Goodwill Hunting

[AlanC]

Riley Dee, those are fantastic. I shudder to think what they would retail for, but considering they're Scabal cashmere of serious construction, perhaps $500+. Too bad they're fully lined so you won't be able to feel the goods when you're wearing them. Down in here in Dixie those things would never make it out of the closet save for one day cold enough every decade or so.

Here's the beginning of an article on Ellis of Edinburgh, well, at least the beginning of it. You have to pay for the full article, but apparently there is an Ellis-Oklahoma connection as the last word in the revealed part of the article so tantalizingly reveals. Please let us know what you find out.


I don't primarily shop for vintage, but I practically live off thrift finds. I have a $2500 Luciano Barbera from Saks suit that is due back from the alterations tailor any day now; I paid $35 for it at a thrift shop about a month ago. The stuff's out there. Persistence, persistence.

 

[dr greg]

not really vintage, but......

In a junk shop the other day, got these for 50c each, and they are AS NEW, the one on the left is a DRAKE'S OF LONDON, and the other ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA, both are handmade silk, and you know what: they'll do me!

 

[AlanC]

Not a bad junk shop that has Drake's and Zegna two for a dollar.

 

[PADDY]

A few finds.

Bought a new pair of Loakes English chestnut full Brogue shoes for £5 (currently that's about $10 US).
Also a wool 1938 perfect DB Tux for about £7.
All wool single breasted Crombie overcoat £5 (had it a few years now and it's beautiful).

 

[dr greg]

hit and miss

Not a bad junk shop that has Drake's and Zegna two for a dollar.

Yes but it broke my heart last week, there was a blue pinstriped D/B suit on the rack for $2. looked fine until I went to try it on, and the armpits and crotch were totally eaten out by what had to be rats since I don't think moths could do that amount of damage in a century. Still worth a weekly visit tho!

 

[Dinerman]

the armpits and crotch were totally eaten out by what had to be rats

Ouch!

 

[cookie]

Yes but it broke my heart last week, there was a blue pinstriped D/B suit on the rack for $2. looked fine until I went to try it on, and the armpits and crotch were totally eaten out by what had to be rats since I don't think moths could do that amount of damage in a century. Still worth a weekly visit tho!

Yeah. Thats the guy who took the famous advice to buy one good suit and wore it to death....he would never have felt comfortable around here

You guys won't beat my recent best finds - a Brioni DB perfect nick navy blue suit with little to no fading at AUD50....and a Celine dead stock navy blue made in Italy DB linen suit for AUD16 for my son and an immaculate DAKS City Slicker striped gray SB for my son for AUD50. The other thing was a 60s Harris Tweed coat for him in his size with an amazing 'never seen it before' weave. A famous old single guy who worked in the film industry and was Mr Dapper around town passed on and sent it to Vinnies.

 

[funneman]

Great vintage ties.

After my daughter's gymnastics class on Saturday, I wandered into the Goodwill store in the strip center.

I stumbled onto five vintage, print silk ties.

There's only one that's probably truly vintage, it has a price tag that reads $45.00 and it's very short, but oddly enough, it's rather skinny as well. I wonder if it is a boy's tie? It's a Pierre Balmain.

The other four are probably 70s silk reproductions, but I love the Art Deco look of the patterns.
One says "Burma Bibas" the other "Stafford Executive". Once is missing the tag, and the last one is a Perry Ellis, but it has a entire solar system print . How could you not buy that tie?

When I got to the register I received the best surprise of all, $1.50 each.

 

[Dr Doran]

Goodwill Hunting is my middle name. The majority of my suits have come from Goodwill. It's near my university. I have bought about 20 suits there over the years. Each cost $19.99. None have been from the 1940s, but many have been utterly cool or at least sufficiently cool. Many many sports jackets. Occasional slacks, always $4.99. Ties -- although very few vintage ones at that Goodwill. Shoes: a pair of Florsheim black and oxblood two tone saddle shoes, only needing a shine, very good condition, comfortable and beautiful for $5.99. My favorites and they get constant compliments. Shirts, although I prefer Ross for shirts.

I step into G'will about twice a month and find something only once every two months. That never disappoints me because I have a system now and I know what to expect.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

I've found a lot of single breasted peak lapel sport coats from Goodwill. They aren't vintage in the 30's or 40's sense, but they are heavy and handmade.

 

[AlanC]

As thrifting fate would have it...

I came across my own thrifted Drake's tie today:

I think I paid about 3x what you did, though, dr greg. It's the first Drake's I've ever found thrifting (and I've found a lot of ties thrifting). I recently sold off a couple of Drake's I had; I like this one better than either one of the others.

 

[Miss Brill]

I found an early 1900's Lalique powder jar & paid about $1.99 for it, and resold it on eBay for nearly $1000. Seems like it was $900-ish. That is the best thing I've found at Goodwill. I did find an aligator belt a few years ago & it retails for about $300. I have had a lot of luck with designer scarves--Chanel, Versace, Hermes, Cartier, you name it. I found a Tiffany & Co. Paloma Picasso necklace once, and a bunch of ugly Coach and Dooney & Bourke bags. [huh]

 

[Miss Sis]

Things are still to be found, you just have to look and look and look!

My best buy? A fantastic 1930s evening dress in perfect condition that fits like it was made for me from a charity shop in Edinburgh for £20. I couldn't pay for it quick enough! I also got other 30s and 40s blouses and a 40s evening jacket at the same time. Obviously they all came from the same person.

I love the Scottish - we always find something up threre. Last time my BF found a Utility coat, although unfortunately it had been cut down into a car coat length. Still cool though.

I think the best charity shops in England are the independent ones for places like local hospices. They put out more quirky stuff and their prices are better.

 

[cookie]

Salvos

Salvos whistle up the stylemeisters
By Brigid Delaney
April 13, 2004

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The prices may not necessarily be giveaway . . . Pia Anderson at a vintage clothing store in The Rocks. Photo: Danielle Smith


The Salvation Army is training staff in the fickle art of hip.

Fashion magazines are placed in staff tea rooms and workers are encouraged to know Gucci from Prada, and haute couture from high street rip-off.

Sydney's hunger for vintage and secondhand clothes has fuelled a 15 per cent profit surge for the Salvation Army's retail stores in the last 12 months.

The workers hit the clearing house floor, sorting the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothing that arrive each year.

The best clothes are sent to the Salvation Army's inner city stores - in Darlinghurst, Glebe and Bondi Junction - where prices and turnover are higher.

Meanwhile each morning, between 20 and 30 wholesale buyers wait for up to an hour outside the Salvation Army's Minchinbury and St Peters factories. They buy damaged or stained clothes which are then cleaned up and sold at marked-up prices at the Paddington, Glebe and Bondi markets or in commercial second-hand stores in Surry Hills and Newtown.

The vintage look is favoured by celebrities such as Helena Christensen, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chloe Sevigny and Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City.

The cover of this month's Harper's Bazaar says "Fashion - a Vintage Season All You Need Now."

Michael Liebewberg, the owner of Rokit, a vintage clothing store in the Rocks, defined vintage as clothes "usually 25 to 50 years old".

"Second-hand is clothes from the '80s to last season," he said.

The vintage clothing boom has meant Mr Liebewberg has expanded to a second shop.

"We're such a casual society but people want that glamour again of owning beautiful vintage clothing. Younger girls and office workers are now coming into the shop and are buying a piece of vintage clothing that they can mix and match with jeans to create a distinctive look," he said.

Colin Bertram, fashion news editor of In Style Magazine, said "it's one of the few ways you can give your look an individual edge. Unless you have an awful lot of money to buy designer clothes it's hard to look individual."

Charities are hoping the trend will continue. The Smith Family made $6.2 million from its retail arm last financial year.

 

[Miss Sis]

People sometimes say charity shops are getting more pricey but can you blame them for charging a bit more for something that is fashionable? They are trying to raise money for charity after all, so I don't mind paying a bit more.

Still alot cheaper than vinatge clothes shops/dealers.

 

[Dr Doran]

I think the best charity shops in England are the independent ones for places like local hospices. They put out more quirky stuff and their prices are better.

Same on this side of the pond. The best places are the small places which immediately sell, right there, the very things that are given to them right there.

 

[Dr Doran]

I've found a lot of single breasted peak lapel sport coats from Goodwill. They aren't vintage in the 30's or 40's sense, but they are heavy and handmade.

Heavy, handmade, and peak lapel? Hey, I'll be in LA at some point in the next year. What say you tell me which Goodwill you go to ...

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My most profitable thrift store purchase was pretty recent.

Found at a local Goodwill for $ 10: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?p=314850&highlight=Sweet#post314850


Several weeks later, I put it up on eBay. The jacket sold for $ 810 to a bidder in Japan.


.

 

[cookie]

Same on this side of the pond. The best places are the small places which immediately sell, right there, the very things that are given to them right there.

Thats what happens at my local Vinnies.

 

[Dr Doran]

Thats what happens at my local Vinnies.

Is Vinnies St Vincent de Paul?