A Fistful of Style

A Thrifter’s Manifesto 5: Why even bother?

The real question is why even do this?  Is it crazy?  Isn’t straight retail easier?  Is the time and effort worth it?  There’s absolutely no sure path here, it will be chaotic and messy, so why do it?

That’s for you to answer.  I do it for a lot of reasons.

-“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.” (Traditional – New England)

-I’m super broke, and cheap.

-The idea of buying other people’s castoffs is punk rock to me which connects me to my youth.

-Saving beautiful things before they are cast away forever is a good thing to do.

-I think there’s too much shit being made nowadays, and doing my small part to reduce that level feels good.

-I know the people who work at my local thrifts.  I know their names.  I work with them.  They’re not some designer who I’ll never meet, or some faceless corporation relentlessly pursuing profit.  They’re me.

-I’ve never been in touch with what’s on trend.  I don’t listen to the radio, I got rid of my cable 2 years ago, and seeing lots of people wear a certain item makes me not want to wear it. 

-Counter-culture and thrift stores go hand in hand. 

-Love of conservative tradition and buying second hand go together perfectly as well.

-Thrift stores alter context.  Good and bad mashed together.  You get to see the organic lifecycle of your clothes.  The life of all these garments is coming to an end, you get one more chance to save them before they’re cast off into the abyss.  Everyone can find something if they are looking.

-Thrifting brings you closer to your wardrobe. It may just be stuff, but it’s stuff that you put in effort for.  That you worked for.  That you saved from an untimely end.

-Seriously, I’m broke as shit and I’m super cheap.

-Most of all, I view my choice to only purchase items at the thrift shop as  a rejection of much of the consumerist culture of the world.  People talk in terms of buy less buy better vs. disposable fashion; I propose dedicated thrifting as a third way.  You don’t buy less, you spend less and use less.  By embracing the This lets you spend better in all aspects of your life.

There’s a million reasons you could thrift. You’re probably not as crazy about it as me (and to be clear, my obsession with thriftiness borders on crazy), but you don’t have to be.  Practical, non-academic reasons abound as well.

-You can find nice things and flip them on eBay or consign them. 

-You can just use it to fill out things you can never have too many of (OCBD’s, Flannel trousers, Navy Blazers, etc…)

-You can just periodically check in to try and save some money on something good every now and then.  It doesn’t have to be your entire world, merely a useful and fun diversion.

I think it’s a valuable addition to the fashion/style/menswear blogosphere that gets marginalized. 

I believe it’s a better experience than the mall, more tactile than online and more adventurous than bespoke.   You know exactly what’s in your closet because it’s all one of a kind.  It’s the most intense curation because your options are infinite and your price, negligible. 

At the end of the day the thrifted wardrobe is less disposable than the cheap retail, and almost as personal as bespoke.

So I say take some time, leave the comforting, sterile embrace of retail culture and get thrifty with your life.

A Thrifter’s Manifesto Vol 4: Recalibrating your expectations

One critical aspect of thrift shopping is understanding things like price and trendiness in a more academic way.  I’m at a point where I don’t really pay full price for anything.  I can understand where that $500 goes in a nice sport coat, but having acquired many $500-$1000 items for 1/100 the price has recalibrated my expectations.  You need a navy blazer, a charcoal suit, but these things are the “classic-est” of “classic”.  They’ve been made, largely unchanged for 100+ years.  So which one is right for you?  Here are some things to remember.

Price is what people are willing to pay for something – Price does not equal worth.  There’s no inherent law or system for figuring out what something is worth.  The only reason that a Polo tie or a Hermes tie cost more than a Sam Hober tie is that they can charge more and people will pay the extra money.  It is not equivalent to quality.

Spend Less, Spend Better – The price point in a thrift store is largely negligible, if you’re spending $5 on a shirt or $20 on a suit you can afford to look at the inexpensive along with the expensive.  A hand-made Italian shirt is certainly worth $10 and far far more, but a Made in China, lasts-for-2-years-then-disintigrates shirt is still worth $5 if it looks good.  As you get better things you can leave the lesser behind.  Buy less, buy better tells you to spend your time on the earning, Thrifting tells you spend it on the shopping.  Be choosy with your spending, and choosier when you have more things to spend it on.

Know when you’re chasing trends — Look, dub monks, cutaway collars, quilted jackets and camo are hot shit right now.  But you know what?  In a few years, they won’t be.  That’s just the sad fact of the product life-cycle.  Maybe you really do love them, maybe they really do speak to you.  If that’s true they still will in a few months when early adopters start pitching their trendiest things in favor of the newest most bleeding edge stuff.   Wait.  Take real stock.  See if there are 5 quilted DB sport coats on the racks in a couple months because people realized they looked silly.  They’ll speak to you just as much if they’re $8 as if they’re $400, (plus they’ll be 98% off).

You’re the one who wears it – It’s great to have e-shopping, but it’s a crutch for many people.  The ability to see a lookbook and shop a look deprives you of having to see what else is out there.  It makes it easy to look like the internet thinks you should look, but they won’t be wearing your clothes. Thrifting makes you take stock of the real tangible world in front of you, not a virtual perfection with soft focus and dramatic lighting.  It forces you to define your style instead of having your style defined by someone else and sold to you.

Guilt free shopping – It may be a sidenote, but there’s something to be said for the ability to just get rid of something and not feel guilty because you spent too much money and it didn’t work for whatever reason.  Besides, everything basic will always be in style, and if you buy something out of style you can just pretend it was never there, after all, you only spent $5 on it.

A Thrifter’s Manifesto Vol 3:The Very Very Specifics.

Thrift store rules:

Don’t be a dick.  Don’t steal shit.  Don’t make people’s jobs harder than they need to be. THESE ARE CHARITIES AND NEIGHBORHOOD STORES.  Be good to them, they’ll be good in return.

Building your wardrobe:

Shop Continuously - This can be hard, but you have to keep going.  Keep at it.  Have an hour after work?  Hit the thrift shop.  Weekend? Thrift Shop.  Lunch break?  Thrift shop.  You have to get in the habit of just checking… whenever.  Because you never know what will be there.

Pick up and improve as you go – Buying a lower quality but well-fitting navy blazer is a good thing to do, as a navy blazer is an important enough garment that you should absolutely have one. However, you have to realize that you should still be looking for a high quality, well-fitting navy blazer to replace it.

Don’t be a label whore- #menswear staple brands aren’t all there is.  High-quality goods in thrift stores come from brands not on the tongues of the blogosphere.  Learn to look for both the things you want and the high quality things like the things you want.

Work with what’s there- after a while you get a sense of what’s at your local thrifts. Embrace that. Don’t reject things because they aren’t “of the moment”.  No sense in pining over some clothes you can’t afford while you ignore the beauties right at your doorstep.  That’s like turning down a date because you’re busy looking at a catalog model.

Pro Thrifing Tips:

Stores

-Make a route of stores that you visit regularly, figure out several loops.

-Remember where you get things, so you know what types of things filter into certain stores.

-If you get to a store and find several quality items in your size, odds are good there’s more out there.  Remember, people donate bags, not single garments, use this knowledge to your advantage.

-Goodwill’s new belts, sneakers and hats are absolute garbage, not even worth the $>10 they cost.

-Goodwill’s $3 knockoff sunglasses however, easily equal a standard pair of $15 knockoffs. (and break exactly like a $150 pair when you sit on them)

Shopping the Racks

-Wear slip-on shoes, an open collar and no belt.

-Try everything on.  Sizes vary widely by brand (and in some cases within brand).  I fit somewhere between a 36R and a 40S depending on brand.  My shoes range from 8-10.5

-Start with the shoes, they’ll be on shelves facilitating quick browsing.

-Vintage American/English/Italian made shoes last practically forever.  Don’t be fooled by on the rack condition, some polish and a cobbler can work miracles on high quality shoes.

-Place the sole of the shoe against your shoe, similar size?  Worth trying on.

-If you button pants and wrap the waistband around your neck, if the edges touch they’re roughly your waist size.

-Hold unsized shirts/sport coats in front of you, buttoned.  If the shoulder seams match your shoulder joint, they might fit.  This also shows you how long the garment is.

-Wearing a t-shirt means you can easily try on shirts.

-Belts, wallets, scarves and other unisex items often get put in the ladies section. 

-Ladies silk scarves often make better pocket squares than pocket squares.

-If shirts are grouped by color, scan the cuffs/collars for size and signs of wear to go faster.

-If shirts are sized, people often hang things they decide against at the end of racks.  Check for your size here.

-If you have time, shop the whole store, women’s scarves, belts and housewares are always worth a perusal.

Wardrobe Building

-Classic with a twist exists because people have to sell new shit every season.  Typically the new cannibalizes the old for inspiration.  If you buy what’s already old, odds are it’ll seem new in a few years.

-Remember people donate for all kinds of reasons all year long.  Don’t ignore potentially awesome winter/summer gear because it’s the wrong season. 

-Busiest thrifting times of year are Christmas/New Years (charitable donations), beginning of spring/fall (transitioning wardrobes).

-ALWAYS REMEMBER, THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING YOU CAN BUY IS SOMETHING YOU NEVER WEAR.

Fit you can disguise for the time being

Always look for things that fit well.  (Ed note: Always.)  However, if you must make concessions, some are more practical than others.

-Dark, straight jeans are fine even if they aren’t raw selvage.  Shit, even dad jeans get a cosign these days. 

-Jeans can be cuffed if too long (I actually prefer cuffed jeans to uncuffed in 99% of circumstances)

-Shirts that fit in the collar and sleeve but are blousey can be worn under sweaters.

-Casual shirt sleeves can be rolled if too short/long.

-Casual shirts with a too-tight neck can be worn tieless

-Never buy shoes that even feel small, they will not stretch out and you’ll regret it (a lot).  Slightly (1/2 size) large shoes can sometimes be fine with toe/heel pads. (APPROACH NON-PERFECTLY FITTING SHOES WITH EXTREME CAUTION, DO NOT GET IN THE HABIT OF BUYING ILL-FITTING SHOES, YOU’VE BEEN WARNED)

-Sport coats really, really need to fit (maybe slight leeway in the body for sweater layering) if these don’t fit properly don’t buy them.

-Know what you can get altered and what you can’t, don’t buy a suit expecting the jacket to become shorter and the shoulders to come in, you’ll be disappointed.

Learn what compromises you can make

-Know which qualities and details are important to you and which are not.  

-Buy synthetic materials with extreme caution.

-Remember, inexpensive things can function as place holders.  If it looks good but is low quality, get a season out of it while you search for better.  Then just donate it back when you get something better. 

-Don’t buy things that look shitty, even for a season.  I can’t believe it’s necessary to say this but they’ll look shitty!  DON’T BUY THINGS THAT LOOK SHITTY PEOPLE!

-Cheap casual shoes, especially suede, are absolutely fine.  Cheap dress shoes look cheap. 

-Check over garments carefully for damage.  Remember, a tiny moth-hole under a cuff button on a charcoal flannel suit will probably not be noticed ever by anyone, a piss stain down the inside of the leg though? That’s probably a deal breaker.

-Old linings are often destroyed, these can be replaced, but factor it into your costs.

Markers of quality 

Go in educated, know what fabrics and weaves are, look at a color wheel, look into where great things are sourced.  You can keep a brand cheat sheet with you, but remember that brands are not the only thing to pay attention to. 

Tags mean something, but no tag doesn’t mean nothing.  A bespoke garment of exceedingly high quality may have only one makers tag, or no tags at all.  Going by brand alone is amateur hour.

Trust your hand. Is the material soft? scratchy? Does it have a weird finish?

The best identifiers of quality items are evident even to someone who doesn’t know what they’re looking for.  Running your hands over the rack will tell you as much as looking at it. 

More specific things you can look for include mother of pearl buttons, floating canvas, hand sewn buttonholes, etc…  In shoes, look for leather/vibram/not rubber soles, goodyear welts, full (not corrected) grain leather, etc…  There are lists, look them up, get educated.

Know what you’ll get tailored.

Be honest with yourself. If you know you’ll get it tailored, you can get things that don’t quite fit.   But if you’re getting a huge bag of things that “just need to be taken in a couple inches” get rid of them, get pickier or learn to do it yourself.  The most expensive thing you’ll buy is what you never wear.

Alter it yourself

I won’t reinvent the wheel here.  Trent covered this better than I ever will.  It’s a pretty damned good way to get acquainted with your wardrobe.

Things are cleaner than you think.

If they’re noticeably dirty, buy at your peril.  Odds are good someone tried to clean it before it ended up in the thrift store.  However, some dingy items might spruce right up.  Clean items just need a good steaming. Dirty/Smelly items absolutely need cleaning, and might not be worth purchasing.  Trust your gut, know what you’re getting into.

FINAL REMINDER: The most expensive thing you can buy is something that you never wear.

A Thrifter’s Manifesto Vol 2: No Money and a Dream

#Menswear is unkind to those who are broke and starting out.  The constant stream of pictures of jawnz the average man can ill-afford.  Lists of essentials that stress the importance of trendy details sold by trendy brands and of the moment items that may be nice, but are certainly not essential. WIWT pics gradually becoming indistinguishable from a magazine spreads and seasonal lookbooks.  This constant minefield of conflicting messages can be difficult for a blogger to navigate. Thrift stores offer an alternative chaos based in what you can actually buy, not just aspire to.

Taking Stock

What you Need

You won’t have an effective thrifting experience if you’re flying blind, so make a list of all the things you need.  You probably won’t find 5 blue/white OCBD’s, then a navy blazer, then a charcoal suit, etc…  Constantly be aware of things you are looking for.  Think of your wardrobe as a puzzle you need to fill in.

What you want

Knowing what you like makes sense of the chaos. Walking down a rack with nothing specific in mind is a sure fire way to get overwhelmed.  Developing a specific style avoids the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach that can be the siren song of thrifting.

What you like

Thrift stores are not like retail or the internet.  You have to be willing to accept what they have, not expect them to have what you want.  So figure out what you like. Don’t just go in and expect to figure it out when you get there, you have to know what you’re looking for in your wardrobe long term, not just what cool shit you saw on GQ the other day.

Finding a Store

If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of digging through racks on racks on racks of items questionable cleanliness, that’s okay.  Get acclimated.  Find a good vintage or consignment shop.  They’re curated, so some of the dirty work is done for you.  The principles of shopping are the same, the prices slightly higher, the “hunt” factor slightly lower, but still lots of great stuff.  Probably even a preferable option when looking for truly basic items.

Next, start finding some thrift stores, they’ll have a wider, crazier selection.  Then look for a good series of thrift stores, put a route together. (Put This On’s guide gave some helpful tips for doing this.)

Keep in mind that as you get more dedicated you start developing a nose for it, and that out of the way places will have unexpectedly great things given by people who never knew or cared what they had.

Get out there and explore.  Ducking into dusty old shops is part of the fun.  Embrace that.

Building a wardrobe piecemeal

Remember, the only expensive thing you can buy at a thrift store is something you don’t wear.

The 3 corollaries to that rule-

1 – Get what fits.  

Don’t buy wear it if it doesn’t fit.  I can’t emphasize strongly enough that when you’re thrifting you won’t be buying much, preferring waiting for the exact right thing to cross your path.  Buying nice things that don’t fit you doesn’t make you a good thrifter, it makes you a hoarder.  Buying mediocre things that fit and then improving as you build your wardrobe makes you a smart shopper.

2 - Take some risks.

Maybe those bright red chinos in your size is are a bit louder than you might typically wear… but they fit so well… at $5 you can afford to occasionally buy something you’re unsure about.  Who knows what you’ll fall in love with down the road.  And if you don’t?  It’s $5, no harm no foul.

3 – Keep an Open Mind

You’re buying whole garments, not labels, and not specific details.  Don’t let quality pass you by because you were waiting for a specific brand.  Don’t get so focused on trendy items you ignore classic ones.  Most importantly, remember that nobody will wear this but you, does it speak to you?  Don’t worry about what the blogosphere might think, only concern yourself with what you think.

Sometimes you don’t really know how much you like something until you’ve spent some time with it.  And spending real time with your wardrobe is the cornerstone of thrifting.

A Thrifter’s Manifesto Vol 1: Rethinking Retail

I am a second hand shopper.  A thrifter.  I almost never buy retail.  I grew up in thrift stores.  Second hand isn’t just an option for me, it’s the only option.  

Around the time clothes started determining your social status I was faced with a choice.  I could chase my peers acceptance through aspirational retail buying, or I could search out places where I could buy anything I wanted at a price I was comfortable with.  After some unfortunate forays into JNCO & South Pole jeans in middle school I realized aspiration wasn’t for me.  Aspiration didn’t make me cooler, or more confident.  I wasn’t more stylish because I was buying what people thought I should buy, so I went to places where I could buy what I wanted.  I’ve shopped for clothes mostly at thrift stores since I was young.  As I’ve grown, thrift stores have grown with me. 

When I was 14 and could only walk down into town for an hour or two, I would buy mystery bags of clothes for $5 so I didn’t have to look like every other middle schooler.

When I was 16 and punk rocking, I could find denim jackets, skinny black jeans and combat boots that were cheap enough to rip apart at thrift stores.

When I was 20 and in London where everything was 2x more expensive and I didn’t have a work visa, I bought a sport coat and jeans for $20 at some stall in Camden, then I wore them almost daily for 3 years.

When I was 24 and needed a costume for a party or some pants for work I just went to salvation army.

Now that I’m 28 and a blogger I buy high end stuff in a sort of prep/punk/70’s cop/olde tyme saloon keep aesthetic at the same thrift stores.

I don’t like shopping anywhere I can’t buy things.  I have little interest in the latest “grail” item because I don’t have $500 to blow.  I have little interest in the new season’s collection, because I’m used to a collection that’s new daily.  Look books bore me and price tags baffle me.  I don’t understand buying retail.

I reject retail shopping as a paradigm.  The things I want to buy are already out there.  Retail feeds unsustainability, both people unable to sustain their consumerist habits, and businesses needing to pump out flawless lines every year to avoid falling out of the consumer consciousness.  Thrifting is just a parallel to this economy, one that focuses on long term planning, patience and skill instead of investment, classicism and money.

I think there are more people out there like me.  People who chafe against the restraints of “essential wardrobe” lists that presume everyone should be dressing in a mode for conservative business and a “buy less, buy better” mantra that often focuses on what you should be spending to flaunt your tailors abilities rather than your personal style. 

Buy less, buy better is great, if you have the money to buy with.  I usually don’t.  I say spend less, spend better. I say don’t define your wardrobe by the retail market and by brand stylists and bloggers. Define your style by what speaks specifically to you, not by what is trending.

I say get out there and search.  1,000,000 garments live at a thrift store.  Your wardrobe is already there and for only $5 apiece.  It’s up to you to find it.

This series will cover how to go about having an effective thrift experience, more pro-tips than you can shake a broken hanger at, some real talk about what style is and what it isn’t, and some thoughts on why you should consider shifting your shopping habits.  I hope you enjoy.