The Best Week of Thrift

When you’ve been thrifting for as long as I have, it becomes increasingly challenging to pick favourite finds. You may wonder, then, at the boldness of my title. I’ll set things straight right off the bat: this is not a post about finding Chanel, or Hermès, or anything of that sort. Instead, my experiences during the week in question highlight what, to me, are the best parts of thrifting: finding something you have long admired, or something completely unexpected and cool, or something that fits just right and makes your heart sing. There were also some good “thrifting lessons” along the way, which I thought I’d share with any aspiring thrifters in the audience.

The Unexpected

I am going to start with the unexpected because, chronologically, this was my first find of the week. It happened on a short stop at the Value Village closest to my house. As I wrote in this previous post, I struck gold – literally. I found a gold necklace for $3, just hanging out on the costume jewelry rack. I’ve never spent much time combing thrift stores for gold because it’s a bit like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, and there are so many other treasures to be found with far less time and effort. This lucky find doesn’t change my strategy, though it does emphasize the importance of looking closely at racks/displays that are overcrowded and may not seem promising on a cursory view.

If you are a thrifting newbie, how do you look for quality? One of the easiest ways is weight; good quality costume jewelry tends to be heavier than cheaper stuff. This is not always the case, but it’s a good rule of thumb. Also look at the workmanship of details like the clasps and links, and check for signs of tarnish; the metallic finish on less expensive costume jewelry tends to rub off more quickly, so pieces will show signs of wear in places where the piece might be expected to rub against skin or other surfaces (e.g. back of the necklace where it rests against the person’s neck, underside of rings, etc.).

Once you’ve been thrifting for a while, you will learn to spot quality by sight and touch. It stands out – just as the gold necklace did to me, even though I am not an expert in fine jewelry. It’s not so much that I recognized it as being gold; I could just see that it was better quality than anything else around it, which prompted me to investigate it further. For jewelry, look for engravings or markings, indicating either the brand or metal content (if silver or gold). In almost all cases, the higher quality costume jewelry will be marked; fine metals always are.

Pause to talk about general thrifting strategy.

I am a big fan of “speed thrifting”; it’s how I am able to make the most of the limited time I have available also taking into consideration the fact that frequent visits are the best way to increase your chances of thrifting success. I visit the two stores closest to my house on a weekly basis, but I generally spend less than an hour in each one. This doesn’t give me enough time to methodically look through each and every section of the store. Most of the time, I choose 5 or 6 sections, and I scan them visually – I call it “eyeballing” – stopping in to touch and have closer looks at pieces that jump out at me. Again, for a newbie, this approach probably won’t work, and you will likely need to spend more time on each section and each rack; this is actually very helpful, because it’s how you learn to spot quality. You have 2 options: either spend more time going through the whole store in this manner (which can be exhausting, tbh), or narrow down your search to only 2 or 3 sections of the store for each visit, alternating sections between visits.

The Long Quest

A few nights after my gold-digging (zing!) adventure, I stopped at my usual Goodwill. I know this store like the back of my hand, and I tend to navigate it in the same way each time. One of my first stops is the dress rack, where I proceeded to find this Rachel Roy number.

This jumped out at me because of the print. I recognized it immediately; I used to have not one but two pieces in the same pansy print (against a white background, not yellow). Needless to say, it was one of my favourite prints for a long time. I eventually purged both of those pieces for other reasons, but my print nostalgia was strong enough to prompt me to take the dress to the changing room. I debated for a while, but ended up deciding to buy the dress, largely because I was taken with the mix of patterns. I am obsessed with Dries Van Noten at the moment, and I thought this piece, with its clashing, vibrant patterns, had a similar vibe. No one will mistake this for a high-end designer dress, especially close up (it’s 100% polyester), but it was on sale for $4.25 and I was intrigued by its possibilities. I was also swayed by how nice the dress looked in the changing room selfie I took, which brings up another good “lesson”.

I have been known to buy things at the thrift store without trying them on, but I don’t recommend that unless you’re familiar with the brand and its sizing, and you’re sure it fits your style. Generally speaking, and especially for “maybe” pieces, do try them on before you buy – most thrift stores don’t accept returns, or only offer exchanges at best. I also highly recommend taking a photo while you’re trying on the item; it will give you an opportunity to look at fit more critically, and also help you to solicit a second opinion if need be.

My best find on this occasion was actually a J. Crew necklace. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Except that it was a necklace I had been coveting for years.

I had first spotted this on another blogger’s Instagram, long after it was available in stores. I didn’t have any luck on eBay, so after a while, I gave up looking for it. The beauty of thrift is that you never know when you’ll run into something like this. This is not the first time I’ve found an older/discontinued/hard to find item at the thrift store after years of looking for it online. There are no guarantees, of course, so the “lesson”, if there is one, is to always keep an eye out. You never know!

The J. Crew necklace was one of 3 I found on this visit, and the other two were quite lovely as well:

The chunky necklace on the right reminded me of something you might find at Anthropologie; considering those pieces run anywhere from $70 and up, this $8.50 version (from Chico’s!) was a steal. The green jade-like necklace was only $1.50, and judging from the quality, it’s probably vintage. All three pieces suit my personal aesthetic perfectly, and what more can one ask for? Speaking of which …

The Perfect Dress, Times 3

On this particular week, I was able to make an extra thrift trip – this one to a Goodwill on the other side of town. There, I quickly struck gold (not literally this time) in the dress aisle. Not one but three dresses that were just perfect for my Artist/Boho style avatars jumped into my cart.

With the exception of the striped Moulinette Soeurs dress, the others didn’t look like much on the hanger; they’re very much of the “sack dress” variety, whose true fit is not apparent until they’re on the body. I decided they were worth a try because (a) sack dresses are my thing, and (b) the fabric in each case was promising (100% cotton and 100% linen, respectively). Sure enough, I loved how these dresses draped on the body, and I have a gazillion plans for wearing them.

I’m not sure if this is a “lesson” per se, but having a well-defined style (or style avatars) has helped me immensely in terms of thrifting efficiently. No matter how beautiful an item of clothing might be, if I can see at a glance that it doesn’t suit my aesthetic, I move on immediately. I also know to keep an eye out for certain brands and fabrics that are “good bets” for my style – those I always look at more closely and/or try on. Linen is a good example; it’s not always the case, but there’s a good chance that a 100% linen piece will be cut in a way that’s intriguing to me – loose, sack-y, relaxed. Brand-wise, Wilfred is a good example too. I don’t buy 100% of the Wilfred/Aritzia pieces I find, but I do own a fair number of items from that brand because – like the beige dress above – they tend to have that minimalist aesthetic I like.

If you have other specific thrifting related questions, let me know and I will do my best to answer them. And if you have tips to share, please do so in the comments!