How I Shop Secondhand IRL

Simone's Thrift Shopping Rules:

Bring all your patience. You will need it
Wear clothes that make it easy for you try on other clothes. It is not the day to wear a romper or that cute shirt that takes 10 years to put on because of the million buttons down the back
Bring a reusable shopping bag! Just like with grocery shopping, there's no need to use another plastic bag that'll live in the landfill for 500+ plus years when I'm sure you have a perfectly fine bag at home you can use
Plan ahead and think of what items you're interested in getting. Whether you have a specific event in mind, a certain pair of pants, or just an aesthetic you're trying to create, some structure will help your thrift shopping journey!
Only buy items you are 100% obsessed with. If everything is perfect about an item except one small thing, it's not worth it. You'll always have that nagging feeling in your head about that piece of clothing
Shop alone! Thrift shopping requires plenty of time, trying on, and contemplating, so go by yourself so you can shop on your own schedule. It's really no fun feeling hurried when trying on a pile of dresses or jeans

Simone's Thrift Shop Game Plan

For a fashion lover like me, curating beautiful outfits for myself is the goal. Thrift shopping is the sustainable, ethical, and economical way I make that happen. If you're not caught up on how and why I got into secondhand fashion, turn around now and read my previous post here. If you're caught up on my secondhand journey, read on!

Before I start thrifting, I start with a plan. I look for fashion inspiration, and I do this via Pinterest. Looking at bloggers on Instagram or looking at fashion magazines is fun, but it's hard for me to keep track of what outfits I like and why. The operations major in me needs organized folders and categories of fashion inspo, and that is why I turn to Pinterest to create fashion inspo lookbooks for myself. I have one big folder called lookbooks, and within that I have different aesthetics I love with titles like Museum Curator Chic (in high school when I interned at the Field Museum, I found that plenty of the curators at the museum and the Art Institute dressed in this fabulous, professional style I've been trying to emulate since then), Mamma Mia Greek Island Lounging, Art Gurl™️, and more. These folders of inspo help me visualize the colors and silhouettes of items I want to find when I go thrift shopping.

The shopping racks of Bloomington’s Goodwill are a chaotic rainbow of colors and patterns

For some, thrift shopping is the most overwhelming once they've walked through the door. I must admit, it is nothing at all like shopping in cute little boutiques or fast fashion stores. Usually there is a smell of old clothes or dust and visually the racks look chaotic. The shelves are brimming with clothes in every pattern and every color. It does not have the polish of the clothing stores you are probably use to, but once you get past that the amount of clothing to dig through can become very exciting! Approach the mess of clothing as if you're about to go treasure hunting!

When I go secondhand shopping in the stores, I browse by clothing type instead of randomly flitting from rack to rack. I start with the jacket section, then the dress section, then the tops, and so on. Once I start looking at the items on the shelves, I systematically go through every piece of clothing hanging there and pull any piece I think is remotely cute. If I kind of like it, I add it to my try on pile. There's been SO many times that the piece of clothing that looks not cute on the hanger ends up super cute tried on and vice versa. I also try to add the clothes to my try own pile that feel like they're made with quality. Whether it's a designer brand or a Forever 21 piece, I feel the material and think about whether it will last a while. Fast fashion brands get a reputation for making crappy clothes, and don't get me wrong, some of them do! But these fast fashion brands also have hidden gems where some of their pieces last forever. My favorite jean jacket and sweatpants are both Forever 21 from my fast fashion days, and I swear I've worn each of them more than 1000 times. I've had both of them for over 6 years, and they have held up incredibly. You can also check the tags and see what materials they are made of. Remember, if you're buying dresses or shirts made of rayon or viscose, wash on cold and do NOT put in the dryer or they will shrink! I've ruined way too many pieces like that before I caught on.

Some of the clothes I brought to the dressing room to try on

Once I amass a giant pile of clothes to try on, I head to the dressing room. Once there, I try on every single piece! The huge pile of clothes will slowly diminish as I decide which pieces I love, the pieces I hate, and the one's I'm confused about. Once I've gone through everything, I look through my maybe pile, and determine if I truly love the piece. If I am unsure about a piece even in the slightest, I try not to buy it. I've found that I tend not to wear items as much when I have something I don't like about the piece, even if it's a very small dislike.

Once I've determined what pieces of clothes I want to buy, I am ready to checkout! I pay and dump all of my clothes into the resuable shopping bag I've brought along. Once at home, I rip off the tags and wash all the clothes. My mom loves to thrift shop too, but she is more paranoid about germs and dirty thrift shop clothes than I am, so she soaks her purchases in water in soap before throwing them in the washing machine. She sometimes even washes them in the machine a couple times to make sure they're super clean. I get SO excited once they're clean because that means I can start wearing them!!then I can start throwing my new items into my clothing rotation.

Voila, now that's how I secondhand shop in real life!! I can't wait for you to try it out yourself, and let me know if you have any other questions about how I do it! Always happy to help out a fellow sustainable, secondhand fashion lover.