Thrifting

[alan]

"Regarding shoes, I showed my wife the Burgundy Aldens I picked up for myself on Saturday along with the AE Walnut strands that need some work, but will still be highly functional, and she asked, How many shoes do you need? Wow. I felt like, well, you know ..."


I can relate...

[Focuspants]

So I was doing spring cleaning today and filled a bag with old polos and shirts to donate to the salvation army... so I figured hell, lets see what they got! I usually drop the clothes off in a collection bin nearby, but I made the trek out to an actual store. Since I was out, decided I would even try a second that was nearby!


I found a grand total of................. ZERO suits or sportcoats. Not 1. In either location, in any size. I found about a total of 4 dress shirts in a reasonable colour, the best quality being tommy hilfiger. Checked shoes............. ZERO pairs of dress shoes.


Looks like Toronto thrifting would require some considerable research...

[jason_carreira]

Unfortunately a lot of thrifts are not putting out suits / sportcoats / jackets now because it's Spring, so they've switched over to shorts and (even more) t-shirts. It depends on the thrift store. The Volunteers of America around here have done this, whereas the Salvation Army and Savers have not.

[jessy_diamond]

Focus, did you try Value Village? Mine has a few suits (lot of DB jackets and suits with very wide lapels), plus a few pair of shoes (Florsheim being the highest quality I found), but yours could have a better selection since you're in a bigger city. You might even find a gem like this one (sorry, I just had to post it somewhere) :





My Salvation Army had about the same selection as yours.

[jason_carreira]

Wow... What is that? Minus the stripes and embroidery it could be cool.

[Focuspants]

Nothing like a sc with racing stripes!

[Big_Scooter]

A few days back I got a brooks brothers 37s 346 stretch wool suit (97% wool, and something else for stretch that I can't remember). Sort of a micro houndstooth in olive, if that makes sense. $10


A burberry blue wool blazer that was too big for me, but decent enough so I gave it to my cousin. $13


A beat up khaki chino 3 button blazer with a few stains that I am going to launder and see if one of my best friends can fit into it. $1


And, so you can share my pain, I found a Raffaele Caruso blue pinstripe flannel suit in a thrift store that sells everything for a dollar right now. Size 50 (euro sizing), i think. I brought it to the register without even bothering to try it on, but then saw that it had a pencil eraser sized cigarette burn underneath the right lapel, completely through. Then again, forget my pain, think of the poor sap who probably paid full retail for it then burned it.

[TTigers70]

If an item is stained do you bring it to their attention at the register to get a discount or it is what it is? My GW has a pretty nice return policy (something like 4 days?) so I could try to dry clean and return worst case (albeit be out the $12 it costs to dry clean a suit). I found a Turnbull & Asser suit that was birdseye print = dope. Fit was pretty good but there was a pretty noticeable stain on the pants. Also, the lining has seen better (whiter) days but overall would be cool. Just didn't want to take the $40 risk (should be half off tomorrow).

[TTigers70]

Wow what happened to this thread? Had one of the best pick ups ever today, pictures tomorrow.

[jonATL]

Anyone have any art expertise?


http://cdn.styleforum.net/f/fc/fc3f7a32_2012-04-25_12-14-14_252.jpeg


http://cdn.styleforum.net/f/f7/f73a4...14-27_944.jpeg

[jonATL]

And never pass over shoes that could be nice with a little elbow grease (admittedly, not my own; we can't all be shoe-repair wizards like JC).


These shoes:





Transformed into these two very wearable pieces of footwear:








I had been looking for Strands for a while, but the Aldens feel and look sooo nice (I know it's a bit hard to tell from the pic).

[Big_Scooter]

Where y'all been? Everyone out enjoying the weather and forgetting their poor neglected thrift shops?


Just picked up:


Allen Edmonds MacNeil pebblegrain longwings


http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s407/Big_Scooter/Clothes%20I%20have%20gotten%20from%20thrift%20stor es/?action=view&current=IMG_4314.jpg


and a vintage Hickey Freeman sport coat


http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s407/Big_Scooter/Clothes%20I%20have%20gotten%20from%20thrift%20stor es/?action=view&current=IMG_4316.jpg


Sport coat is a bit big for me, so I might ebay it. I've never really messed with ebay, though, and I'm not sure it will be worth the trouble.

[nicholascrawford]

Haven't seen a bunch of people since we got spammed pretty badly on the board about a week ago. :-/

[thmage]

Meh, went thrifting today. Found a suit and blazer I kinda liked, but they didn't fit. :/ I dunno, thrifting is really intimidating to me, I don't really know how to look for stuff.

[Big_Scooter]

There are lots of guides around, thmage. Probably the easiest way to start is looking through sweaters, shirts and shoes.


Shoe quality is very apparent in men's shoes and there aren't really all that many brands that you are likely to find that are high quality (depending on where you live, of course). For instance, you could go in looking for Florsheim, Johnston and Murphy, and Allen Edmonds shoes and catch most of the decent stuff. Anyway, the quality ones stick out like a sore thumb around the beaten up crap from JC Penney's.


Shirts are easy. Styles change very little in button up shirts. If the collar fits, the shoulders hit around the right area, and the sleeves are the right length, then the waist and arms can be taken in by an alterations person.


Sweaters are pretty easy, too. Probably about 60% will be cotton, 30% will be acrylic, and 10% will be something decent (wool, wool blends, cashmere, etc.). Once you see and feel 10-20 of the cotton sweaters, you will know them easily by the feel. It is harder to tell between acrylic and wool. Here is what I do: feel a sweater, if cotton, move on. If not cotton, look for a tag (either at left hip or at the collar). 95% of the time if it isn't cotton, it is either acrylic or wool. Pass on acrylic, try on the wool. Don't always go by brand names, but they can help. I once saw a 100% cashmere raglan sweatshirt from old navy, for example.


Some good info and links in this thread:

http://threads.dappered.com/topic/wh...-thrifter-know