[Music]
hey guys and welcome to all right
they're already 20 P signs in this video
hey guys and welcome to a very long
overdue
thrifting tips video now you guys know
me as somebody whose risks a lot but for
the majority of my life I was one of
those people who could not for the life
of me get into thrifting I just found it
so frustrating I could never find
something that I actually liked it
really wasn't until college that I got
into three thing and I felt like I
developed my thrifting skill set so
today I wanted to share my tips with you
guys
hopefully whether you are getting
started with drifting or your bit of
like an advanced thrifter and you want
some pro tips from somebody who's doing
it for a very long time I have something
helpful to offer it's gonna be a juicy
video she Zoe meeting um how did I just
act like I was squeezing a boob before I
jump in though I didn't want to say
there has been some like discussion
about whether thrifting as like a trendy
thing rather than out of economic
necessity is fair to people who actually
rely on thrift stores as their main
source of clothing I do think that is an
important issue to be sensitive about
and I would love to hear your guys's
experiences if it has personally
affected you or your family but I must
say overall only around 20% of clothing
that gets donated the thrift stores is
actually sold and the rest has to go to
recycling plans or get sold to resale
markets in third-world countries so
overall there is still incredible supply
of secondhand clothing that isn't being
buy an overall I do think it is a net
good if we get more people thrifting
like when I was in high school it was
all about like who could afford
Abercrombie who had their like ugg boots
and now it's super cool to see people
being proud of clothing that they bought
for an affordable price being proud of
clothing that they bought secondhand and
also just like expressing their style
through really unique function pieces um
oh I just wish that I had that when I
was younger and of course
environmentally I think it's great that
people are buying a secondhand instead
of new stuff however as their stores do
bit more popular I think that we can all
pitch in by leaving thrift stores better
than we found them if there is clothing
on the ground pick it up and put it back
on the rack if you try something on or
you have clothes that you don't want
anymore
put them back exactly where you found
them in the correct sections just
generally be kind of respectful to the
employees like here's Satan here's you
if you're rude to an employee working at
a service job so just keep that in mind
I think that we can all do our best to
make thrift stores
good place for everybody so with that
being said let's jump into my tips now I
think one of the most common
misconceptions about the right thing is
that you can only do it at your local
chain thrift stores but there are
actually so many different ways that you
can buy clothing secondhand so today I'm
gonna walk you guys through tips for all
of them so first up here are my tips for
hunting down a good regular thrift store
in order to figure out where you should
go thrifting you kind of have to figure
out which end of the spectrum you want
to look for are you looking for vintage
clothing or are you looking for
contemporary clothing at a cheaper price
so if you're searching for vintage
clothing you got to go where the old
people are you got to go to where there
are families out in the suburbs you can
look up online the counties or
neighborhoods in your area and look up
the average age demographic and you can
also look up the average income so you
want a high income and a higher average
age or if you want to sneak a little
shortcut you can just look up country
clothes and shop in those areas or if
you are a real estate hell like me you
can go on Zillow and look at property
values and then set your minimum to like
half a million dollars or something and
see where homes pop up or if you're in
LA all of the homes are worth like a
million dollars or more so you got to go
like 1.5 million and above there you go
you found yourself some rich people also
this could be used as a guide to finding
out which houses you should Rob but
don't do that
the only steals were doing here are
thrift stores fields because we got some
good deals oh that ride bars
Macklemore watch out a new thrift store
rapper is in town anyways hi what was I
saying but on the other hand if you are
thrifting for more contemporary clothing
go to where like 20 something
professionals live which tends to be
like more downtown or in kind of like a
trendy area once you've found a store
try thrifting on the weekdays instead of
the weekends I know it's not possible
for everybody with a nine-to-five but I
think you'll often find that there is a
higher volume of donations before like
the big rush of customers have come on
the weekends now this part is where I
dip like a little bit neurotic but if
you are serious about finding good go to
thrift stores I would recommend keeping
a thrift store log and basically you can
keep like a Notes app on your phone it
doesn't have to be that complicated but
every single time you go to a new thrift
store write down the quality of each of
the sections often there isn't one
thrift store that's good for
everything but there is like a thrift
store that has really well organized
men's t-shirts or one thrift store that
has like a lot of ball gowns and prom
dresses so if you note which section is
best in each a thrift store you can save
time by just making a beeline to that
one section that you like and you can
also note which days are the best for
each thrift store if you really want to
get advance you can ask the employees
when they do their biggest three stocks
most thrift stores will kind of like
restock throughout the day but there
might be one day where they get the most
donations and then it might take like
another day for them to turn over the
stock and organize it in the store and
then that is the day that you should go
shopping or if you're too embarrassed to
do that like me you can just go on
multiple days and note which days were
the best for shopping there of course at
the end of the day sometimes it is just
really hard and time-consuming to find
physical places to thrift that you
actually really like so another great
option is online rating this portion of
the video is sponsored by thredUP
I have worked with them so many times
before even when I'm not sponsored by
them I love shopping at them because
it's just such a fricking convenient way
to thrift basically they make it
possible to thrift from your bed which
I'm not complaining about they're
basically just a giant online thrift
store do you guys always ask me for my
tips on how I find cute stuff on thredUP
though so I thought I would tell you
right now what it intro Ashley so first
up I take advantage of the write-ups
filtering the feature it basically
allows you to input your size in like
bottoms tops dresses shoes so that you
only have to look at clothing that you
already know will fit you but you can
also filter by color brand price style
so normally how I shop is by brand I
always think about what brands age well
so for example something like
Abercrombie might not be the best to
search on thredUP because there's gonna
be a lot of shirts from like the early
2000s those hoodies that might not be
super in style versus something like
Madewell j.crew anthropology free people
I still really like their clothing from
like 5 to 10 years ago that ends up on
thredUP
also no surprise but one of my favorite
brands to search is Urban Outfitters I
have actually found multiple items on
thredUP that I saw like literally a year
ago in-store Urban Outfitters
for example I got this skirt I literally
have a
Oh of me trying on this exact skirt at
Urban Outfitters I thought it was a
super cute skirt and I was like nearly
ready to buy it new but I'm glad I
didn't because this was originally
estimated to cost around $45 and I got
it for $9
I also picked up this dress from Urban
Outfitters which honestly looks like
something they would have carried this
past spring /summer
it was originally estimated to cost $60
and I got it for 12 so besides that I
will also always search for Tommy
Hilfiger and poor Polo Ralph Lauren
Lauren Lauren okay
this was like an old meme in my old
videos I can never pronounce Li Ren
right is it Lauren or Lauren I don't
[ __ ] know still and I'm 21 now these
are two classic brands that I feel like
I've aged very well and you can also
search the men's section for these and
find some really cute like quarter zips
or sweaters that look very like preppy
and classy so for example I got this
Tommy Hilfiger sweater for $18 and it
was originally estimated to cost around
129 I just find that Tommy Hilfiger and
Polo Ralph Lauren always have really
classic colors classic silhouettes and
it's material that is very sturdy so it
ages well over time next I will also
search for vintage brands and this is
like my sneakiest tip because I feel
like not many people think of this but
there are certain brands that are not
necessarily that cute today or there are
some brands that like literally don't
exist anymore but they made really cute
clothing back in like the 80s or
something so when I thrift an article of
clothing that I really like for example
these were like my favorite green
pleated pants these are from Liz
Claiborne Liz Sport which is a brand I
never would have been like oh let me
shop Liz Claiborne today but it turns
out if I search on thredUP
for Liz Claiborne I can find a bunch of
other really cool vintage pieces that
have a kind of similar like tailored
silhouette to them other vintage brands
I like searching for are classics on T
air I got this turtleneck from them a
while back on thredUP
and Ann Taylor Loft has a lot of good
older clothing so for example I got
these pleated pants for twelve dollars
when they were originally estimated to
cost around sixty like the Reformation
how I am I will also always do a little
search for Reformation and see if
thredUP has anything in my size I know
Reformation it's a little bit booty err
than the rest of the clothing that we're
talking about here but I do like buying
it off of thredUP
because they like triple check the
quality of all of their items a lot of
in clothing there is actually new with
tags so for example I got this gorgeous
green Reformation dress it literally
still has the tag on it somebody bought
it for two hundred eighteen dollars and
I got it for 120 on thread up so I saved
a hundred dollars just by buying it
secondhand
so those are the main brands that I
search for but another tip is if you
don't find anything in your size that
you like you can go one size up and then
search for tops and kind of like
oversized sweaters or maybe even dresses
that you could alter into something that
you like another tip is basically when
you're shopping on thredUP when you add
something to your basket they will hold
it for you for 24 hours to make sure
somebody else doesn't buy it so I will
scroll through a bunch of different
pages and add anything that catches my
eye to my cart and then like a couple
hours later after I'm done searching I
would go through my car and it has like
a thousand dollars worth of stuff and I
will just remove anything that I don't
like and through a process of
elimination
I will come to like what are my favorite
pieces that I actually want to buy and
my final tip is that if you want to get
a discount you can use my code Best
Dressed for thirty percent off your
first order okay thanks again to throw
it up onto the rest of my first thing
tips my next type of store is via thrift
store outlet now this is where they take
clothing as the next step after it
doesn't get sold and a Maine thrift
store they'll take it to like this big
warehouse where you can buy clothing by
the pound it's super cheap it's like $1
to $3 per pound of clothing now you do
have to like hunt
none of the clothing is hung up so you
have to dig through these big bins to
find stuff but I have been surprised at
the stuff I've been able to find I [ __ ]
you not one time I found a Christian
Dior cami in the bins my one tip is to
bring gloves I went there and I made a
rookie mistake and I guys nearly
everybody else they're having loves to
take through the bins because the
clothing can be like quite dirty or
stained or just like abrasive on your
hands so it's nice to you wear
protection next up we have vintage
stores which you guys Cauley know what
they are they're basically like a more
curated version of thrift stores the
prices run around 20 to like $200
depending on how serrated a selection it
is basically what you're paying for here
is the fact that you don't have to take
the time to go through a thrift store
and somebody has already selected really
cute items for you I don't shop at
vintage stores too much because I do
enjoy like the fun
rifting but vintage denim is like my one
nemesis that I cannot find for the life
of me at a regular thrift store so
vintage stores are my go-to for finding
those good like vintage Levi's Lee
Wrangler jeans no just thing about that
don't joke about them what type of jeans
does Mario wear denim denim denim Super
Mario Bros kids understand another
option is we markets and I honestly
think this is such a fun way to spend
like a day by yourself or with a date or
with a friend
since most flea markets don't have
fitting rooms for you I'd recommend
wearing either like a body con dress or
leggings and a tighter tank top so if
you find something you like you can try
it on there like at the stall without
flashing anybody make sure you bring
cash because that is what most sellers
prefer and you can also have the option
of haggling with sellers most prices are
negotiable at flea markets like I don't
personally do this because I have been
like a vintage reseller before and I
respect all of the work that goes into
selecting items and standing at your
stall and trying to sell it but if you
are in a budget or you don't think their
price is there you can try and negotiate
with them a little bit estate sales are
one of my favorite ways to thrift that a
lot of people don't really know about
basically it is like a garage sale but
for like wealthy old people generally
you can find these by just googling
estate sale in your city and there are
like whole listing websites that are
exclusively made for listing estate
sales where they will have photos and a
description so make sure before you go
to the estate sale that there is either
like a photo of a closet or in the
description it says that they have
women's clothing or jewelry because a
lot of the state sales are more
furniture or antique oriented so you
want to make sure that you're going to
one that has a clothing selection estate
sales pretty much always occur over the
weekend so you should go on Friday or
Saturday if you want to get the best
selection of items but if you go on
Sunday later in the afternoon you will
be able to haggle the prices down
further because at the very end of the
sale they just like want to get rid of
all that stuff depends on your ex there
whether you want to haggle prices with
like an old person moving out of their
home generally I would just go earlier
and pay the whole price but it's all
about supply and demand baby estate
sales do take a lot of work because you
have to drive around your entire town to
like all of these random suburbs but it
can be a really fun way
change it up from your regular thrift
stores and it's a great way to hunt for
vintage clothing and sometimes designer
clothing that has been cared for very
well over its lifetime and I also
secretly love looking at like the real
estate I just like like going into
people's homes and like looking at their
decor and their architecture too that's
probably really creepy um I don't know
it's fun to kind of like vicariously
live this like bougie life I went to one
in Beverly Hills and I have like the
most ridiculous bedroom I've ever seen I
don't know it was just like super cool
to experience again this could be a tip
for robbing somebody's house but please
don't do that
hey guys still to NEP signs it is day
two of filming this video because
despite what it looks like I am actually
incredibly inarticulate in real life so
I takes me like four hours to gather
together a cohesive narrative for a
video anyways now that we covered all
the different places you can thrift I
wanted to talk about my actual strategy
for like hunting through the racks and
finding that like one cute item in the
abyss of really random like promotional
trucker t-shirts for like 2005 so the
most common advice you'll hear is to put
on a podcast and some music and
literally just take the time to flip
through every single item I feel like
drifting is almost always a game of like
who just doesn't give up because it is a
lot of work to find actually good stuff
but the only way you can find it is by
actually putting in the work to flip
through the racks don't forget to look
at every section as well everyone knows
to look at the men's section now of
course but don't forget about the decor
the jewelry the accessories you know
what's underrated though is the pajama
section um a lot of people avoid it
because it's like hidden between like
nurses scrubs and bras that you might
not want to buy secondhand but in
between all those items is where you
find all of the cute like silky Victoria
Secret camis and dresses yes sometimes
it does we're in yell but like maybe
people had sex in those but uh just put
it in the washer and you'll be fine now
I do think this kind of brute force
method of looking through every single
item is a great strategy when you're
starting out and you're not really sure
what styles you're looking for yet you
really just want to explore and look at
as many options as possible however in
order to save time now that I am more
familiar with the types of clothing that
I like at thrift stores
I actually don't look at every single
item instead I skim the edges and narrow
things down
based on the color and material so I
only like actually will take the time to
pick up a piece of clothing that fits
those criteria if that makes sense so
basically to start out I look at the
colors at the edges of the rack and you
can already eliminate some clothing
there I avoid clothing that in really
bright kind of like cheesy 2000s colors
like cobalt blue orange right green and
instead I look for more muted tones or
pastel colors here is like a palette of
all of the colors that I look for of
course a classic white or black a bold
red dark green mustard yellow pastels
vintage floral colors polka dots and
occasionally I will look for bright pink
because I feel like it's very like Mean
Girls cheeks of course everybody has
different color preferences some people
like those bright colors but I would
just go in in advance with like a mental
note of what colors you're looking for
at the same time when I'm looking at the
edge of the wrap I'll consider the
material now some materials just aged
really well in a thrift store they're
classic they're high-quality they're
supple even though that's like a gross
word and some materials just feel very
cheap or they don't age well over time
the materials that I always look for are
silk cashmere if you are looking at a
cashmere sweater check the entire
sweater to make sure it doesn't have
holes in it because I found that they
get these tiny little pinholes really
easily if you don't store cashmere
properly I think they're like moth holes
I also look for velvet corduroy lace
stiff vintage denim that's 100 percent
cotton and even more common materials
like Jersey which is that stretchy
material that you find on sweatshirts or
t-shirts or cotton age quite well
materials that I avoid are polyester but
especially that like one type of forever
21 polyester if you guys thrift a lot
were shopped at forever 21 like back in
the day you know what I'm talking about
acrylic knits are also something I avoid
this is like the material that more
affordable 5 or 21 H&M sweaters are made
out of and over time it becomes like
scratchy ER and scratchier and it also
peels very easily and I avoid suede
that's kind of sweaty or stained that
needs to be washed I learned the hard
way that washing suede is sanely
expensive because you can't just pay for
a regular dry cleaner you have to pay
for a leather specialist for example I
thrifted this
and I wanted to get it cleaned and they
told me it would be a hundred and fifty
dollars which is about five times more
than I paid for the jacket itself so at
this point I've just been wearing it
like kind of sweaty and dirty because
it's not worth paying that much in my
opinion to get it cleaned
so yeah just factored that cost of
cleaning in if you are gonna buy suede
that's not in good condition over time
to become better at identifying the
materials based on just the little
sliver that like hangs off the edge of
the rack so at this point I can just
skim through the edges of Iraq and know
like by I what silk and what's cashmere
and then I can take a closer look at
those items and that saves me so much
time because I can already eliminate all
these colors and materials that I don't
like I'll also always make sure to check
near the fitting rooms or near mirrors
which is where people will put back
clothes that they already tried on so it
sounded like somebody pre-selected it
for you because they thought it was at
least good enough to try on also
throughout thrift stores there are these
random disorganized racks and these are
new racks of clothing that they haven't
sorted into the rest of the thrift store
yet so it's a place where you can get
first dibs on something that nobody else
has looked at yet a tip for getting
through the denim section faster is to
memorize the back pocket embroidery of
your favorite denim brands so for me I
always look for Levi's which is this
little v-shape on the butt Wranglers and
Lee because those are the ones that are
reputed to have the best like
high-waisted straight leg vintage styles
but like if you're looking for a more
modern silhouette you want some like
American Eagle jeans memorize the
American Eagle logo so that when you go
in and flip through the racks you can
really quickly identify where the jeans
are from also most of them will have you
know the brand name on a label on the
back so that's also pretty easy but it
does save you a little bit of time if
you know the back pocket logos by heart
and my final tip is to be willing to DIY
or alter or style clothes in a creative
way to make them more flattering I
always like to go to the fitting room
and kind of play around with like tying
up my clothes tucking it into jeans
seeing what it would look like with a
shorter hem so I can envision how I
would alter it here are a list of easy
to alter items that I look for men's
quarters ifs sweaters or hoodies then I
can easily just cut off with a pair of
scissors and make them into a crop top
just make sure you look for a knit
fabric that won't unravel when you cut
it MIDI or pencil skirts that I can hem
into a miniskirt plaid 80s Blazers that
I can remove the shoulder pads from for
a more modern silhouette high-waisted
jeans that I can cut legs off of to turn
the
to cutoff shorts or even a plain t-shirt
that I could add a little embroidery to
to make it more personalized I do have a
whole thrift flip series that you guys
want to get some more ideas for how you
can alter your clothing that you find in
thrift stores okay I think that brings
me to the end of this video thank the
Lord because I can build it for so
[ __ ] long thank you guys so much for
watching I really hope that these tips
were not super obvious and they were
somewhat helpful but I think really at
the end of the day thrifting it's all
about practice baby it's all about
developing that I for the styles that
you like in the styles that will be most
flattering on you so I'm only can say is
he's go out there and give it a try
I hope this encourages you guys to go
thrifting if you haven't already and I
will see you guys next week um right now
my apartment is like completely full of
boxes and random scattered furniture
because I'm moving to New York in like
four days so I'm kind of in the middle
of a cross-country move right now and
I'm really just trying to try to still
pull off this video in the meantime
thanks for watching as always and I will
see you guys next week bye
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