Thrifting
I just thought it would be nice to have a space to talk about thrifting as a subsection of the hobby. Especially bc so many of us do a lot of it.
Some questions to get the ball rolling:
1. Where do you shop for secondhand clothing?
2. Are there differences in how you shop online/in person?
3. What are your strategies for filtering out the junk?
4. What was your best find ever?
5. How much do you haggle?
But feel free to talk about whatever you want, im not your boss :turtlecat:
178 Replies
Regarding filtering out the junk: When I go to fleamarkets I try to visualize what I want before I go there. Then I avoid checking every single item, bc that gets exhausting. Instead I just let my unfocused gaze wander until something catches my eye. More often than not it ends up being something I decided I was looking for ahead of time.
Sounds esoteric, but works for me.
I also do that with touch
Just letting my hand run along the lines of clothes until a texture catches me
* I should note, I tend to conflate thrifting with secondhand/consignment shops. They're not necessarily the same
1. I'm not blowing up my spots š
2. I basically just churn through the racks in my size and move on to the next spot. Kind of similar to my online shopping habits - sort by size, scroll thru and see if anything is interesting/needed.
3. I have pretty specific things I'm looking for - If I don't find it, I'm passing it by. There's too many random graphic T's to actually worry about looking too closely at them.
4. BNWT Barbour x And Wander fleece and jacket in March this year.
5. Most places here are fixed price. If I end up at a flea market I'll haggle a few bucks, but I don't really push it
Iām assuming this is primarily conversation about thrifting thrifting, and not just shopping secondhand/consignment.
1. Pop ups primarily, there arenāt good thrifts near me and I donāt have a car. A good thrift is invaluable if you have access to it! 2. Not really! I look at everything on the racks at a thrift because my brain is broken. Online Iāll usually trim down but am happy to look at hundreds of listings if I have the time. 3. Brand, fabric composition, obviously issues with condition (that arenāt aesthetic), garment āfeel,ā measurements, colorsā¦ Iām less likely to spend as much time looking at things I definitely donāt want/need (polos, sweaters, most outerwear) vs things I might aspire to (workwear-y stuff, pleated or corduroy pants, linen) 4. I donāt think Iāve found anything in-person at a thrift (consignment is a different story) that I still wear regularly ): plenty of decent to good finds on eBay et al. Currently a pair of marithe Francois girbaud jeans that I paid a little too much for from a pop up is doing the most work. 5. Online Iām shameless, in person Iām much less willing to engage unless Iām getting a lot of stuff. At tokio7 I got like 10-20$ off a $700+ transaction because I was getting 4 items and it was my second visit in 2 days but that was the exception and not the rule. Shit I miss thrifting
1. Pop ups primarily, there arenāt good thrifts near me and I donāt have a car. A good thrift is invaluable if you have access to it! 2. Not really! I look at everything on the racks at a thrift because my brain is broken. Online Iāll usually trim down but am happy to look at hundreds of listings if I have the time. 3. Brand, fabric composition, obviously issues with condition (that arenāt aesthetic), garment āfeel,ā measurements, colorsā¦ Iām less likely to spend as much time looking at things I definitely donāt want/need (polos, sweaters, most outerwear) vs things I might aspire to (workwear-y stuff, pleated or corduroy pants, linen) 4. I donāt think Iāve found anything in-person at a thrift (consignment is a different story) that I still wear regularly ): plenty of decent to good finds on eBay et al. Currently a pair of marithe Francois girbaud jeans that I paid a little too much for from a pop up is doing the most work. 5. Online Iām shameless, in person Iām much less willing to engage unless Iām getting a lot of stuff. At tokio7 I got like 10-20$ off a $700+ transaction because I was getting 4 items and it was my second visit in 2 days but that was the exception and not the rule. Shit I miss thrifting
yooooo
zeo take me to a thrift gdi!!!!
Honestly, everything secondhand goes in my opinion.
Though i have to say that in person is much more fun than online
Interesting.
To me ofc
I definitely chunk out like thrift shop/curated secondhand/consignment stores or pop ups as 2-3 very different experiences
If the average garment is like under $10-15 vs if itās well over $50-100 etc
If I say I'm "going thrifting" I'm gonna hit a buffalo exchange, a crossroads, and a goodwill
I'm never going to the bins, it's not worth my time
Absolutely, each is good for different stuff.
1. i live near dc so i have plenty of options: goodwill, various flea markets, secondhand/antique/vintage shops, ebay, and other online platforms in that order
2. i have a tendency to make more impulse purchases in-person because of the tactile feel (denim blazer comes to mind); if i'm on ebay it's usually to either research pricing for resale or because i know what i want
3. i funnel down as much as possible - size, color, brand (and in some cases brand age, like with ll bean or brooks or levis where the knowledge is available), material and condition. the hidden cost of alterations is one i have to factor into things because i have weirdly long arms
4. uh...no comment as it might come up in fit battle š best in-person finds were the brown blazer (70s era MiUSA, made for dillards - $8) and the 5 pocket pants (vintage missoni that someone raw hemmed and glued back, saved me the trouble - $15). online it's a yellow PRL summerweight plaid blazer ($40) and the vintage YSL pants from casey ($8)- i think my style is shifting towards more of an exaggeration of or subversion of traditional ivy and the triple pleats help with that.
5. it depends - in person i'm usually less likely to haggle either because 1) i know the person and built up enough or a relationship that there's usually a break (PLEASE DO NOT FORCE THIS RELATIONSHIP IT'S A DICK MOVE) or 2) because i can usually suss out if they're willing to haggle. with ebay the listing's i gravitate to are fixed price :keepincool: but if there's something fucked up with it or it's glaringly overpriced I'll lowball
also i have to say thrifting is probably my favorite aspect of clothing - researching manufacturers, fabrication, brand history - it all adds to the 'story' of the garment and it makes it more interesting than a comparable item purchased new from a store
Triple pleat pants? That sounds fun ^^
Absolutely. My aunt is a textile restaurator and its so much fun to listen to her nerd out about various historical technical details in clothing manufacture and stuff.
1. Mostly flea markets and my local thrift stores. But I notice that I need a bit of fresh air and will propably try flea markets in a few of the nearby more metropolitan areas for a change. Online its mostly vinted, ebay scares me for some reason.
2. Online I am much more deliberate about what I buy than in person - there is more room for comparison and often the descriptions are not very good and I have to scrutinize every detail.
3. It depends. With some articles of clothing the junk feels not manageable (i.e. mens shirts) - online I try to use it to my advantage. The best deals are usually the ones were the item description is totally fucked up and the seller has no clue what he is selling.
4. I don't know. Propably my 80s Armani Coat
Is it just overwhelmingly junk?
I've never been to a store with bins
It's just bins full of clothes. dig until you find gold
I don't have the time or the desire
There's a goodwill outlet in queens, ig I'll check it out this summer with gloves lol
5. In person i like to haggle a bit, although most germans are not haggle friendly. Online I can be quite dreist about things
Oh shit! Totally forgot I got a Burberry coat for like $30 and an our legacy sweater for about that at a Beaconās Closet a couple years ago. Those were good pickups
bins is fun and i've found some nice thing at them but my lower back can't handle it anymore
This coat, not sure I have a great fit with the sweater
I live in Nashville and found it interesting/annoying that at least some of the goodwills hear donāt have a jacket or sweater section.
But I have found a pair of tan OāConnellās wool pants and black roper boots in my size
Iāve been trying out the Goodwill auction website. The interface isnāt the easiest to find stuff but I feel like that might mean there are more hidden steals than eBay.
1. Literally anywhere close to me that sells second hand clothing
2. Way less picky in person vs online. Online costs more usually so if Iām doing that I want whatever Iām buying to be 100% what Iām looking for.
3. Grab anything that looks even remotely interesting at first then at the end take a closer look at everything to filter out the junk. Our closet is pretty small so that also helps with being more picky at the thrifts.
4. Paraboots michaels $13.00
5. In person shops I see all have set prices but there is no greater high in this world than having an online lowball get accepted so I always try when possible
Damn thrifted Michaels is crazy
i think chase wins the best finds
that was like at least 6 years ago now. Will likely never find anything that tops that steal
I think Charlie found bottegas for $12 or something once.. @bishopcorrigan would know
Yeah they sold them for like 500 lol
They also got a gold charm bracelet for like 5 bucks that sold for 1300 once
Mostly we just get stuff for us
The vast majority of my footwear is thrifted
insane come ups
I've found my people
First of all, https://malefashionadvice.substack.com/p/secondhand-shopping-guide-motivation
Article I wrote all about thrifting and secondhand
I'll go ahead and answer the OP questions tho
Where do you shop for secondhand clothing?
70% eBay, 20% thrift stores, 10% consignment/secondhand stores, 10% other secondhand websites (poshmark, depop)
Are there differences in how you shop online/in person?
Yes and no, both involve filtering out a ton of junk. Seeing things IRL and measuring them myself is nicer than trusting seller measurements (or dealing with lack thereof) online. But filters on online sites are a lifesaver and don't exist IRL, so, give and take.
What are your strategies for filtering out the junk?
Very specific saved searches for online. Uhhh just looking at a ton of shit, going often, and being picky for IRL.
What was your best find ever?
Probably my $30 Alden tassel loafers. Other highlights include BB sport coats/blazers, Story mfg pullover, BB sweaters, a J Press suit,some Danner Mountain Lights, and my pearl necklace, all for a fraction of retail. Non-clothing-wise I've gotten a couple of camera lenses for wild deals through eBay sniping.
How much do you haggle?
For eBay sellers, I usually just send an offer for like 30% off, expect a counteroffer for like 20% off, and then settle around 25% off. Seems to be a good general strategy (and is one I've played as both buyer and seller). Never haggled IRL; too shy lmaooo
Ebay filters are an arcane science I need to get into one of these days. I saw that you mentioned something about them in the article, gotta return to that when im less tired.
eBay filters are goated
its honestly dead easy
Site is borderline unusable without them
But itās SO good with them
here's an example of a wool pleated pants filter
it doesn't allow "slimming" as a feature, it doesn't allow flat front as an attribute, everything is under $30 and in my size
I get emails every morning at 5am with new items listed that match this description
so basically just apply that concept to anything on your cop list
be very specific and be very patient, something will come along
I find the -word filters to be my biggest eBay timesaver as well
Thats brilliant!
āYohji yamamotoā -supreme -ānew eraā -adidas etc etc
Now I am unstoppable š
Wait, i don't get that part. I only see "(pleated, pleats, pleat) wool" in the search bar - where do you filter the features etc?
it might be harder on mobile, but I've selected the features I'm ok with (as well as not specifed) and not selected anything I don't want, this makes it both an additive and a subtractive filter
Ah
same deal with front type
Okay, i will have a look at that when im back home at my desktop
Thats really cool
selecting not specified means more junk but you won't miss stuff. you could also not select it and filter out more junk but potentially miss stuff from sellers who don't add lots of stuff to their listings (often times these are inexperienced sellers and the deals can be even better haha)
Yeah. There is an art to finding the items that slip through the cracks of the algorithm
Once found a YSL cashmere-wool coat for 20bucks that way. That I for some reason have not bought bc I was an idiot.
https://xkcd.com/1053/
This is me rn š
xkcd: Ten Thousand
Saying 'what kind of an idiot doesn't know about the Yellowstone supervolcano' is so much more boring than telling someone about the Yellowstone supervolcano for the first time.
Tysm!!
this is how I got my $30 Aldens
Alden made loafers for Brooks Brothers
the seller just listed them as Brooks Brothers loafers and didn't know they were Aldens... I feel a little bad because he didn't know what they were worth
but, yeah, I bought em
I even sent an offer for 25% off and he accepted š I'm so bad
Every day I pray for this to happen to me with the unlined LHS haha
Finding out what an item is worth is work. Some ppl prefer not to do that work. I don't think it is unfair to get a good deal if you have to do that work for them.
yeah and at the end of the day almost every secondhand sale is mutually beneficial to some degree and reduces waste compared to the alternative of buying new
I think though after some personal growth... if i saw a dude listing Aldens he didn't know were Aldens, I'd buy them without trying to haggle to get them even cheaper
that was just kinda greedy of me š
Also sometimes you get for doing that
We all have our weak moments
I tried to lowball on already great deal the other day and it got bought out from under me š
A nice eBay hack is having a size 37 waist so if you filter 37 you usually get a measured size instead of tag size.
Unfortunately I lost some weight and this no longer works as well
I imagine size 39 and to a lesser extent 35 would work too
The thrift gods are good to me today
Certainly rewarding my thrift-only commitment it seems
Sometimes you just win tho.
Auction steals are such a rush
Makes me understand why people get gambling problems tbh
My best one must have been when I won this Powderhorn Mountaineering jacket for 1 swedish krona (abt 10 cents) on the Swedish version of eBay (also probably my best thrift find to go back to the opening questions)
Another thing that I like about thrifting is that it is easier to just try stuff.
You can just pick up something that is close enough to your imagined ideal and just roll with it a bit to see if you like that specific article of clothing.
Lots of room for experimenting
https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1236698017042661498
Cross posting this here š
It happened again. These are Aldens lol
Did you ask for a discount again?
Jokes aside: congrats
Haha nah this was an auction snipe rather than a buy it now
I really need to get into the ebay game :xd:
And also update my dang notes on my style ideas (in my case not a google doc but a one note notebook) and compile a proper cop list
So many half baked ideas, so little time
Really looking forward to playing a bit with the navy blazer I got last Friday on the way to the train station.
Low key need a pipe and a captains hat for a captain haddock fit lol
I have some funky pants i want to try pairing with it for a bit of a pirate look.
Need some bandanas though
Currently in a bit of a fuck-around-and-find-out-phase lol
Lots of bricks incoming
Yeah it happens
School fees etc
to make a tomlette you gotta break a few greggs
or else post to #styling-suggestions
1. Mostly on Vinted, I think ebay is a lot less good when you're in Europe. Etsy is so enshittified it's barely useable anymore. Have recently started looking at vestiaire collective but haven't copped anything yet
2. I don't really buy second hand clothing irl because I don't have time and I can rarely find something right
3. Saved searches + endless scrolling
4. I'm not sure if one really stands out. I bought a lot of things over the years I am very happy with. Maybe a Filippa K overcoat for like 50 bucks was the best deal
5. I always haggle and that helps to end up at around 70% of the listed price most of the time
Good thing about vinted is that there's a ton of Italian and French stuff tho
Not when you are in Germany. German Vinted is its own separate hell :yea:
You can't buy from abroad? That sucks
I'm in NL and get most of my stuff from France
I don't know for sure
But German Vinted won't show you anything outside Germany
Perhaps there is a way to circumvent this.
I ought to try
Tbf i also don't remember ever seeing anything from Germany
I donāt know why but german vinted seems to be self contained. In austria I can also buy stuff from italy and france, but not from the netherlands. Even though those italian and french sellers could sell to both countries. My best guess is that it has to do with regulations and the deals/integrations they have with shipping services. The french market only got added to the austrian version recently so maybe thereās still hope for germany
Does Vinted work in Britain at all?
...I'm in NZ so if various countries in europe is hell, gg NZ
but I do have the ability to phone a friend in England...
It does. They have their own version contained to the UK afaik
Just noticed that there is someone selling black calfskin alden tassels in my size only two towns over on vinted. They have mislabeled the size, bc eu peeps get confused with eu and us sizing
Need to think about that
If it's cheap enough you could always flip em if sizing doesn't work out
Guess I need to do some research on alden prices
Calf tassels under 100 USD is a quite good deal unless they're absolutely cooked
Shell tassels under 150 same thing
Hmm. I might have to do some haggling bc seller wants 200. Ah well, stuff like that barely moves on German Vinted so I will just let it sit and stew for a few weeks lol
Ah for calf tassels I wouldn't bother with a seller asking for 200. You can probably get from US eBay for cheaper even with international shipping
Yeah this is what it's about for me. I feel like thrifting really accelerated my fashion journey because I've been able to try out styles that I'd be too weary of dropping serious money on. It lets me get out of my comfort zone with little monetary risk.
Yes for me too, plus I feel it's really wasteful to buy new clothes and then potentially not wear it
in fairness that's true of vintage clothes you buy as well
there's still an element of "buy what you will wear" but i agree that closing the loop with vintage is a net positive
Iāve seen enough eBay descriptions that I now can pick out the AI generated ones without reading a word
Two paragraphs, no measurements. AI generated.
Itās a plague lmao
Definitely, but less wasteful
This Polo Ralph Lauren dress shirt is a great addition to your wardrobe if you care about preppy or business casual. Made from 100% cotton, it is white and long sleeved.
it's only an issue if they don't accept offers
if so i assume they're a busy person who won't look too much into the lowball
Additionally, it comes in a comfortable size MEDIUM for a timeless and classic look.
A comfortable size Medium to ensure a perfect fit on anyone.
Itās the worst use of AI Iāve seen. It would be better if they left the description blank
Unfortunately probably too busy to provide me measurements
Size 10.5 to fit most feet!
playing the offer-counteroffer dance with a seller, they send an offer I was down to accept 4 mins ago, go to accept it, item sold :nooooo:
Anyone having experience with buying from other Vinted Regions (German Vinted is separated from french or UK vinted) - is it possible and how to go about it?
I don't have experience but I suppose it would be possible if you don't actually use the vinted buying and shipping features but just message a seller and try to set something up yourself. Obviously that means you won't have any of the normal buyer protection from vinted
Browsing another region is as easy as opening vinted.at instead of vinted.de for example. You'd need to make a new account in that region to be able to message people
If I would get a request like that I'd likely assume it's a scam and not proceed
I think in germany it would be a non issue bc everyone goes around the system, but I guess its different in other places
Me seeing the Paraboot prices on french vinted
Only one way to find out
maybe I need to rent a post box in some french border town and use a VPN so I can finally cop in piece
Maybe just a vpn would already work?
just message and ask if they will do ebay or depop or something is what I've done
I really feel for my buddy in Valencia, too bougie to have retail vintage stores, and the online selection that will ship to him is apparently woeful
Has anyone ever tried using sellpy (is that even a thing where you are at?)
I feel like the concept in itself is a bit soulless
itās definitely better than momox and they often lower prices to increase stock turnaround which I think is really good in comparison to lots of other resale sites; but relatively expensive shipping if you only buy a single item and sometimes shipping can take a while; returns are possible but youāll have to cover shipping costs
youād have to convince the seller to sell outside the system, which isnāt very likely tbh
also no idea how common it is for italians or french ppl to have paypal accounts
What are things y'all would not consider thrifting? I think for me its mostly Undergarments like T-shirts, Tank tops and of course underwear.
any obviously worn items are a no go
i'm fortunate that goodwill near me sells packaged undergarments, otherwise i'd add those as well
anything else goes, as long as it's not weirdly stained or malodorous; bleach and laundry goes a long way
With obviously worn you mean tears and stuff?
moreso the fabric being worn through on a structural level
can usually mend or have tears mended
some spotting or ring around the collar is fine, can use blue dish liquid or baking soda & vinegar or oxiclean; i don't mess with bodily fluids
Underwear and that's about it honestly. I've bought plenty of second hand running shoes and tshirts.
Like zeometer says, if it's too obviously beat, unless it's a repair project. My personal bugbear is stretched out necklines are super common.
on a separate note i am not nearly confident enough in my ability to flip something to buy anything intentionally for resale (too big/small, not my tastes, needing cheap repairs to resell)
Pick this up yesterday. I have a thing for old punk shirts.
Do you guys also sell on online platforms? Have been thinking about doing it as well but unsure if it's worth the time
I don't do the actively reselling part, but if I bought something that I end up not liking I try to pass it on at-cost.
To me 20ā¬ is kinda the cutoff point. Below that I can't be bothered and even 20 is a bit of a nuisance.
Though if I were to make a particularily good find while thrifting I might consider reselling at a profit. But the gap would have to be pretty big.
I do! I have funded most of my purchases in the last year by reselling previous things I have bought and got bored of / grown out of. Whether it's 'worth it' is totally dependent on what you're trying to sell imo. If it's a sought-after brand you can generally get pretty decent resale prices, but selling like Uniqlo and stuff I think is a waste of time
If you're in Europe I find Vinted best for listing stuff
Yep. Vinted is pretty chill. Though German vinteds insistence of circumventing the in app payment makes it a bit annoying
Also the big hitters I would not put on german vinted
German ppl are unwillng to pay ā¬ā¬ā¬ for clothing
and yet ppl list items for 250 and more that then never get sold
Yep. But its actually a great way to get good deals on stuff. Because at some point ppl are quite willing to accept pretty mean lowballs.
German vinted is like fine wine
You need to let it sit for 6 months for deals to get good
idk i think some prices are just wildly overpriced, so even a significant lowball offer is still more than what i would consider a good price lol
True. That as well
250 for a suitsupply suit lol
Always cracks me up
In general Germany is fashion Hell
Unless you want chep GATs
(owns no gats)
I sell stuff I don't wear, yeah, but resellers are the worst
What is your experience with thrifting on etsy? I feel like etsy is kinda the curated vintage store equivalent in the online market.
Though I hate their search engine
their search is fucking atrocious
and the prices are usually bad
but there's a lot of cool shit there
i've bought some cool womenswear pieces off there iirc
Yeah. I usually don't really use their search engine at all. So far my approach has been to look for good sellers and just periodically check what they have
Though its the wrong place to go bargain hunting
wouldn't really call it thrifting but have used it to find a vintage chore coat and surplus GATs in the past
True, I think i am personally fuzzy on the terminology of what is and is not thrifting, perhaps bc i am not a native speaker
I bought a nice french chore from etsy but it's a great example of enshittification
Used to be a lot better
Nothing to do with native speaker or not imo, native English speakers use the word āthriftingā to mean a lot of things. To me it means specifically in person shopping at very cheap stores that get their inventory by donation and (mostly) donāt individually price items. But for some people it also includes vintage/secondhand shops that buy their inventory and price things individually, online platforms like eBay, etc. etc. All pretty fuzzy.
i don't go on etsy usually for deals to save money (though it has happened)
i do think it's great for super niche or rare things that i'm willing to buy at cost vs aggressively haggling
No luck with online thrifting myself. I cut it off at R$ 50 which is equivalent to $10-15 in dollars, and everyone wants to sell things above that price online.
R$ 40-50 is also the usual price of curated thrift stores on my area
I'm not paying more for something I can't even try on beforehand lol onlinesellers
Yeah who would ever do that :awkward:
I had quite a steep learning curve with a lot of stuff that didnt fit right
But now i ask for measurements on everything i have a lot higher success rate
bought my very first vintage pieces on Etsy probably 12/13 years ago; i donāt think i ever bought anything ever again via etsy
the shop i bought from still exists though; itās a latvian vintage shop but most of their items are quite overpriced
Hmm. Latvia rings a bell. I propably have some of their stuff saved somewhere as "this is nice but too expensive"
To buy or not to buy?
It costs around $40
Depends on where you are. In Germany it would be a good deal, simply bc PRL is less available here and shipping from the state would cost an arm and a leg.
If I wanted a shawl collar cardigan that looked that way I would propably buy for that price
Thanks! I'm from the Philippines so 40 bucks is still a considerable price. I'll probably buy it, do you have any experiences regarding PRL sweater/cardigan quality?
I personally don't have any experience with prl cardigans, but I am sure someone here might be able to give some input š
first time went thrift shopping ever and in japan nonetheless
stores in tokyo are good but stores out of town are better
in terms of price and items
sizing is all the same
there are some smaller sized stuff
but alot of it is new stuff dumped from stores bc theyre too big and theres no demographic for that in japan
and big in only like L and XL not like plus sizes
Sometimes miracles happen. A seller on vinted DE accepted payment through the in-app system.
Man great timingāI was up last night trying to find pictures of leather shoes that ARE and ARE NOT worth restoring. Iām just talking about the upper leather. Obviously cracks are one thing, but what level of scuffing and scraping is fixable? Anyone know of some helpful pics to discern this?
Thats a great question bc im also in the market for some well worn shoes rn
Actually thinking about emailing the brand i am looking at rn and ask them for a decoder for their product code.
Bc the first two digits always specify the last, next two the shaft etc
So having that would be very helpful for thrifting comparability
It often depends on the leather, if it's got that plasticy-coating that a lot of cheaper shiny leathers have, then scuffs and scratches can be difficult to fix cause they've just taken off the outer layer. If its not a coated leather though, cleaning conditioning and oiling can go a long way
Here's an example for some totally cooked looking water spotted and scratched Doc Martens that I just hit with a bit of soap and then mink oil: https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1203639758824144896/1204091092870627338
Oh wow
Thats a difference
How did you apply the saddle soap? Just some on a damp rag?
Yep!
Did that, left it to dry for a bit, then just mink oil rubbed with a cloth
I probably didn't need to do both tbh
Thanks! Noted
Is there some sort of guide to prominent shoe makers product numbers anywere?
You know the number usually scrawled on the inside of the shoe. Bc it usually is a combination of last, shaft, leather and sole model. So it would be kinda useful to be able to decode that, bc a lot of the time sellers don't really know about that stuff.
Grailed
The Complete Guide to Dress Shoes
Until I got out of college, I always had two pairs of dress shoes one black and one brown. And thatās probably still enough for the average guyāso...
Obviously only for one brand but the best one of these I'm aware of is Alden Model Project: https://aldenmodelproject.com/ Very useful tool.
Alden Model Project
Alden Model Project
Alden shoe, loafer and boot model details. Current Alden ebay listings and sales history.
Thank you! I will give that a whirl
What are your thoughts about thrifting shoes in general? Are they worth the risk? Or should one get a shoe brand new?
I would say thrifting stores are better for buying shoes than buying them used online bc you get to try them on and examine them for flaws for yourself
Oh damn
Not a lot of thrift shops stock shoes in our area
Ive been eyeing this AE loafers online lol
Do you have a Shoestore nearby that stocks that model?
in that case you can always try it on in store and buy the used one if it would fit š
Beyond that getting into buying used things online is a learning curve and requires some time to get right.
Not really, good shoe stores are rare here lol
Do you think I'm better off having a made to order shoe made for me instead of thrifting one?
No
Unless your feet are extremely far away from the norm, which is unlikely
I have bigfoot feet lol
Tho there's this loake model
Which I guess will fit me properly
That is for sale online
Tho seller's kind of an ass
Lol
Either risk it on some relatively affordable shoes secondhand or order something rtw new that you can return if it does not fit
Golden way is searching for ebay offers that accept returns
Thanks! Sorry if I'm a bit direct rn. I may be drunk idk
Also as an additional tip: if an article has a flaw that was not clearly visible in the pictures or mentioned in the description, most sites allow for a return anyway.
And if you are pedantic enough basically every article has one of these.
And usually sites side with sellers in these regards
Is a bit of a hassel though so I would only do that as a last resort
Also, if the price of the shoes is good enough flipping them is generally non-painful
That way your financial losses in case of a misfit are minimal
Thank you! Tho unfortunate I wont be able to order from such sites (Allen edmonds, Paraboot, Alden and the like) since I live from a far away country which kills ppl with expensive shipping fees lol
So returns are kind of out of the question
Ah
yeah, I feel your pain
i used to have a stigma about used shoes but now accept them because regular shoes are overpriced lmao
main thing is to check for any signs wear or damage on the uppers/soles and where the two meet
you might find proxying through Japan to be cost effective; there's a bunch of guides in #fashion-guides and it's honestly less difficult than assumed
Yeah they are lol, it's really hard to justify dropping $200 (in our local currency) for a pair of shoes. Specially when one is still in college
Personally I have come to the conclusion that with thrifting it is important to factor in time as a resource.
Consignment shops are great for shoes too in my experience! More expensive than thrift obviously, but way less than new. There arenāt a ton of them with menās stuff, but definitely worth looking into.
iāve definitely gotten awesome deals from buying lightly used shoes at in person thrift stores and on Ebay. Iām pickier with used shoes than i am with other articles of clothing, since you canāt just throw them in the washing machine, but itās a great option to save money and get cool shoes imo.
Ive thrifted a bunch of shoes. It helps to know your actual size and how different brands fit
Thanks guys! Will update you in a few months (probably)
Also dry cleaning and alterations.
I have avoided thrifting shoes, but not for any good reason I can identify.
New thrift find today
Its a heavy knit sweater with denim patches
Really cool but big and heavy
Ooh
Very cool indeed!