The official thrift/discount store bragging thread

[matty long legs]

Had a feeling I was going to find an E. Marinella today. Well I didn't. Got this instead. Unfortunately at consignment price, but I'm not complaining.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

[Patrologia]



Addiction??
Damn right it is an addiction!!
I am at the point now where I need an intervention.
If I don't hit Goodwill or Sally Ann at least 4 times a week to troll the racks, I get withdrawal and anxiety symptoms.
Now I equate every other purchase of disposable income to what I could have bought at a thrift. For example - If I buy a Big Mac trio for 5 bucks,I tell myself, "Why am I eating this ****?" For the same money, I could have a Zegna SC or a Brioni shirt.
Gas up the car for 40 bucks, WTF, instead of this ******* gas, I could have had 3 Canali suits, and a couple of Zegna cashmere jackets.
Am I a sick **** just like y'all??? LOL !!! ******* right it is an addiction. I can't stop myself !!! HELP !!!!!!! 

Get me into Thrifting Anonymous ASAFP !!!!!!

Well, I agree with you on the McD's - you should definitely be saving money for Brioni by making a ham and cheese sandwich before you leave the house. The gas, however, you need to get from one thrift store to the next, so that is just part of the general expenses for the addiction.

The anxiety symptoms are both natural and reasonable. since you are going only every other day, it is possible that a Brioni suit (I wouldn't worry too much about the shirts) could get put out the morning of a day you don't go, and languish on the racks until a college kid grabs it needing a suit to rag out as part of his Halloween costume. Of course you feel anxiety about that.

Side note: remember everyone, we have a two-fold duty this time of year. 1 - make sure that the college kids looking for Halloween costumes only find fused junk available for trashing. 2 - help the clueless mothers with sons who have to wear blue blazers for school to find jackets that are a. not actually women's jackets (stopped this twice last week) b. fit reasonably well (they need a little room to grow, but a slight 14 year old doesn't need a 44L). Go forth and improve the world.

 

[clotheshound]

LOL !!!
We jest, but part of this anxiety we all feel is entirely valid.
The anxiety arises from the thought that if we are not constantly hitting stores and hitting them hard, then we may be missing on that Brioni, Prada, Versace, Zegna, Chanel, MaxMara, Canali, Roberto Cavali, Manolo Blahnik, Fendi, True Religion, J Brand, Armani piece, all of which I have found in multiple numbers over the past 9 months.

This addiction is about regularity- you need to go out all the time, and persistence - you need to look at every single piece, even if the rack has 2000 pieces, you need to check them all.

Frequently i have just gone through 200 shirts, not completely through the entire inventory, and have found sweet **** all nothing, starting to get pissed off, and you want to leave. But you stay to go through those last 30 shirts, and lo and behold, there you find a mint Brioni dress shirt. This scenario has happened to me many times.

Looking for my wife, I have gone through 300 blouses, and want to go over to men's jeans, but I stay to the end and find 2 mint Chanel Boutique pieces.

Gentlemen, this is an addiction no doubt, but a noble addiction. A toast to high end fashion labels, which I could never afford otherwise, not in a million years.

 

[Tweets]

LOL !!!
We jest, but part of this anxiety we all feel is entirely valid.
The anxiety arises from the thought that if we are not constantly hitting stores and hitting them hard, then we may be missing on that Brioni, Prada, Versace, Zegna, Chanel, MaxMara, Canali, Roberto Cavali, Manolo Blahnik, Fendi, True Religion, J Brand, Armani piece, all of which I have found in multiple numbers over the past 9 months.

This addiction is about regularity- you need to go out all the time, and persistence - you need to look at every single piece, even if the rack has 2000 pieces, you need to check them all.

Frequently i have just gone through 200 shirts, not completely through the entire inventory, and have found sweet **** all nothing, starting to get pissed off, and you want to leave. But you stay to go through those last 30 shirts, and lo and behold, there you find a mint Brioni dress shirt. This scenario has happened to me many times.

Looking for my wife, I have gone through 300 blouses, and want to go over to men's jeans, but I stay to the end and find 2 mint Chanel Boutique pieces.

Gentlemen, this is an addiction no doubt, but a noble addiction. A toast to high end fashion labels, which I could never afford otherwise, not in a million years.

That's dedication, I don't have a problem going thru the shirts, but man it's hard to look at 2 40 foot racks of unorganized slacks/jeans and bring myself to go thru it. Jeans you can kind of tell if they are decent pretty quick, but on pants I have a hard time telling $100 pants from $20 pants and trying to find the label is a real pain on pants.

 

[clotheshound]

The pants rack is where I have found some of my gems. The reason? The employees usually place BLUE jeans on the Jeans rack. If the jeans are black or grey, then they mistakenly get placed on the pants rack. Good for us because nestled among those polyester flannels from Sears and Hunt Club, I have found Black Versace jeans, black Ermenegildo Zegna jeans, black Diesel jeans, grey Diesel jeans etc. The average guy looking through the pants rack is looking for office trousers, so they leave the designer jeans behind.
I have also been last in line of a bunch of guys ****** the pants rack. Each guy ahead of me grabbed about 2-4 pairs of pants, so I figured it was stripped clean. But nonetheless, I went through every remaining pair. Found a pair of mens Prada pants, a pair of navy blue Armani Collezione, and a pair of Hugo Boss black jeans. Go figure!!!!!!

 

[Mox C]



How do steamers compare to hanging your woolens in the bathroom while turning hot shower water on for about 20 minutes?

I can't really compare. I haven't been able to take a hot shower in over a decade. If the water is warm enough to steam half the mirror, it's still too warm and my muscles turn into rubber bands. Needles to say, I no longer take long, lingering showers.

But as pointed out, for a suit coat, I wouldn't hit it with an all-over blast of steam. With a small steamer, you might be able to do the back or some select parts without relaxing too much of the rest of the shaping, but I haven't done it myself. I've gathered up some drill, batting, etc., and I'm going to make up a pressing board for myself. I haven't seen one that is both affordable and of decent quality, so I'll just come up with my own.

http://tuttofattoamano.blogspot.com/2008/11/vital-importance-of-pressing.html

 

[Mox C]



LOL !!!
We jest, but part of this anxiety we all feel is entirely valid.
The anxiety arises from the thought that if we are not constantly hitting stores and hitting them hard, then we may be missing on that  Brioni, Prada, Versace, Zegna, Chanel, MaxMara, Canali, Roberto Cavali, Manolo Blahnik, Fendi, True Religion, J Brand, Armani piece, all of which I have found in multiple numbers over the past 9 months.

Thank Crom that we usually don't know what we've missed. Someone may have walked out the door with a NWT Kiton for $20 five minutes before you arrived, but unless you were out in the parking lot scoping the exit, you will never know. It's hard enough to resist a continual circuit from one store to the next during their open hours, just in case a new piece has come out from the back.

 

[Evil Abed]

It's kind of like what Winogrand said when asked how he felt about missing photographs while he reloaded his camera with film, he replied "There are no photographs while I'm reloading." There are no awesome items to thrift when you're not thrifting.

 

[Brianpore]

Found something that actually fits! Pair of like new G-Star Raw jeans. Also picked up this like new tie. Crazy story about an oxxford jacket "suit" today but need to snap some pictures first. Few other odds and ends but nothing earth shattering.

 

[Nataku]

^^ Congrats! That's the first recent T&A tie I've seen! Cool pattern, too.

 

[clotheshound]

Well said. - What we don't know doesn't hurt us.

Everytime you set foot into a thrift store, you should take the attitude that it has been not already stripped out.
Attack every store as if there are golden Brioni, Zegna, Canali, D&G, Versace, and Paul Smith nuggets of gold to be panned.

 

[TheNeedMachine]

Thanks, I agree. Anyone got advice on a good one? I've read reviews of several that they break pretty often. I've only ever seen one in a thrift and it wouldn't turn on when I plugged it in.

I got my Conair at Goodwill on 1/2 price day - it turned on but I guess no one could figure out if it really worked. Duh - Goodwill sells cups and has a water fountain - fill cup - fill steamer - tested and worked. Seven bucks for mine, and like the other poster touched on I was spending $7 per coat to have them pressed at the cleaners - thing has saved me a decent amount of $.

 

[TheNeedMachine]

On the road today; drove north out of Georgia and wound up in the Chattanooga TN area. All the GW's were having 50% off everything in the store today (not sure if GW's everywhere do that, but of course all of them here were mobbed and being picked clean). Ended up with stuff mostly for myself, and along the lines I was looking for: plaids, woolens, sweaters etc. Oh, and I flipped the bird at the giant Van Heusen factory as I drove by.

My meager picks from today, but all half off so not too bad...excuse the crappy motel room bed pics.



Vintage Jantzen made in USA grandpa sweater. This winter I am going to rock grandpa sweaters all day and night.


Made in USA Lacoste Izod grandpa sweater.


London Fog lightweight jacket.


Jantzen made in USA.


Woolrich made in USA.


Off-brand (Daniel Cremieux) baby alpaca grandpa sweater.


Jantzen made in USA grandpa sweater.


No-name shirt for next spring.


Downhill skiing tie...


...by PRL.


Western sportcoat - wool with sueded leather elbow patches, shoulders and upper back.





PRL wool sportcoat.





My favorite grab - wool with sueded leather elbow patches...


..made in USA Pendleton...


...single vented and pleated back.

 

[Mox C]

I picked up a similar Pendleton a couple days ago, just a different color (and 42).

 

[Nataku]



Well said. - What we don't know doesn't hurt us.

Everytime you set foot into a thrift store, you should take the attitude that it has been not already stripped out.
Attack every store as if there are golden Brioni, Zegna, Canali, D&G, Versace, and Paul Smith nuggets of gold to be panned.

Indeed. I watched a Loro Piana men's coat (the $$$$ private label Loro Piana) get snatched up literally 8 inches from my by an aggressive, bovine shaped flipper woman a month or so ago. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I would have much rather not known about what I had missed, nor how close I was to having it. If I would have been a second or two quicker.....