A lot of people don’t know this about me, but my first real foray into fashion (and what really made me fall in love with it) was thrifting. In high school, one of my best friends was an amazing designer (and still is!) who was a master of sourcing incredible pieces, and from her I learned the fine art of picking out gems. We’d go together to Value Village just about every week and being the non-conformists that we were, delighted in having pieces that really and truly, NO ONE else in our school would have (and I still wear these pieces more than 10 years later – check it here and here!). Other than the fact that nothing will build up a more unique and amazing wardrobe than thrifting, it’s also an incredibly enviro-friendly route to take. Did you know that it can take over 700 GALLONS of water to make just one cotton shirt? That’s ludicrous!
My work allows me to try so many amazing new labels but this year in particular, I really have been trying to make a focus on shopping more consciously and doing more research into how my clothing is produced. What’s more, while I still continued to thrift, I really want to make my Value Village trips more regular, both from a style perspective and to support Value Village’s aim to save a whopping 700 million gallons of water by making your next T-shirt purcahse a thrifted one. In other words, give a sh!rt about your environmental footprint, and score an incredibly unique piece while you’re at it!
Are you guys thrifters? If yes, well first of all, tell me all your tips! I always love connecting with other people who love searching for those beautiful, unique pieces as much as I do! And if you haven’t yet, please go to Value Village and spend a couple hours finding some truly special pieces! It’s pretty incredible to think how collectively, just a few small decisions about our next style buys could make such a big impact. If you style up your piece, make sure you tag #igiveashirt – I’ll be looking on Insta to check out all the fantastic styling!
Photos by Alicia Fashionista
This post was created in collaboration with Value Village.
VV is my jam!
My tips would be to shop by touch and by colour/pattern first. You can feel quality and even if something has a nice shape, if it’s covered in a print that is similar to my grandmothers’ drapes, it stays on the rack.
I’d also either buy yourself a sewing machine (grab a working one second-hand even) or find a reliable seamstress. Often with a simple alteration, something I would have passed on becomes a regular favourite.
Take a deep breath, prepare to not find anything, try on lots and commit to an hour or so.
Try on a variety of sizes and don’t limit yourself by what the marked sizes are on the racks. An older pair of jeans may be marked as larger than what you normally wear, yet fit perfectly.
So true about sizing! Especially when I’m scouring ’60s finds, I really have to entirely forget about sizing. Such a great tip about touch too – I will say that I tend to gravitate more towards the actual style first but so many things are easy to adjust so if they have the quality backing them, they’re such worthwhile finds even if they’re not the exact fit you want! Thanks so much for sharing Jen 🙂
Great idea!! And I love this t-shirt, it’s just great!!
Thanks so much! 🙂