A Guide to Thrifting for the Non-Thrifter

It has come to my attention that a lot of people who don’t thrift genuinely just don’t know how to (Tara this is your shout-out!) So I thought it would be fun to create a guide! Ive been thrifting since way before it was trendy and was taught how to thrift by my mom when I was just little, (circa 2012?) as well as for the last year-and-a-half-ish I’ve been dedicated to thrifting my clothes exclusively with very few exceptions. I love thrifting and very rarely leave a thrift store empty handed!

Before You Go:

Types of thrifting

1. Facebook marketplace, thrifting on ‘easy mode’, you can browse from home, search for specific things that you may not find in a regular op shop, and just have to pick it up. Cons are that the seller usually knows the items worth better, since they bought it at retail price, so you’re typically going to pay more. Scams are also rampant on marketplace, if a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is! You also aren’t guaranteed an item just because you messaged about it, often people will forget to mark a listing as sold, or just won’t respond to you. Not only that but Facebook sellers are picky and sometimes won’t message back just because they don’t like the wording of your message.
2. Online second-hand websites (Poshmark, Depop, Ebay), pretty much the same as marketplace, except twice as expensive (especially with factoring in shipping prices), however, if you’re looking for something extremely specific, these websites are your best bet.
3. Big chain thrift stores (Value Village), these shops typically have a bigger selection than smaller thrift stores, however, they usually use an individual pricing system, as well as a price generating program that spits out prices based on the condition and brand name of a piece. This can lead to extremely high prices on clothes, especially if they’re attached to a brand name.
4. Consignment and pawn shops (Plato’s closet), Consignment shops are stores that sell items on others behalf. Tags are marked for identification and when the item sells, the person who gave the item to the store receives a percentage of the sale. Pawn shops are similar, however the items are bought outright before being put on the sale floor, based off of what they will be pricing the items at. These stores are typically mid-priced, and often carry more brand names and trendy items than donation based shops.
5. Curated thrift shops, these thrift shops do not accept donations and are typically stocked with things found at other thrift stores, like if you poured a charity shop through a sieve and only caught the really nice stuff. Pricing of these stores highly depends on wether its run by an old lady who closes on Sundays, or a thirty-something with good social media presence and a pilates membership, with the former being generally well priced, and the latter being so expensive that you might as well just buy retail.
6. Charity shops, usually run by church organizations or other community service organizations. They may have payed employees, or are run by volunteers. There is usually a lot you need to comb through before getting to the good stuff at these shops, but they are also incredibly reasonably priced with pricing usually being based on item type (i.e. all dresses being four dollars). Some shops may have boutique sections where things deemed more expensive are kept, however the sorters are not usually well versed in brands and are only told to keep an eye out for leather, fur, and Lululemon, so a lot of good brand name stuff will end up on the racks with everything else. This is my personal favourite when it comes to thrifting.
7. The bins, these are a little less common, but they are essentially just a room with bins full of unsorted donations. They may be priced by item type or by weight, and are by far the most affordable option, however you’re also much less likely to find good quality items and it can be hard to paw through and sort items, especially if there are other people going though the same bin you are. It’s truly thrifting on ‘hard mode’.
8. Antique malls and markets, a larger area split into units for many different vendors to sell from. Pricing can vary greatly from each vendor. Antique malls are usually a permanent instalment, thrift markets are usually only around for a day or two, and flea markets tend to swing either way.

Know your local stores!

Unless you live in a tiny town, you probably have way more op shops in your area than you know. Most of the time your local value village is not the best option! Figure out where all your local thrifts are and set yourself a route to get to multiple of them in a day. As you get to know each thrift better over time, you’ll start to know which ones are your best bet when looking for something specific (which shop to go to for craft supplies vs for furniture vs for baby clothes), and which ones to skip all together.

What to bring

1. headphones, unless, of course, you’re a big fan of Christian soft rock!
2. reusable bags, most op shops do not offer shopping bags.
3. cash, (if going to a market where card readers may not be available.)

Once You Get There:

The General Consensus:

The biggest tip I can give you is that you have to look at every item. You’re never going to find anything if you only look at the sides of everything. What you need to do is go to the rack of whatever you’re looking for and push all of the hangers to one side so that you can see the front of the item without taking it off the rack. then work through every item, pushing back the hangers as needed. It’s also important to remember that sizing varies greatly between brands (especially for womens clothes) and since every article is a different brand, it helps if you shop within a size range rather than just your size, for example I usually fit a small or extra-small, but I shop up until a medium when I’m thrifting. Remember that if you’re unsure if something will fit you, it’s best to just try it on. Also make sure you know what size you wear in all the different ways to list sizes (i.e. small=4=27), as different thrift stores will list sizes in different ways. Vintage pieces are also sized differently due to vanity sizing, usually there’s about a four number difference, so if you wear a modern size 2-4, you’ll fit a vintage 6-8. Generally, after a while of thrifting, you’ll learn to tell what will fit just by looking at it (if you can’t already, I didn’t learn until covid shut down op shop dressing rooms, but now I can tell easily), since many articles won’t include a size tag at all.

Your Personal Style:

You’re much more likely to find things at the thrift if you already have a well developed sense of personal style. People aren’t usually donating things that are trending currently! It’s okay to enjoy trends and think some trends are cute and incorporate those into your style, I do that all the time, but if you’re outfits only ever consist of what is trendy at the moment and you stop wearing things once they are no longer all over your social media feed, its a sign that you don’t have a well developed sense of personal style. It’s normal to gravitate towards what’s popular, but can also lead to a lot of overconsumption, so tread lightly. If you’re a big trends person, then thrifting also probably just isn’t for you. if you want to start developing your personal style more and don’t know where to start, my suggestion is to start by figuring out what colours you gravitate towards, and what types of materials you like, and what silhouettes you like. these are all things that can be observed in many facets in popular fashion so is a good place to start. For me personally, I gravitate towards brighter colours, and usually pass on dark pieces and neutrals. I love cottons and linens, and usually opt for a more elongated silhouette, with things like long skirts, wider pant legs, and long sleeved shirts and sweaters. Of course, there is always exceptions to these, many of my favourite clothes fall outside these guidelines, this is just a good start to figuring out what it is that you tend to gravitate towards. After you figure this out, you can start looking at different styles of clothing which is where it gets fun! Remember that it’s always ok to draw inspiration from other people, and Pinterest is your best friend, since it showcases so many different styles. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to assign keywords to your style which will make it easier to find inspiration online. I haven’t been fortunate in that category and honestly have no idea what I would describe my style as, and the only thing I’ve heard anyone else call it was “little mennonite girl” which also took my character into consideration so I’m not even sure that counts. Anyways, the point is that you are much more likely to find good things secondhand if you actually know what you like, and don’t just wear what others are wearing.

Shopping Vintage:

Op shops are teeming with vintage clothes and are pretty easy to find if you know what you’re looking for. Obviously with some items it is clear they are from a certain era just due to the style, but there are lots of other things to look for as well, the number one thing being tags! Here are some details found on vintage clothes to watch for:

• Tag Style, tagging is one of the most distinctive way of telling vintage and modern pieces apart. For many brands the style of the tag is much different compared to what they are now. It isn’t uncommon for brands to change the style of their tagging when they rebrand. For brands that are not modernly known, vintage tags also just have a certain look to them that most current clothes tagging doesn’t have. Below I have four examples of vintage tagging, with the first two being brands that are still extremely recognizable today, Reitmans and Garage (also please ignore my gross finger, I was fell victim to a blood hungry butter knife and unfortunately had to get stitches). Vintage tags will also usually have care instructions printed on a paper tag directly underneath the brand tag (as you can see below with the pink Reitmans skirt, as well as red Al Jean skirt). Modern clothes usually have care instructions on long fabric tags, as well as most clothes have these tags on a side seam rather than under the brand tag. if the care instructions have completely worn off a tag, like on the Rietmans one pictured below, it is usually a good indicator that a piece is from the 90s or earlier.

• Vanity sizing, I know I’ve already talked about vanity sizing, but it is a really strong indicator for if a piece is vintage. If you try on a piece that, according to its tag, should be four sizes too big for you and it fits like a glove, the piece is probably vintage!
• (For skirts) button closures, if your skirt has a button closure above the zipper, there’s a good chance it could be vintage. Typically modern skirts do not have a top closure above the zipper, or if they do it is a small metal hook, rather than the larger, more visible button closure.
• (For T-shirts) sleeve cuff stitches, if the stitch along the edge of a short sleeve looks like a straight line, or many parallel lines, it may be vintage. Modern T-shirts will usually use a twin needle on short sleeves to create two lines around the edge of the sleeve.
• Style/lot numbers, before computers, style and lot numbers were printed onto the care instructions tag on clothing to help keep track of inventory.

Some Short-Form Tips:

1. op shops are less busy (easier to comb through) during the days on weekdays. Also try to steer clear of seniors days (usually Tuesdays).
2. steer clear of fast fashion brands (like Shein) as they are not built to last.
3. check each item thoroughly for flaws in the articles integrity, or stains that you don’t believe will come out.
4. before buying a piece, think of as many outfits as you can that you could make with the piece, we’re trying to limit over-consumption!
5. if an article doesn’t fit, leave it behind! Obviously you can make small alterations to things that fit in weird ways or doesn’t have the desired fit, but if something is blatantly the wrong size, its usually just better to leave it for the next person.
6. always look in every section!
7. schedule adequate time to sort through all the clothes fully. I prefer to go on days when I have no other plans so that I can go to multiple shops in the one day.
8. go often! You’re not going to find an amazing gem every time, I try to go pretty often to keep up.

Tips for Thrifting with a Friend

I love bringing friends thrifting with me! It adds a new level to thrifting and is such a fun hangout activity! I do, however, suggest going with a friend who either has a different style to you or a vastly different size. I have two friends that are my ‘thrifting friends’ we all wear similar sizes and our styles are usually cohesive with each other, however have many differences as well. It definitely helps our case that none of us are the type to get jealous of another’s find. If you don’t think you could look at something in the op shop that’s perfect for your friend without also wanting it for yourself, then you probably wouldn’t mesh well together for thrifting, and that’s okay! It’s called opportunity shopping for a reason, if you think you or your friend would get easily jealous at the others find, then maybe it should just be a solo activity.

I hope this post can help somebody get into thrifting in 2025! If I missed anything let me know in the comments below! Thank you for reading friends, and good luck!