I get most of my clothes from thrift stores. About all I won’t buy is underwear/swimwear. All of my clothes for RenFaire are from thrift stores / hand me downs. Including both pairs of boots. Probably 90% of my shirts are. All but one of my coats/jackets are used. I’ve never had a problem.
Ahh. More similar to a flea market than to a consignment shop though, IMO.
As long as I can wash it, I’m fine with it. I couldn’t wear an unwashable sequined gown though. It’s gotta be clean. And no used shoes for the same reason.
It’s mostly what I own and wear. There’s a consignment store not too far from me where I can get nice clothes cheaply. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. No panties, socks, or bras though, that’s just gross.
Besides the consignment store, I have clothes, from friends, relatives, and exes, either on purpose or by accident, plus one pair of sweatpants I’ve had for at least ten years that I’m damned if I can remember where they came from, they just showed up in the wash one day.
We have high end consignment stores here that I use all the time. I can get a pair of Seven For All Mankind jeans in new condition for $40, when they usually retail for $200, or a Gucci purse for $60. I like blazers/suit jackets but they are very expensive new. I can get them at the consignment for $40. A lot of times I find brand new shoes or boots (i.e. still in the box with the stuffing, soles are clean), like a new pair of Nine West heels, for $25. I like nice clothes, and that’s how I afford it.
I have an odd dichotomy. I will very willingly wear used clothes given to me by family, whether it’s clothes they can’t use anymore or bought at a yard sale. But I don’t want to buy clothes second hand for myself. Why? I was poor as a child, so thrift store clothes were what I wore. That means actually buying used clothing reminds me of worse days. (The fact I have a very weak fashion sense means the vintage angle has little appeal to me.) Then why can I accept second hand items given to me by family members? The only thing I can think of is that buying an item forces you to think a lot more about a purchase, while your family giving you stuff is much more offhand. Not very logical but it’s how I feel.
I haven’t bought anything secondhand for years but at various times have bought things - a couple of awful shirts and ties for bad taste events and odds and ends that caught my eye. I remember in my teens buying the pants from a dress uniform, black with red stripes and a name tag of a colonel sewn in.
I said sure, no prob - though I have to qualify, this doesn’t extend to underwear / bathing suits. Bras get stretched out and you’d never get a good fit, and underpants / bathing suits have permanent other-people cooties in my mind.
The difference would be, I’d DEFINITELY wash such clothes before wearing them. New-bought clothes I’m not so fussy about.
Sure, I’ve got no problem wearing used clothes, except for socks and undies. They have to be new.
I especially like buying my jeans used. I can get them for $3.25 to $4.50 a pair, whether they cost $20 or $200 brand new. It saves me a ton of money, and have the added benefit of already being broken in most times. Same goes for slacks. Unfortunately it’s hard to find t-shirts in my size at thrift stores, since most guys my size prefer button up, polo, or dress shirts.
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And my current work boots were purchased used. Most comfortable and longest-lasting boots I’ve ever owned.
Most of my clothes come from charity shops.
Always new: underwear, socks
Usually new: T-shirts, footwear, hats
50/50: Jackets, coats
Usually 2nd hand: shorts, shirts
Always 2nd hand: jeans, trousers
That’s what I’ve always done, and I’d have to move up a couple of income levels to even consider buying everything new. Plus I enjoy the hunting and gathering aspect of buying from charity shops.
I’d buy clothes online more often if I trusted the sizing, but for me - tallish, skinny guy - finding something that fits requires trying it on.
I’ll wear used anything other than socks and underwear. Shopping for used pants, I can get better quality than the new price of the brands I can afford. I bought a bunch of Eddie Bauer canvas pants for $1 each at a thrift store that were, to my eye, pretty much brand new. And sometimes stores donate genuinely new stock that is just “out of style” to the thrift stores.
As long as it can be cleaned and rendered scentless. I got handed a uniform coat when I worked for Wackenhut that the previous woman had obviously believed that hosing down with perfume was just as good as bathing :eek: It took my office boss 3 runs through the laundry and a dry cleaning to finally get the stench out. [When I left, My uniforms were in impeccable condition and had no discernible scent to them - not even dryer sheets as many people are allergic to them.]
I will not do used furniture unless it comes from someone I know, there is too great a risk to bring unwanted vermin and bugs into the house otherwise. [Had a friend back in Norfolk that picked up a great looking sofa from housing in Oceana, and imported several thousand roaches into his flat.]
I buy most of my clothes from a local charity thrift shop–and on Dollar Day, to boot! While I’ll buy shirts/blouses, jackets/coats, slacks/jeans, bras and shoes, I won’t buy anything that has been, or may have been, in direct contact with anyone’s crotch. (Ick.)
I grew up dirt poor, and the only clothes I ever got were from Goodwill, garage sales, or hand-me-downs from family and friends. That being said, now that I have moved up in the world and am no longer dirt poor, I still buy used clothes. Nowadays, although I don’t shop exclusively for used clothes, they’re from higher end consignment stores (for casual and work clothes).
During the summer, I spend a lot of time outdoors, in the garden, and even in the winter months, I’m busy with projects around the house. This means I’m VERY tough on clothing–it’s not unusual for me to have have t-shirts and shorts that are stained, bleached, torn, or just in very poor condition–at which point, they go in the trash or are used as rags. Every few months, I head out to the local Salvation Army Thrift Store and snatch up half a dozen t-shirt in VERY good condition for about $1 each. I’ve started looking for ones now that have funky sayings, or from places I’d like to go. I cleaned the house this morning wearing one that says, “Jamaica No Problem”. It’s heavy duty cotton and so far, in very good condition (not for long though, I’m sure.)
Even the clothes I buy at consignment stores are higher quality than the clothes I could buy elsewhere. (I’m not dropping $60 on a blouse for work, but will spring $10 for the same blouse in a consignment store.) I do tend to buy pants at regular department stores because apparently my lowerhalf is so odd that there are a lot of brands and styles of pants that just don’t work. I tend to avoid buying clothing for work and casual clothes at Goodwill/Salvation Army because I simply don’t have the patience to sort through rack after rack of clothing to find something in my size. Consignment stores tend to have everything neatly divided into size.
I wear stuff from thrift stores all the time. I love finding cool stuff for very little cost. Some days I’ll stop and realize that almost everything I’m wearing (shirt, pants, shoes) came from a thrift store. FWIW, I’m a male.
A good tip for used furniture: buy it in the Winter and let it sit out for a couple of days in the cold. If the nights get below freezing once or twice before you bring it in you should have no problem with bugs.
Roaches and bedbugs would be easily dealt with if there weren’t the danger of pipes freezing in the walls.
I often go past a Goodwill that draws from a fairly upscale “pool.” I buy used stuff but I am pretty selective - I choose name brand, good quality items made of good fibers in good condition.
Last time I got two 100% cashmere sweaters for $11. One was an ugly color of fuschia so I unraveled it and overdyed the yarn dark plum (BTW it was an Ann Taylor sweater). Now I have $100 worth of cashmere yarn for knitting in a color I really like! The other was a pretty shade of heathered green, fineweight and very work appropriate. I have bought other work clothes at the same shop - tailored shirts mostly.
I don’t principally wear used clothing but if I see a great deal on a quality item, I’m very pleased.
You betcha. Due to the economy Kevbabe is now living several hundred miles distant. I bought most of wardrobe big enough for week-long visits for about $40 at goodwill, so now I don’t have to pack and unpack (and forget stuff)…just help with the laundry when I am there. The bathrobe I found is actually nicer than the one I have at home.
If you throw a half-cup of ammonia in with the load of wash it is very effective at killing stank. I do this with my bought-new cycling clothes, and it has eliminated the issue of the stank starting the minute I break a sweat. (that was a tip culled from the dope, thanks to whoever posted it!)
I have also had good luck finding virtually new shoes, which I have a theory about: I wear a size 14. People who wear larger than size 13 are prone to buying extra pairs of shoes when they find them and throwing them on the shelf…so when they die there are often 2-3 pairs of NIB shoes that nobody in the family can wear.
When I was growing up, my mother had a close friend who had a couple of daughters. One was almost exactly my age, and the other was a couple of years older. Both of those girls were bigger than I was, so I frequently got hand-me-down clothes, which I rather enjoyed, as my mother’s friend had better taste in kids’ and teens’ clothing than my mother did.
As an adult, I haven’t been able to find much in the way of used clothing, other than a couple of scarves. If I did find something that I liked and that fit me well, then I’d buy it. I DO buy used furniture, and I put it out in the garage for a while. I also buy other used items.