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I get hassled buying "used" clothing.

Messages
925
Location
The Empire State
Every now and again I take my trip to the thrift store,browsing,everthing and anything.I have gotten some great deals on high quality items there.My other half frreaks out when I come in with a garment that"someone else has worn" who cares,I dry clean it wash it and wear it.I have found bespoke blazers,Bally loafers,Brooks Brothers shirts etc.I guess some folks have to have new.Well new to me sometimes is just poorly made junk!I will keep on picking so to speak and maybe some day I will find that diamond in the rough!Brian.
 

nihil

One of the Regulars
Messages
206
Location
Copenhagen
I purchase lots of second hand clothing. There are so many incredible deals to be made, that I would be downright foolish to not do it.
As long as it's outer garments, accessories and such, I have no concerns whatsoever. A good dry cleaner can easily make the items as fresh as when they were made.
 

jodbirch

New in Town
Messages
25
I'm to the point I'm literally buying 70% or more of my wardrobe from the thrift store. There's nothing like finding a $70 shirt that's been barely worn for $3.50. I've found $100 ties for a dollar each. Just wash the stuff and it's good to go (steam or dry clean the ties!). If you're consistent, you'll find some great stuff. Plus, you're saving money, keeping more stuff out of the landfill, and you're usually helping a charity raise money. Win-win in my book.
 

kiwilrdg

A-List Customer
Messages
474
Location
Virginia
Many items in thrift stores are new. I bought a Ralph Lauren tailcoat new (tags attached) at a Goodwill store. Many department stores donate returned items to Goodwill.

Some things like Harris Tweed look better if they are older.
 

Gin&Tonics

Practically Family
Messages
899
Location
The outer frontier
You rock on, brother! Absolutely nothing wrong with wearing used clothing. Especially in this day and age when we're supposedly so conscious of the environment and using resources wisely!

Just remember,
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Messages
10,181
Location
Pasadena, CA
My wife loves that I do this more now. I've been buying a lot of used clothing this year. I won't do shoes, and I won't do under-gaments for obvious reasons, but I see nothing wrong with used clothing - the money saved is amazing, and you don't have to go through the break-in. lol
And there are many items you just can't get new. So as long as they're clean(ed) and in good condition, enjoy. And go out to dinner with the money you saved.
 
Messages
13,470
Location
Orange County, CA
Except for socks and underwear practically everything I wear comes from the thrift shop. At the one by my house I've found several leather jackets. I kept one and sold the others.
 

St. Valentine

A-List Customer
Messages
433
Location
Germany
It´s wise to buy this way! Today´s fashion prices can be downright crazy and people keep throwing away things because "they are so yesterday". Unfortunately women can be really act upon these things. Goodness gracious, one can wash his clothes.... :eusa_doh:
 

kiwilrdg

A-List Customer
Messages
474
Location
Virginia
I knew a very large guy who would take items that needed dry cleaning to the thrift store and donate them. He was the largest guy in town so no one else would need suits in his size. The dry cleaners did the thrift store stuff as a tax writeoff. He would buy his old suits back the next week for less than the dry cleaners would charge for the suits. :eusa_clap
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,771
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The only person I know who *doesn't* wear "used clothing" is my sister, and she's got a mental tic about germs. I'd hardly think following her example is a sensible attitude for anybody.

Habitues of Goodwill stores in Maine know that L. L. Bean dumps all their cutout merchandise there. Only suckers pay retail.
 

O2BSwank

One of the Regulars
Messages
137
Location
San Jose Ca.
I started thrifting for clothing last year. My wife looks in thrift stores and flea markets for old furniture and what-nots that she fixes up and resells. I have found so many bargains on quality clothing, for example a silk Tommy Bahama shirt for 3.50! Allen Edmond DelReys for 6.50!

Anyhow, I make it a point to only buy the higher line quality items that I will actually wear. I found my first fur felt fedora at a vintage store in Reno for 7.00. I found a rear bow Dobbs that was way too small for me that I bought just for display, for 10.00 at an antique fair. If it had fit me, I would wear it, I told my wife "all the cooties died fifty years ago!"

Seriously, to anyone that says that used clothing, linens, china. silverware etc are "gross" I ask"
I guess you have never eaten in a restaurant, stayed in a hotel, or rented a tux or gone bowling," (Well maybe not the bowling, you don't get fifty years between users).
 

sheeplady

I'll Lock Up
Bartender
Messages
4,479
Location
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, USA
If I didn't wear used clothing, I'd have no clothes. Literally, 90% of my clothing by volume is used. I even wear used slips. I can spend $50 and get a garbage bag full of clothes, or I can spend $50 and get one item. It's stupid not to buy used items. I'm proud that I thrift store shop, find deals, and ensure that my family has more than enough because I'm thrifty.

I'm wearing a "previously loved" dress right now. When someone compliments me on my outfit, I always say if I got it from a thrift store. I'm darn proud of it.

The money I spend at the thrift store goes to charity programs- food pantries, drug rehabilitation programs, and shelters. Where does my money go at a retail establishment? It doesn't go to help the hungry or house the battered. It goes to support an industry which relies on slave labor, has vast differences in pay equality, and pollutes the earth. The retail industry contributes to many of the problems the thrift stores are trying to help. I'd rather feed somebody a meal or give a person shelter when I buy a dress.
 

Miss Stella

One of the Regulars
Messages
195
Location
California
The Mister use to rib me about buying used clothing....not anymore! One thrift store in town has all you can stuff in a bag for $12 every few weeks....I cannot begin to tell you all of the lovelies I have found...this past month I even got a genuine Ermine neck shawl!!
He doesn't wear vintage but if I find him western shirts, vintage or not, he wears them. I think he just happy I'm an easy keeper!
 

Sharpsburg

One of the Regulars
Messages
240
Location
Maryland
Here, here! I have found wonderful bargains at thrifts AND help to reduce what goes to the landfill!

These days the thrifts are swamped with new bargain hunters and those who cannot afford new


Stay strong and buy used!
 

gdc

One of the Regulars
Messages
107
Location
Kansas
At least 90% of my wardrobe is from Thrift stores. This year alone I've purchased three pair of new dress shoes that way, each retail around $300. The local Brooks Brothers donates to one store I frequent.
 

sheeplady

I'll Lock Up
Bartender
Messages
4,479
Location
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, USA
I don't like to wear used clothes :eeek: I can't stop thinking who died with the thing on. :confused:

It's really, really unlikely that anything in a thrift store is an item someone died in. Logistically, in an emergency situation, most clothing is not removed gently- EMTs and other healthcare workers are taught to rip and cut clothing, not to waste time by undressing someone. If someone is hospitalized and passes on, they are unlikely to be wearing clothes, but instead a hospital gown.

Many places will destroy the clothes for the family members (as a kindness) but they ask you if you'd like them or not. All of the people I have known who have had clothes returned from a coroner or a funeral home after their loved one died either kept or destroyed the clothes- they didn't turn them into a thrift store. In almost all cases, the clothes were not usable because they'd been destroyed when being removed or they were in too bad shape to be given away due to the circumstances.

If you have an aversion to wearing clothes someone died in, imagine the aversion the family members would have to giving away clothes a loved one died in to be worn by someone else.
 

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