thrift shops – Steve Clark

13 of the biggest thrift-shopping mistakes you're making when buying clothes — and what to do instead — Mistakes People Make When Thrifting

Thrift shopping, much like any other hobby or interest, has both professionals and amateurs. The great thing about thrift shopping is that it can be quite different from shopping at your average retail store. Since your options change all the time, you never know what you might find.

Again, just like most hobbies, the professionals have a few tricks up their sleeves when it comes to thrift shopping. Many of these come from experience, but you’re going to get the inside scoop on the mistakes people make when thrifting so that you can avoid them and become a pro yourself.

Buying Fast Fashion Brands

One of the biggest draws of a good thrift store is usually selecting available clothing. You can find all sorts of fabrics, textures, and brands in the racks of a well-maintained thrift store. However, it’s essential to know what you’re looking at. Some brands engage in what is known as “fast fashion.” Fast fashion involves creating intentionally low-quality clothes so that they break down faster and need replacing sooner. You can easily avoid these brands by doing a little research into their backgrounds and points of origin.

Shopping During Busy Hours

Some timeframes are just flat-out better for coming into one of the thrift stores. Many people who don’t thrift shop often will come in on their days off to find what they need; this means that weekends are usually the busiest time for thrift stores.

If you want to avoid the crush of people scrambling through the store to find the best deals, your best bet is to come during less hectic times. Early in the morning is a great place to start. Weekdays are also great if you can make that work for your schedule.

Writing Off Older Items

Many thrift stores regularly get items that have seen their fair share of years in the closet. If something seems old-fashioned or aged beyond what you would typically pick up, please take a second glance. Certain clothes might be vintage brands that you can’t find anywhere else.

You may even find a collectible that is worth quite a lot of money to the right person. These older items still have plenty of use left in them, especially as they closely inspect their donations to ensure they are in good shape before putting them out for sale.

Passing On Items That Need Small Adjustments

For those who regularly use thrift shopping to supplement their closets, one of the biggest mistakes people make when thrifting is passing on items that only need minor tune-ups to work well. Sizes can vary a lot on shelves, but just because something doesn’t fit you perfectly, that doesn’t mean you can’t easily alter it to work in your favor.

Remember, you’re spending much less money on these items than you would typically, leaving you plenty of room in your budget to have these pieces tailored the way you want them.

Buying Clothes That Are Too Small

A common thing that is seen in the thrift stores is that people will buy clothes that don’t fit them currently in the hopes that they’ll fit into them one day. While there isn’t anything wrong with this, per se, you need to be careful when doing this at a thrift shop. Before you know it, your whole closet could be overflowing with clothes that look great but that you can’t wear.

Only Coming In To Find Clothes

A good thrift store in Destin, FL has much more to offer than just clothes. You can find all sorts of exciting knickknacks and items for your home at thrift stores as well. You might want to take home:

An interesting used book to read
A collectible for your shelves
A new board game
A piece of home décor
A barely used chair or end table

Not Allocating Enough Time

Thrift stores are notorious rabbit holes where you can spend a lot of time looking for exactly what you want. The last thing you want is to miss a great item you would love just because you had to rush out the door.

Try to plan for your thrift store visits, and tack on some extra time for yourself to look around and explore. Exploring is how you’ll find the great deals and rare items, so make sure you have enough time to do it!

Not Using the Dressing Room

Perhaps even more so than in your regular department store, using the dressing room will be an essential part of your visit if you’re picking up clothes. Because the selection is so eclectic and comes from all over, sizes can vary wildly, even if two different pieces say they are both mediums.

Do not fall into the trap of getting home only to realize that your new clothes won’t fit you. That’s what dressing rooms are for—so you know exactly what you’re getting into when you buy something.

Not Engaging With the Staff

Don’t be afraid to approach any member of of the thrift shops. Whether you’re asking about specific clothes you’re looking for, when the next big sale is, or to use the dressing room, they’ll be glad to assist you in any way they can. They may know how to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Thrift shopping at second-hand stores, consignment shops, rummage sales and online used-good directories is not just for environmentalists and hipsters, but a viable solution for anyone looking to go eco-friendly in small ways. Do visit the thrift shops in Panama City Beach, FL for a good experience.

Before going into the green benefits, here’s how thrifting helps you:

Saving Money – Thrifted clothing is far more affordable than new clothes of comparable quality.
Smarter Buys – You tend to spend more time looking over each item instead of buying it outright.
Unique Finds – It’s highly unlikely that anyone else is walking around in the same clothes as you.
Creative Potential – You might be inspired to try new combinations, or even some DIY reconstruction!

If that wasn’t enough, here are 7 ways in which thrifting helps the environment:

1. It Lowers Your Carbon Footprint – A lot of energy goes into clothing manufacture, right from the transportation of raw materials to production processes. Then, there’s the energy required to get finished clothing to stores, and dispose of unwanted items. When you buy secondhand, you’re preventing wastage of energy and resources on the production of new clothes.

2. It Aids in Water Preservation – In addition to energy, water consumption is extremely high at every stage of clothing production. For instance, growing one kilogram of cotton requires 5,300 gallons of water, while wet processing and printing use 18 and 21.6 gallons respectively, per pound of cotton. Manufacturing, packaging and transportation processes add to this cost as well.

3. It Reduces Chemical Pollution – The production of cotton is highly pesticide-intensive, causing soil acidification and water contamination. Textile manufacturing processes also involve the use of harmful dyes, caustic soda and crude oil by-products. These chemicals are generally dumped into areas around manufacturing units, contaminating surface and ground water through soil runoff.

4. It Decreases Landfill Waste – Americans throw out anywhere from 60 to over 80 pounds of textile waste annually, and only about 10% of this makes it to thrift stores. If more people start shopping for secondhand clothes, less fabric ends up being dumped in landfills. That’s not all. Packaging material is also reduced, keeping plastic, paper and metal out of the waste stream.

5. It Inspires Green Living – Thrifting is an essential part of green living, in more than one way. When you buy used items, you keep them from being sent to a landfill and reduce manufacturing demand as well. Also, by donating unwanted clothes to consignment shops or thrift stores, you may be encouraging others simply by giving them something they can use.

6. It Boosts Community Development – While shopping secondhand, your money is used to help local charities and businesses instead of multinational corporations. Thrift stores provide employment in retail outlets as well as donation centers, creating more jobs and boosting the local economy. Many hire disabled workers and donate proceeds to community programming projects as well.

7. It Encourages Recycling – Did you know that recycled cotton clothing uses less than 3% of the energy that would have gone into producing new clothes? When you reuse or recycle clothes, you’re decreasing the demand for production and encouraging sustainable practices. It may not seem like much, but every item that doesn’t end up in a landfill counts as a win!