AND GOD MADE THE THRIFT SHOP AND SAID THAT IT WAS GOOD

[Daniel Riser]

Gentlemen,

with all this talk about tuxedos, and suits for $100 on ebay etc etc. I urge you to find the hole in the wall thrift shops or for the insecure amongst us...charity stores. These places are just waiting to be discovered by vintage guys like us. Let me give you an example.

Lauren Henline was searching for vintage clothing at a small charity store in a little town called Fallbrook, California. It's an old town with classic charm, and...classic clothes hiding behind leisure suits and boxes of ties for a quarter each.

While looking through dozens of 80's attire to find the one gem she stumbled on a dated 1942 double breasted tuxedo with the ribbed satin, wide lapels, original matching trousers, mint condition...

for 3 bucks. That's right, don't add zeroes. It was not a typo. Just 3 bucks!

A recap: Mint condition, dated 1942... 3 bucks!

This is the same thrift shop where I found a three button dated 1938 window pagne single breasted suit and pants for 2 bucks, the same place that I found a wool/cashmere double breasted vintage over coat for a whopping 5 bucks!

so let's see the grand total (including Lauren's find) 10 bucks! Hahahaha. I just paid several times that for one suit on ebay. Ha...well let's hope these little gems are still around, perhaps Lauren and I have wiped this one out, but there are others waiting to be discovered....

Regards,

Mr. Daniel A. Riser Esq

[Lauren]

shhh... you'll give away the secret! No, I'm just kidding. The fine people of the lounge may partake in the hidden treasure. More successes today, along the lines of women's clothing:

*Late 50's/early 60's coat with mink collar in perfect condition: $17.50
*Early 60's double breasted wool coat with huge buttons: $8
*50's circle dress with rick rack on contrasting collar: $6.25
*50's beaded wool cardigan: $4.95
*late 40's "alligator" purse- $3.95
*late 50's bright pink purse with gold handle- $3.00
*30's or 40's scrap "cutter" quilt- $6.00
*gold costume flower pin $0.50
*Men's vintage overcoat $10.00
*40's/50's tux buttons in original cardboard box $0.50
*2 vintage 40's or 50's scarves, one from Saks $1.50 ea

but I smell like old people and I have seen enough 80's to make me gag. Well worth the germs, dust, and odors, in my opinion

[The Wingnut]

Word of mouth is a good tool in finding vintage clothing as well. I picked up two '40s vintage suits in June for the whopping price of $20 total.

[Ken]

Pickings tend not to be so good over here, outside London, for vintage findings.

Ken

[schwammy]

The wife and bambina being out of town for a week, I did something I rarely do anymore - scour the thrift stores. And brother, did it pay off this time! At the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Store, I scored a mint brown wool 3-button single-breasted suit (1940s, I'm guessing) with the high waisted trousers with watch pocket, in my size, for $25. I didn't even know they made 3-button models back then.

The single flaw is a tiny moth hole at the edge of one sleeve, but the sleeves were a bit too long anyway, so I'm having them shortened, and this thing wil be ready to hit the town. (Or, more realistically, the church, which is in town.)

Then I hit the Salvation Army next door and came away with no less than ten 1940s-1950s neckties at a buck or two apiece. And most of them match the suit. I am elated to say the least.

With the recent acquisition of a mint brown Chase fedora, I now have an entire wardrobe that cost me less than $70.

Interesting to note how old wool suits are heavier by far than modern suits, while vintage ties and hats are far lighter than the modern versions.

[Wild Root]

Pickings tend not to be so good over here, outside London, for vintage findings.

Well,... if you go to the flea markets, you will find it! I have a friend that moved over to California from the UK and he has some really sweet stuff. Infact, most of the vintage over there is from the U.S.! I know of two friends over there that find some really nice things. So, start looking in the right place and you will find some really nice stuff.

Root.

[Strider]

I go to thrift stores all the time. I live in San Diego, so we don't have a shortage of 'em. I found a seriously nice Bogie-style Fedora at one once for 6$.

Regards,
Strider

[dietcookie]

I live in San Diego. What is the name of the thrift store in Fallbrook? I might have to make a stop some time

[Dr. Shocker]

I live here in Ventura, CA and we have a tremendous amount of deals to be had in Thrift Stores and Second Hand Stores.......I just came home with a couple of good finds not quite as old as some of oyu are into but nonetheless awsome finds.......

[SHARPETOYS]

It seems people must have given away suits, jackets etc. before moving to Florida. Mostly junk shirts and polly pants here.

[jamespowers]

Originally Posted by SHARPETOYS

It seems people must have given away suits, jackets etc. before moving to Florida. Mostly junk shirts and polly pants here.

Polly pants---oh boy.
Once in a while you find some nice stuff out here. My wife managed to find me a blue/black cape and a brown herringbone over coat a while ago. Not bad. I think they both managed to set her back $20.
It just depends where you look I guess.

Regards to all,

J

[The Wingnut]

I made the mistake of buying some polyester pants when I first got into vintage...the pleats on the front were nice, but the rest of the pants were awful.

The fabric itself was incredibly thin and built up static like mad. The legs clung to my calves and looked horrendous. In hot weather, I sweat like a pig because they didn't breathe, in cold weather, I froze to death because they didn't hold heat.

Wool blends or straight wool from here on out! I've noticed just how thin modern clothes are by comparison to those made even 20 years ago. Suits on the rack in most stores are paper thin! It's astounding. There must be an industry-wide plot to force people to buy new clothes simply due to tearing them or wearing through them in a few years. Comparing my blue '43 dated double-breasted pintripe suit to a modern one, the blue suit is at least 3 times heavier. It's amazing what people will buy these days...

My last 2 pairs of shoes and my latest sport jacket were bought for a song at a thrift store. I spent less than $30 altogether and would have spent ten times that much if I'd bought them new!

[STHill]

There's a large Goodwill store near my office. I drop by there once a week or so to check out the goods. Great place to find sport jackets and blue blazers. Also ties. None of it is vintage, but a lot is high-quality, sometimes almost brand new, modern stuff.

You have to be picky and know what you're looking for, but what a great resource. I routinely find $200 jackets and $30 ties for $5.50 and $1.50, respectively.

[Wild Root]

(Vintage weight)

Yes, friends of mine (That don’t know vintage) are shocked to hold ONE suit in their hands. They say: How can you wear this??? It’s so heavy. Then I say: Big babies! It’s not heavy when you’re wearing it! Then, I say try and hold three or four of these vintage suits! It’s really heavy!!!

My self, I love heavy fabric and such. I like to know that I’m wearing something! It also wrinkles less and is very tough stuff!

They make clothes so cheap today because of money. That’s all, just money. It’s very expensive to make quality clothes that will last. Thick pure fabric is very expensive because you have to pay for the wool and then pay for it to be made into a fabric. Also, there are lots of men that don’t care for heavy fabric. I’m sure if they tried it, they would like it. But, some men like to feel as if they have no clothes on.

There is also the fact that fabric doesn’t need to be as thick and tough as it was back then. Fashions change so fast and men just don’t wear suits as much as they used to that suits and dress clothes are made out of paper weight crap!

That’s one reason why I wear vintage only. I can’t stand modern dress clothes and they also just don’t look right or fit correctly.

Till they get the joke, it’s vintage for me baby!

Root.

PS. Reason natural fabrics were used more back then is because they didn’t have anything else. It all when down hill when Polyester was invented!

[jamespowers]

Originally Posted by Wild Root

(Vintage weight)
Till they get the joke, it’s vintage for me baby!

Root.

PS. Reason natural fabrics were used more back then is because they didn’t have anything else. It all when down hill when Polyester was invented!

Yeah Polyester is a pretty big joke. PU It may be good for somethings but not dress wear.
Another Hippie trend that should be placed on the ashheap of clothing history. "Gee, look at me in my Polyester Nehru jacket and matching tight pants. Don't I look stylish?" Short answer NO!

Regards to all,

J

[Michaelson]

Dan, all I can say is that I've NEVER had that kind of luck out here in our thrift shops, in any way, shape, or form. Most of the stuff is just one step beyond yardsale quality, and one more step away from dumpster...but they clean it up anyway and put it on the shelf for sale!

(I also wanted to make this post to get us off the dreaded '666' number of posts for this section. )

Regards. Michaelson

[Wild Root]

Cool! Thanks bud. Don't like those three numbers my self.

Thrift shops can be good, if you have the time and energy to dig. You can be lucky some times, but most of the time it's just 70's Polyester stuff that smells like stale cigarette smoke.

Here’s a tip for you guys, I know it might feel awkward, but try and look in the ladies clothes! You will find some cool stuff that the workers think is ladies because it has style! I have been shopping with girls and they come back and show me that they found something for me! I ask: Where did you find this? They say: Oh, over in women’s clothes! So, you have to pick over the whole store to find the good stuff some times.

Any way, keep looking and you will find something! You never know.

Root.

[Quigley Brown]

Definitely scour the ENTIRE store, especially when looking for vintage mens sweaters.

I work within walking distance of two thrift store so a quick jaunt over the lunch hour is quite a common occurance for me. Today I found two pair of nearly new Levis for five bucks each. I like to wear those with my vintage sport coats, ties and fedoras. I rarely get dressing to the hilt in vintage. That's just not my style.

Most of my suits are late 50s - early 60s narrow lapeled. Unfortunatley I gave away quite a few older ones as gifts. I really wouldn't mind finding a Nehru jacket. I think they're very stylish. I'm also always looking for older turtlenecks that button up the side of the neck...like Dr. Zhivago wore. Any company making them?

[Matt Deckard]

Originally Posted by Quigley Brown

I'm also always looking for older turtlenecks that button up the side of the neck...like Dr. Zhivago wore. Any company making them?

Saw a few at the Ralph Lauren outlet a month ago before the herd of shoppers hit to take advantage of the sales. Pretty thin, not Zhivagoi-sh, though they had the side neck buttons.

[jamespowers]

[quote=Wild Root]Here’s a tip for you guys, I know it might feel awkward, but try and look in the ladies clothes! You will find some cool stuff that the workers think is ladies because it has style! I have been shopping with girls and they come back and show me that they found something for me! I ask: Where did you find this? They say: Oh, over in women’s clothes! So, you have to pick over the whole store to find the good stuff some times. QUOTE]

Hey, Hey! Stop with the giving away of secrets! There is not enough stuff out there to find as it is.
Actually, Root is quite right. My wife finds stuff for me in her section and I find stuff for her in my section! You don't have to turn the place upside down to find something cool.

Regards to all,

J