I get hassled buying "used" clothing.

bburtner@moran · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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,

ButteMT61 · Aug 17, 2012

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.

V.C. Brunswick · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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.

Stanley Doble · Aug 17, 2012

Everybody wears used clothing. Unless you buy new clothes, wear them once and throw them away.

O2BSwank · Aug 17, 2012

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).

scottyrocks · Aug 17, 2012

I generally buy long wool overcoats used. I get them for a fraction of the price if they were new.

vitanola · Aug 17, 2012

LizzieMaine said:
Only suckers pay retail.

Amen, Sister Maine!

sheeplady · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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 · Aug 17, 2012

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.

Aerojoe · Aug 18, 2012

I don't like to wear used clothes :eeek: I can't stop thinking who died with the thing on.

sheeplady · Aug 18, 2012

Aerojoe said:
I don't like to wear used clothes :eeek: I can't stop thinking who died with the thing on.

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.

I get hassled buying "used" clothing.

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