One joyful antidote to hyper-capitalism — and the piles of flimsy fast-fashion pieces we can now see from space — is thrift shopping. Buying clothes, shoes and other necessities secondhand is not only socially responsible, but it’s a lot of fun if you know what you’re doing (or even if you don’t).
For some of us, there’s no greater joy than finding a pair of Levi’s cutoffs from the early ’90s nestled into a rack in the back of Buffalo Exchange or a flawlessly maintained tea set at Goodwill that would complement your living room’s cottage core decor. Giving something pretty another life for under $12 feels like a win for everyone.
Thrifting pros have made it their life’s work to find incredible pieces at bargain prices, and newbies can learn a lot from their experience, patience and intuition. One of those experts is Emily Ruane, who also happens to be the head of HuffPost’s Shopping section, and she graciously carved time out of her busy thrifting life to share some of her best tips with us — Raj Punjabi-Johnson and Noah Michelson, the hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast.
Listen to the full episode about the secrets of secondhand shopping by pressing play:
Ruane told us to take our time (30 minutes equals 30 seconds in thrift years), sniff things to gauge the funk factor, and remember to clean what you’ve bought when you get home since items usually are not sanitized by these stores.
