted me a year. It always made me happy to remember the great deal I got, and the fact that these great items didn’t go to waste.

@Trustinglife, it is a good feeling isn’t it? It’s very satisfying to carry out several bags of clothes and knowing that what I spent for all of that is the same amount I would have spent for only one sweater or pair of pants at a regular store.

One of the best deals I take advantage of in second hand stores is fabric. Many people buy fabric with intent to use it, but don’t, and it gets donated and sold at a FRACTION of the retail price. Plus, the second hand stores wash and dry it, so it saves me having to pre-shrink it! I’ve seen and bought $200 worth of fabric on sale for $6.99.

i will usually only wear used clothes that someone i know gives me. i would wear something if i came across it at a thrift shop, and if it were in good shape, but i don’t go to thrift shops much.

lately, in my area, there have been some areas where there have been bedbug outbreaks. as someone whose house had fleas in it last summer, and had to spend major money on an exterminator, i am wary of getting bedbugs. i hear they are the hardest bug to get rid of, roaches are second, fleas are third. so i am very cautious about bringing home any kind of bug.

@jca you make a good point….
I examine everything I buy….and I wash it all immediately when I get home.
That includes cholorox dunking all toys (when possible) and cholox wiping down anything else…including book covers.
I don’t buy anything that I feel I cannot adequately clean (e.g. pillows, stuffed animals, etc.)
I have never had a problem. Luck? Maybe….

I’d say more odds than luck, Snoopy. I’ve taken things from the side of the road admittedly no mattresses, have worn clothes before washing them, and the only time I touch bleach is when I disinfect my lizards’ food dishes, and I haven’t ever had any type of infection or outbreak of bugs. I see it as strengthening my immune system :)

@Snoopy, ditto that. The things I buy never make it into the house past my laundry room. I walk into my laundry room from the garage and they are immediately sorted and washed before they go any farther. I’ve never had any problems either.

i LOVE thrifting, but the thrift stores around here are pretty disappointing. i did find a nice vintage store with some incredible secondhand stuff, though a bit pricey.

never underwear

I’m picky about clothes and dislike spending money on myself, so I have no business refusing to wear second-hand clothes. Which is a roundabout way of saying “yes” to the question. I don’t have many articles of clothing from Goodwill; but then again, I don’t have many articles of clothing from any single place (again, I’m picky).