I love finding hidden gems in second hand stores. Nothing like finding a vintage one-of-one from a small thrifty boutique. What makes it even better is when I know I’ll get it for a great price.
Most people in the world wear second hand clothes so why not look for some ‘hidden gems’ for yourself right?
Believe it or not, there are wins across the board for wearing thrifty clothes.
I have saved tons of money visiting websites of my favorite thrift shops.
There’s plenty of high-quality clothes and of sustainable material. The prices for second hand clothes are much more reasonable.
Shockingly, there has been 10 million tons of clothes that have ended up in landfills in the previous year. The average American throws away about 80 pounds of clothes every year alone.
It’s very beneficial to shop for secondhand clothes because you are saving the environment while saving in your bank account at the same time.
Resale shopping saves so many unique, good quality clothes from being wasted.
Most clothes casually thrown away aren’t even recycled in any way. That explains why the vast amount of clothes the population wears temporarily ends up at landfills.
It’s more to resale shopping than just saving the environment for discounted prices on clothes.
You’ll be sure to find high-quality vintage items from even the smallest of second hand stores.
You’ll be proud to support small businesses that have one-of-a-kind pieces you’ll fall in love with. Regular clothing stores never have those exclusive, vintage pieces that you happen to find in the small secondhand businesses we support.
Let’s continue to do that as we’re contributing to eliminating waste in our environments and supporting those businesses that stand behind that same cause.
Here are my favorite vintage and online second hand stores:
1. ThreadUp
On ThredUp’s website, thredup.com, you can search through a wide range of designer styles for a fraction of the price. They have great sales and many different search options.
You can make money by sending any clothes you no longer use for resale. They can give store credit, a prepaid gift card, or send money via PayPal.
According to their website, they only accept less than half of the clothes they receive based on ensuring high-quality resale items. How’s that for guaranteed quality without spending a pretty penny?
2. Etsy
Searching vintage items on etsy.com is very convenient too. Many different sellers have individual items for a variety of brands.
You can even find vintage designer brands for lower prices than some competitors. There’s no limit to what you can find on Etsy.
Find a few sellers who are more your style and likely have secondhand items you’re interested in. Save them in your favorites on Esty and now you can access their inventory much easier.
I found this amazing seller on Etsy by the profile name of ‘rawsonchicago’.
They have an average five-star rating with lots of great reviews. The fabrics have great quality, and everyone loves the fast shipping.
The clothing is worth every single penny. You’ll find great one-of-ones from rawsonchicago on Etsy.
Visit etsy.com/shop/RAWSONCHICAGO and see why other resale shoppers like myself rave about this seller.
3. Ebay
ebay.com has been around for years and it is very similar to Etsy.
There are tons of search options from searching by the brand, type of clothing, size, color, and more.
To get a look at what’s secondhand, simply apply the ‘pre-owned’ filter in your search options.
I recommend finding some go-to sellers when shopping on eBay and save them to your favorites too, just like Etsy. Narrow your search so it’s much easier to browse through.
4. Adored Vintage
Is an online boutique where I can find many different vintage items. The coolest part is how you can search their vintage items by era.
Adored Vintage has styles going back as far as the 1910’s! Talk about an overflow of one-of-one pieces. They provide product descriptions explaining each piece’s physical condition along with the photos of course.
I could appreciate that since Adored Vintage is an online boutique and it’s not the same as an in-person shopping experience. It’s a plus when any online second hand store does this.
But when viewing each product, there are sustainable care directions provide as well. What a way to preserve amazing clothes with a lot of history.
Imagine the way we can make an impact on the environment if we preserve clothing and they continue to last for decades.
Check out adoredvintage.com, a cool business I found on Instagram.
5. Boheme
To my ladies who love Bohemian style clothes, Boheme is great place to grab your secondhand threads.
They sell more than just clothes for women and children, but also household items and accessories.
Boheme has vintage one-of-ones and the clothing has great quality.
If an item is a little more worn, Boheme notifies you in the product description when viewing the item. And yes, the price will be even cheaper.
Check out bohemegoods.com to catch all your Bohemian vibes.
6. Na Nin’s second hand store
Secondhand items are great to buy at Na Nin’s online store.
They provide product descriptions of flaws of the pre-owned items they sell but encourage to contact them via email if any other questions and concerns arise.
For Na Nin to be an online store, they establish great trust with their customers. The products are preserved well and made of quality fabrics. If you’re a silk lover, they have plenty of those items in their secondhand collection.
Go to shopnanin.com and see what this small business I found on Instagram has to offer.
7. Ochre
Is another small shop on Instagram I absolutely love.
Ochre is a small resale store that has some quality vintage items for very cheap prices. They don’t have a large collection, but you may find an item worth looking at.
Ochre sells other items too like books and mugs which are also vintage.
Supporting small businesses that prevent wasting clothes makes me a proud resale shopper.
See Ochre’s unique pieces at ochreshop.com.
8. Depop App
Want to do some thrift shopping on an online store that has somewhat of an Instagram feel?
No problem. Download the Depop app and see for yourself. If you go to depop.com, you can have the app download link sent straight to your smartphone.
You set up your shopping profile based on your interests and clothing sizes. From there scroll down the timeline of products and get a product’s description in the post when you click on it.
It’s a different experience shopping with Depop but it’s a great way find those sellers with unique, pre-owned clothes. Depending on the seller, you can even get free shipping on your discounted items.
How cool is that?
9. Poshmark
Poshmark has the social media feel also. You can shop poshmark.com as you normally would do in another online store.
But when on your personal homepage when logged in, you’ll see a timeline of people posting about items for resale. The search options are great, and the network of sellers is huge. Find the perfect designer item too as there are so many brands to search through.
Secondhand shopping can be beneficial in several ways.
Wasting clothes is an unnecessary environmental threat. There are some cool styles out there just waiting to be brought back to life.
I’ve given you a rundown of my favorite online second hand stores and you should give them a look if you’re not familiar with them.
Great second hand stores have those ‘hidden gems’ that we can’t let end up in a landfill wasting away.
Let’s continue to enjoy our eco-friendly hobby and collect those high-quality, vintage one-of-ones.
Sustainable fabrics are great to look for.
Search for fabrics made of organic cotton, industrial hemp, organic wool, soy cashmere or silk, and other fabrics that contribute to helping the environment.
Organic cotton has no toxic chemicals or synthetic material in it. Over a quarter of the world’s pesticides are used in conventional cotton alone (Spector).
Clothing made of hemp is very sustainable. As you may know, hemp is a renewable natural resource. That’s money well spent in a thrift shop for lasting fabrics.
Other fabrics like organic wool, Tencel, and soy cashmere or silk are good to look for on the clothing racks also.
Organic wool does not contain toxic chemicals and is a highly renewable fabric.
Tencel is a fully biodegradable fabric. It might be a little harder to find a Tencel piece in the secondhand shops. However, check it out if you come across any Tencel pieces.
Soy cashmere and silk can be a good choice because soy fabrics are made from soybeans or even genetically engineered. The fabric being genetically engineered helps decrease the use of natural resources.
Keep all these eco-friendly fabrics in mind when shopping for new threads.
What’s your favorite online secondhand and vintage shops?