Pretty much everything I wear is from thrift stores…not bras, underpants, socks. Not shoes either, but that’s just because I have wide feet and my size almost never turns up, dammit.
It kills me to pay new prices. I sure am glad about all of you who like to buy new though…thank you for your donations!
Where I live the thrift stores are full of last year’s castoffs from rich people who buy new stuff after wearing the old stuff a few times, if at all. This is an unusual area. Everybody, and I do mean everybody, shops at them. I don’t have much luck with clothes but a ton of stuff around my house came from the local ones. I love those stores. I can find things I could never afford new that are dirt cheap and are much better quality than the crap I could afford new.
You just have to be in there on the right day. That’s the only problem. But it’s also fun, you never know what you’ll find!
Love it! I love the treasure hunt aspect, love the bargain aspect. I’ve gotten beautiful, fabulous clothes and jewelery from thrift and vintage store and I walk around lookin’ like a million bucks all the time. Not to mention the Cuisinart and Le Crueset stuff I find in housewares. Yay thrifting!
I wash the stuff immediately, though. Boo, bedbugs.
Just about everything I buy is from the thrift store, not just clothes. Furniture, books, movies, tools, dishes, and our dog crate all came from Goodwill. I find some toys though nothing really good, just like stuffed animals and dolls.
Almost all my daughter’s clothes except shoes and undies, all my SO’s work clothes and anything I can find in my size. Not much for me because fat people never seem to get rid of clothes until they’re in tatters.
Washing clothes in hot water (above 120ºF) will kill bed bug and more importantly their eggs.
Putting non-washables like pillows in driers above 120ºF for an hour (or longer if your really paranoid) will also kill bed bugs and their eggs.
A hot iron will kill bed bugs and their eggs as will a steamer.
Actually bed bugs themselves are easy to kill. A 2 parts rubbing alcohol to one part water sprayed on a bed bug will kill it.
It’s the eggs that are the problem and heat (over 120ºF) is the only effective weapon against them that is commonly available. (There are a few insceticides avail to licenced pest control agents only and an extreme cold machine used by them as well that work too, but they’re not commonly available)
If you choose cold but it’s got to very extreme cold. For instance it would take about 14 days of 0ºF temps to kill bed begs and their eggs. So heat’s a lot better. They do have cold machines, used in resturaunts to zap bed bugs and roaches and stuff. It’s used as you can continue with work while you apply the cold.
So don’t fear the bed bugs. Just make sure you wash in hot water and dry in a hot drier BEFORE you bring it into you house. So take the used clothes in a plastic bad. DUMP The clothes in the washer as soon as you get home. Don’t let the closes or bag sit. Then dispose of the bag and you’ll be fine.
I will gladly wear hand-me-downs (except for socks and lingerie), but I have far less patience than I used to for sorting through poorly organized piles of stuff, plus I am picky about the way things fit and what fabrics they are made of. (I try to stick to natural fibers.) This means that the few articles of used clothing I have anymore are hand-me-downs from family with similar body shapes.
(That, and I’m short, so most pants need hemming unless they’re petites. It seems silly to me to pay more to have a pair of pants hemmed than it cost to buy them.)
Most of my clothes are bought pretty cheap from outlet places or on clearance, and I have a hard enough time finding shoes that work for me because of foot issues requiring custom orthotics. So the cost-benefit ratio generally isn’t worth it as compared to just buying stuff new but on clearance.
I voted ‘sure, do it all the time!’ but now I’m scared of the cooties 
All the ‘good’ clothes I own are from thrift stores. Dresses, skirts, blouses, blazers, and scarves. I have over a dozen cashmere sweaters in all colors, and some of them don’t even have any moth holes! :p… Occasionally I’ll buy pants, but they have to be new looking (if I can’t read the washing instructions on the tag inside, it’s a ‘no’)… Not jeans, underwear, clothes for sleeping, boots or shoes (unless they are obviously new, or something like gold or silver sandals for one-time wear to a dressy event). And I don’t like sweatshirts, fleece, chenille sweaters (hold one up to the light and you will be surprised at the worn spots or holes in most of them)…no t-shirts or knits as a rule as they always seem to have stains or smells and are cheap enough to buy new… I just bought some brand new leather shoes with the price sticker still on - $80! - for $5. And I got a tan and navy cotton Denim & Co. jacket and a Calvin Klein caramel merino hoodie. And a…well, you get the idea…If there were no thrift stores, I’d probably be wearing Hanes sweatshirts and plaid flannel pajama bottoms all the time, lol.
No, it doesn’t bother me that they’re used, as long as they look and feel nice and new-ish, not limp and …I dunno, sticky? Everything gets carried in and put directly into the washing machine. Reading about cooties, stuff will be washed twice from now on, and severely ironed after baking in the dryer!
I have a polo shirt , a silk shirt and quite a few sweaters i’ve picked up used. I did end up replacing the buttons on the polo, so i go the shell buttons at Jo Ann Fabrics. Other things i get from the clearance rack. I have never bought used bras, nor underpants.
I used to be embarrassed to by thrift store clothes when I was a kid. Now I appreciate the fact that I can buy good-quality barely used clothing for a fraction of the price of retail. I’m a stay at home mom, so my wardrobe requirements are pretty basic. Also, my 13 year old niece loves it when I come to family dinner with a cute new(ish) top or dress or skirt for her that was $5 or less.
Sure, (except as others have said, underthings). I haven’t found the correct thrift stores to go to in my new hometown though. The couple that are near my area seem to be…what’s the word?..kind of tacky. And (at least for furniture) ridiculously overpriced.
Any Seattle-ites know of the “good” ones’? 
Until I was 15 or 16 I never owned an item of clothing besides socks and underwear that hadn’t been previously used. I can’t imagine being squicked out by not-factory-fresh clothes.
I left Seattle in 1997, but back then my favorite was Chicken Soup. There was also a great consignment place in a converted house on the Wallingford edge of the U-District at about 50th St. or so… I wish I could remember the name, though it’s probably long gone. I still have a favorite wool coat and a favorite cashmere sweater from there.
I wonder if there’s a gender difference re: thrift store clothing. The things I wear don’t show up at thrift stores. (Not that I’ve looked recently, but at lunch with my coworker I’d have to look at something.) I buy (new) clothes and wear them until they’re unserviceable. I bought the shirt I’m wearing now at least eight years ago. (I bought several shirts at the time, so only a couple have become frayed at the collar. I wash them in cold water so as not to fade them.) ISTM – and this is without much direct evidence – that women tend to buy clothes more often, and women’s fashions change frequently enough that the clothes aren’t worn as much as my clothes are. So bargain-hunting women can find a better variety of newer clothes at thrift stores than guys can.
Now if I can find a '60s-vintage suit…
I buy all my clothes at thrift stores and yard sales. You have to be willing to look through crap, but you can get amazing things at a fraction of the cost.
Two weeks again at the Broadway Flea Market I got a cloth and leather jacket that had the original Whistle Down the Wind logo embroderied on the back for $15. And oh, yes–it used to belong to the show’s lyricist Jim Steinmen, who wrote all those cool Meat Loaf songs.
I grew up wearing mostly thrift store clothing. I don’t so much these days but it’s because my SO refused to shop at thrift stores so I’m just not there as much.
It’s funny because we both grew up poor and wearing almost entirely 2nd hand clothing. I ended up carrying that thrifty philosophy into adulthood and he ended up never wanting to wear anything used again.
I wish the results had been broken out by gender.
As a male who has no problem with used duds, I have a theory that most men, though less particular about clothes, won’t wear used, because it would reflect poorly on their status as earners or providers.
That’s pretty much my SO’s position. He wore used as a kid because they were poor, wearing it now would be a sign that he hasn’t been successful.
I buy whatever I can at thrift stores. Since I’m in a good mood, I’ll admit that I’ve bought ladies “underthings” at thrift stores. I mostly shop at one store and they do an amazing job of filtering and sorting, if the staff put it on the sales floor then I trust it’s wearable. If my purchase keeps the store in business, well, win-win AFAICT.
We have a couple of great thrift stores in our area. We’ve all bought stuff there. Most of my 12 yo son’s back to school shopping was done there. Four pair of shorts and 3 shirts for around $20, all brand names. He was thrilled because then I had the money to buy him the shoes he wanted.
Shoes, socks and underwear I always buy new.