My mother was born in 1926 in the Netherlands, so her family had a rough time during WWII. Luckily several of her aunts had been professional seamstresses before they married, so they could, for example, take apart a woolen winter coat, reverse all the pieces so the faded side was now inside and not visible, and sew them back together with the lining reversed as well. My Oma was the family knitter. She made sure the entire extended family wore interesting striped sweaters and cardigans made from literally any usable scrap of yarn. The skills of my Oma and great-aunts allowed them to barter with farmers living just outside their town for food.
We don't give skills like sewing and knitting anywhere near enough trouble for getting people through hard times like that. Your ancestors sound like some strong ladies!
Same with my parents. It was mostly knitting and fixing. My mother related a story about how my grandmother got a big bag of green wool and how those sweaters got frogged and reknitted for the smaller kids and eventually became socks. "The frog sweaters" the family called them. By the 60s in Canada my mother refused to knit or sew. She thought I was a bit crazy to do it, she loved her polyester cheap clothing. Second hand was bought in the market, not shops by my family.
@@lenabreijer1311 My parents were children of the depression (born 1922 & 23) and Mom was 42 when I was born. I learned how to sew before I even started school. At 57 I am always surprised by the number of people my age who have no idea how to sew. OTOH a lot more younger people seem to be getting into sewing, especially because of cosplay, and I think it's great.
@@jessiebrown6084 it was probably a reaction. My mother only taught me to sew after I decided I wanted something to fit. She thought it was a waste of time and something she was forced to do when younger. There was a class issue too, lower class people sewed because they had to, upper classes didn't do that kind of work. I had a nice argument (good practice) in French class in high school because the book we were reading was about some young women who wearing homemade clothing and the author went on and on about how that was such a horrible fall in class and they would never live it down.
Unfortunately the prices of second hand goods in my area are too high for me to buy from them, but I do get a lot of second hand fabric from sewists who are going through their fabric hoards. I've always liked making things anyway so sewing my own clothes has been a mostly fun experience. I've also started mending and found that I like to embroider over tears and make it beautiful instead of trying to get a seamless look.
Squeee, thank you for reminding me of that embroidery technique! I've seen videos but had entirely forgotten. I just rediscovered an old favourite top in a closet clearout that I stopped wearing because it got a little tear in the front that I couldn't mend invisibly, and now I know exactly what to do with it! You've made my day 😊
Oh yeah, I've never had any luck with 2nd hand clothes in my area either, but fabric (and other sewing notions) is surprisingly common my area! So I try to keep myself to mending or creating my own clothes.
Not a personal story, but close. My friend found her wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses in a second-hand shop. Admittedly, the bridesmaids ’dresses didn’t quite match but the bride was happy. And so were the maidens who did not have to pay a three-figure sum on a single-use dress.
That's so great though! I have to admit, I've always found how bridesmaids' dresses work kind of confusing and wasteful. I like the idea of not-perfectly-matching dresses that the person might actually get more use out of, much better!
I gave my bridesmaids a color and then told them to get a dress they'd wear again. And you know what? Despite them all buying from different places, the dresses were all the exact same shade! (I was expecting some difference, but nope!)
@@emmarichardson965 I did a similar thing, but I told them to all choose cool colors, short sleeves, long skirts. It worked out really well. (I also found my wedding dress at a thrift store. Paid $16 for it. It needed $40 of alterations, but still.)
Thanks for spreading awareness, while also acknowledging that some folks don't have the resources to stop buying cheap, fast fashion clothes. Those of us who can stop feeding the machine should do so, while not judging those who aren't able to do that heavy lifting. kudos!
Absolutely! I've heard a lot of frustration expressed with how that nuance isn't part of the usual "fight fast fashion!" take, and I didn't want to become another one of those.
@@SnappyDragon body size and disabilities are another thing…. I am petite, under 5 feet, and without the skills or time to make my own clothes or spend hours upon hours thrifting. I have found maybe 2 or 3 stores that I can consistently find things at that fit without more than hemming needed. Can’t imagine it’s any easier for the quite tall, those who can’t consistently manage buttons, etc.
@@archervine8064 you bring up a good point, for the need for easy to close garments. Velcro is very helpful, especially if altering favored clothes. Garments that work when range of motion changes are needed,as well.
My grandma used to volunteer at her local op-shop and we'd look forward to going each time we visited her. I got a fabulous trench coat that I wore throughout my high school and college years. My other grandma, Oma, survived the WWII Japanese concentration camps in Indonesia as a child and she was a staunch advocate in knowing how to sew, knit, and make do. I grew up wearing garage sale clothes, hand me downs, and homemade church dresses, but when it became cheaper to buy the clothes pre-made than the fabric to make them with, Mom switched to Walmart and thrift/charity stores. Now, I am part of my local "Free Cycle", "Buy Nothing", and such communities. I haven't bought clothes (besides underwear, lingerie, and personalized family reunion shirts) in many years. I really appreciate these communities and the people in them. I'm also sewing again and working through my fabric stash and the fabric stash my late friend bequeathed me. That's on top of the yarn that is begging to be knit and crocheted...
When I went thrifting with one of my friends for the first time and they said they felt guilty for buying from a charity shop when they could afford fast-fashion (b/c they we're taking clothes away from low-income people). I had to explain that there are enough second hand clothes in the world for everyone and u are donating, in this case, to the local women's refuge, when u buy second hand. I think the internet discourse around secondhand clothes can be kind of toxic & self-defeating at times - I think you struck a balance, great video (oﾟ▽ﾟ)
There's definitely upsides and downsides to the industry for sure, but yes, these days we have so many more clothes that supply is not really the issue.
@@SnappyDragon wow 😍 now that I have your attention can I tell u smth rlly interesting. Last yr I wanted to write a paper about hidden signals in Jewish fashions but I couldnt get enough sources - there's a super cool paper however called "Weimar Jewish Chic" by K Wallach all about the secret language of "bubikopf" wigs for orthodox women - its a rabbit hole I definetly recommend
When I was a kid, my grandma bought me a reversible raincoat at Goodwill. It was solid yellow on one side, and on the other it was red with white whales. I loved it.
My mum was born in 1930's Britain and I can remember her telling me of how she made a skirt for herself out of an old pair of my dad's trousers. She also 'turned' a wool tweed coat to get several more years wear out of it. As a child, all my clothes were second hand, and my first dressmaking experience was buying huge gathered early 1960's skirts, and chopping them up to make late 1960's mini shift dresses. Even in the 60's there was a thriving second hand clothing section in Leeds (Yorkshire, England) market. The second hand clothing market never actually went away.
Recently? There was a men's wool coat, very well made, but worse for wear in some readily fixable ways (sleeve lining tucked back into the cuffs, new buttons, needle felt some matching fiber over a few little holes, etc.) It was ludicrously cheap because of the condition, and because it had lost its fiber content tags. I was sure it was wool from the feel, combined with the construction and the weight of it, and a burn test of some loose fibers from inside the pockets proved me right. Wool coat, large enough to fit a 42" bust sister, $10. Jackpot.
I'm wanting to make a walking or split skirt (or both) and I want to make it from wool. There's no way I can afford new wool fabric so I'm currently scouring the thrift stores for suitable clothing that is 100% wool to make this piece of clothing. In the meantime I'm also thrifting jeans of all kinds of colours as there's several skirts, dresses, waistcoats that I want to make from them. I also have a pair of gorgeous curtains that are also destined to be made over into trousers, skirt, waistcoat, jacket and a bag - and anything else I can make from that much fabric.
I have a teal velvet Edwardian walking suit that my great grandmother made over in the 40’s to wear at a War wedding and then my mother wore it in the 60’s and my sister wore it in the 80’s.
I know several of my ancestors were domestic servants, including one who was a housekeeper for an expensive central-london "working woman" for a while, something I gathered also included being security of a sort because she was a rather robust woman, and also selling on her employer's old clothes and a lot of the gifts from clients.
The movie Nuts with Barbara Streisand and Richard Dreyfuss is about a high class escort who funds her lifestyle through her client’s gifts (sometimes cash). It’s not the main plot, but did come up in the story. Good movie 🍿
I grew up wearing second-hand clothes! Apparently this caused all kinds of confusion among my mother's family, because she would go to the thrift shops in the nearby nice towns and get us good name brand stuff super cheap. So they all thought we were doing much better financially than we were. My latest thredup orders have had some marvelous gems in them like: a wonderfully goth swishy black lace skirt, a fantastic wool wrap skirt, and a pair of jeans that actually fits me well and is comfortable - a massive challenge in the best of times.
Even when I was a child in the 50's nothing was wasted especially in my Mama's and her Mama's house. Clothes were worn and then passed on to family members. Called hand me downs they were often looked down on but most people wore them. If a garment was unfixable or worn out they had anything usable (buttons, lace etc.) removed and reused. The garment became a rag for cleaning or dusting. I wore many hand me downs and still shop at thrift stores long before it was popular. I love to thrift.
I also grew up in hand-me-downs! Although, they were usually from friends rather than relatives so we often called them "hand-me-sideways" instead. I started being too interested in clothes for that when I was in my teens, but my brother wore them most of the way through high school!
I used to patronize a thrift shop-run by the Jewish Council on Aging- that had a deal with a high-end women's boutique, and they would get all the new, never-worn, tags-still-on, garments as each season ended. I remember getting a lovely cotton vest for $5 that was still carrying its original $120 price tag.
Props to the lady who took the "silver-hilted sword" with her. Edit: Also, my favorite thrifted clothing find is this really durable dark green . . . I don't know how to describe it, imagine a t-shirt dress with long sleeves, a turtleneck collar, a brown lace panel down the back, and some of the same lace sewn just above the bottom hem. It also has functional pockets but I had to take a seam ripper to them because they were SEWN SHUT when I first got it? (What kind of monster sews functional pockets shut?) I think most other people would find it ugly as sin but it works perfectly in my weird Mori Kei wardrobe, heh. I'm also very fond of this dark brown pair of men's pants I sized down recently.
Major props indeed! As for the pockets, apparently they'll often get basted shut during manufacturing so they don't sag or get caught in anything. I was super confused the first time I saw it, but once I started sewing things with pockets it made much more sense! What really annoyed me though, is that on my new favorite pair of jeans, they went to all the trouble to sew welts for back pockets, and then just *didn't add pocket bags.* Why not just add pockets at that point? Next time I do mending I'll have to add them myself since all the fussy work is done already.
Real pockets are sewn shut on (good quality) new clothing so that the pockets do not catch on anything and tear the clothing while it is transported or tried on. You did the correct thing in ripping them open.
@@SnappyDragon Oh, that does make a lot of sense! I've never seen it on clothing before myself, so I was very baffled. Good luck adding the pocket bags on those jeans though.
@@kittimcconnell2633 In that case, I suppose it's a good sign that the dress must be quality. The rest of the seamwork has lasted these few years without any issue, and the fabric is very sturdy, so I think it is!
Terry Pratchett's book 'Dodger' is well researched fiction, it references Mayhew's work and covers clothing options up and down the social scale. It's also a good read IMHO.
Here in Ireland our version of thrift stores are mostly run by charities, so you're doing some good by shopping there as well as saving money, and they usually stock homewares and books as well as clothing. I'm a big fan - you never know what you might find, and it avoids the overwhelming paralysis-of-choice I get in new-stuff stores. My luckiest recent find was the dress I bought for Christmas Day; it was a designer piece originally costing many hundred euro, priced at next to nothing because somebody had altered it by painstakingly hand-sewing a gauze ruffle around the neckline. I loved the ruffle, I loved that it had a bit of a history, and it fit like a glove. I was so happy!
My family has always been down with thrifting clothes. It is amazing to think how long it has been in practice. My favorite pieces I ever thrifted were 3 flowy tunics, I loved wearing in high school. It would be great if we could reestablish making better quality clothes, appreciating our clothes and maintaining our clothes.
Those tunics sound so comfy! And yes, we definitely do need overall improvements in quality. There's only so far you can re-use and mend something that was always intended to fall apart.
My favorite thrift find thus far is a highly embroidered purse. It is designed to look like a beautiful pile of books. And it can fit a decently sized book in it easily.
I have zero problems thrifting. I grew up with it, and as the youngest of 5, I rarely had any clothing brand new. I took my bf shopping at a favorite thrift store, and he was floored with how nice the clothes were, and at how many buyouts of brand new items were on the racks. My favorite recent find is a calf length, short sleeved, black, fully lace dress, with an elongated sort of peter pan collar. It has a tie waist for adjustable fit, cinched perfectly at the natural waist. It's drop dead gorgeous, and oh-so-gothy.
I also grew up with hand-me down clothes from my cousins and said clothes were usually used by at least five of us before being given away or used as rags. And even now, we still exchange clothes sometimes and I often lend clothes to my sister and borrow to my mom. We have an intra-familial thrift shop. And I love thrifting chlothes so much ! I recently found an ankle-lenght, forest-green velvet gown that makes me feel like I stepped out of Lord of the Rings. It is a one size fit-all and so I can have a more casual style if I lace it loose. And it's so comfortable !
Something like 75-80 percent of my wardrobe is thrifted. But I think my best purchases to date would be my over-ware: a denim jacket that's kinda trench shaped and an actual trench coat. Both have lasted 10+ years & I love them. And by all that's holy (& unholy) I wish the shop they came from was still in business. That place was magic.
I enjoyed the topic of this video as my paternal grandfather, who came from Russia due to the expulsion of Jews at the end of the 19th century, owned a shop where he sold second-hand suits for men and tailored them to fit in NYC from the 30's until around 1954. It is always interesting to lean how Jews in particular ended up in certain professions throughout history.
I was super excited to see that detail too! I knew a lot about Jewish garment workers on the construction/factory side of things, but not anything about the secondhand side.
My favorite find is probably a 1970s Fendi camel coat in a larger size, that I got for a steal because it had been mended really poorly. I carefully undid it, brushed up the nap, re-mended and now I feel swooshy and glamorous and have been kept warm for four years. It has buttons for attaching fur collar and cuffs and I might do something fun non-fur with that some time.
Early in my relationship with my eventual husband my MIL asked him what to give me for my birthday as she wasn’t sure what clothing I liked. He said, “Cash.” She was surprised, sure that I would find that crass (they were securely middle class). He replied, “Give her whatever you planned to spend and she’ll multiply it at the thrift store. And have fun doing it.” Is there any doubt why I kept him? ❤️
I remember watching the 1950's I Love Lucy where they had a second hand clothing store that would buy clothes. So it wasn't that long ago that this was still a practice. BTW-second hand clothes are the best....you know the size (shrinking will have already occurred), you know if they're color-fast (will have run already), better price, and it keeps textiles out of the landfill. I would love to see you do an episode about repurposing/upcycling clothing. For example: during and after WWII, due to rationed fabric/clothing, a worn out garment (say a man's wool pants) would be made into another garment (woman's skirt or child's short pants).
I've been thinking about doing something like that! It's a super old practice for the same reasons that thrifting is an old practice, the fabric was too valuable to waste so when something got too worn-out for its original form you'd make something else from the leftovers.
My absolute favorite? Would have to have been the coat with the messed-up sleeve lining. Seriously, like a 1 hour fix. Took the lining out to repair it, and my $5 faux-shearling-lined-with-polyester coat turned out to be an actual 100% sheepskin coat with a silk lining.
That's definitely the tricky part. If I'm going to use fast fashion things I'd rather they be secondhand than new, but the overall decline in quality standards makes the whole system tricky to find good things in.
Yes, thats true, especially in areas that have a younger population. My tip to find good thrift shops is to seek out the ones near.. well, old peoples homes. They either get the clothes of the inhabitants when they have to downsize their wardrobe to move into the home or.. after they moved out. The amount of awesome wool coats and quality mens suits is incredible. I've seen loads of Harris Tweeds, Italian designer stuff, fur of course and the shirt section has these "country fashion" linen blouses that are great for history bonding. And many of these things have bigger seam allowances than fast fashion, even the trousers. Also, ebay.
Exchanging a plant for clothes Doesn't surprise me. Victorians were plant mad. There's an interesting book called Potted History by Catherine Horwood that follows our plant obsession throughout history. An aspidistra would be a common plant in most homes because they survive in cold, drafty, gloomy rooms.
I love when theatres get rid of old costumes since they are mostly made in such a manner to be altered up to three sizes up, so you can easily take them apart and Resew them back together easily, most of them are flatlined so no trouble with the lining either…
I have only bought clothes from King Size and ASOS for the past 3-4 years, and holy shit I refuse to go elsewhere. I have a 56" waist, I cannot shop in stores, but ASOS Plus/Curve has ADORABLE pieces that last years and King Size is like, THE wardrobe staple shop for me. eventually all of my clothes will be from them and I am Glad.
I grew up thrifting, as we were pretty poor. I still hit thrift stores and garage sales. I tend to check on Marketplace for things too, I found a formal dress there in my size that only needed taking up on the shoulders for me. I wore it for my occasion, and passed it along to another person when I was done.
My family has always op shopped. Some of my favourite finds: a pure wool Highland Home Industries child's kilt with adjustable waist, which my son has been wearing for "best" since he was six, with the hem well taken up, and which has been progressively let down for the last four years; my partner's $20 Balenciaga jacket; and an Anna Davies Welsh tapestry weave skirt which is too small for my but which can be altered for my teenage daughter.
I love mending clothing. I use sashiko (Japanese mending method) on my husband's jeans because I swear he has knives for knees. Sashiko thread and needles are *incredible* I highly recommend them. I used the swiss method (mock knit) just recently to mend a hole in the elbow of my husband's sweater. Just a couple days ago I let my son pick the color of thread for me to use on his holey pants and he was so excited to see the pops of lime green and orange on his plain navy pants. I feel like I'm not only repairing the clothing, but also showing both my love and my artistry when I mend my family's clothes. I'm also all about reusing what I have. I have started getting more comfortable with sewing knits and tried my hand at repurposing my maternity clothes I no longer need into cute underwear for my daughter. They honestly fit her better than store bought. Also, clothing that was made extremely cheaply (maternity clothes are honestly the most cheaply made clothes after store bought Halloween costumes in my opinion) gets another chance at life before I slice them up into tiny scraps to be used as stuffing in other projects. I sincerely am excited that more brands are looking to create garments for the entire lifetime of motherhood, not just 6 months or so. I do love thrifting. My favorite item I've thrifted is a red silk top I got almost 10 years ago. I love wearing it because it looks great in both casual and formal settings. It has an empire waist so I could even wear it while pregnant.
I've only just started to learn how to mend things and it's so soothing! I need to learn the Swiss method because I have knives for elbows and have worn holes in my favorite sweater.
Related to the "gifting clothes to servants"-thing; Queen Elizabeth the first likely gifted one of her garments to the church of one of her favourite servants (Blanche Parry), an altar piece was made of the cloth of silver of the dress and it still survives to this day. In fact, afaik it's the only surviving cloth of Queen Elizabeth I's wardrobe. So that's cool! Also, the social image of thrifting being marred by classism?! Who would've expected that?! /s
Also, interestingly enough, my grandmother *refused* to make or mend any clothing herself, even though she had the skills to do it. It reminded her too much of a time when that was literally the only option since she grew up really poor in the 30s (in the Netherlands). So as soon as she was married and technological advances and income allowed her to just buy socks in bulk and throw them away when they had holes, that's exactly what she did.
over the last couple years i’ve started my social transition, so all my good menswear- jeans, slacks, button downs, sweaters, have been purchased at estate or garage sales. i would like to say i have pretty quality clothes. my family was of middling income but my parents grew up poorer so i’ve always had hand-me-downs (not personally lol as i’m the oldest) and thrifted children’s clothes. my only real problem is that i’ve never found a blazer with a 34” chest, even though i have pants and shirts in that size. who knows why?
So I know the size distribution can be super weird on the womenswear side. Maybe it's a similar thing? I wish you all the blazer-hunting luck in the world!
I'm the 3rd girl in my family I wore a lot of second and third and forth hand clothes. My favorite 2nd hand piece is a beautiful blue Kate Spade bag. I don't have a thing it goes with, but I don't care., I love how soft and beautiful it is.
Thrifting in the US is such a hit or miss experience. Since most people wear fast fashion, the majority of what ends up in the thrift stores is of such poor quality that isn't worth spending money on and half the time the price difference between thrifted and new is negligible. Yes, you can find nice things, but that tends to require a lot of time searching through hundreds of items and returning to the stores multiple times, something that many people are not willing or able to do.
Really shocked at the cost of 2nd hand clothes in USA. Also that they don't seem to come from charity shops as do most in UK. Best buy ever was perhaps 20 years ago when I paid 50p for a camel coloured cashmere 1950s swing coat with stand up collar that Hepburn could have worn to breakfast. Except that it was labled Utility which indicated it was made to standards set for rationing during and post WW2 which were very high compared with modern items sold as 'designer' After wearing it for 10 years I took it to another charity shop which asked a far higher price for it. I still have the 1920s lace silk dresses from Paris that cost £5 each in Bayswater Oxfam in 1970 and the victorian brolly with silver floral handle bought in Bath in 1968 for £2 which was 1/10 of my wages as a waitress. Now back to my knitting which is with yarn made from wool/hemp mix bought in the Red cross shop for 1/10th paid by whoever donated it and I must hang up the slub silk scarf I bought for 99p in Oxfam today. The charity shopping trick is to know what you want and you will find it within 2 weeks ,meanwhile because you are looking you will find books you need and get the stimulation we hunter gatherers need without spending or buying much
That's amazing! Older things like those tend to be in higher-end "vintage" or "antique" shops here. Some thrift stores are run by charities, but they're usually chains like Out Of The Closet.
@Cadi Leigh That's so interesting! So if the USA op-shops are not being run as fundraisers by charity organisations (still very much the norm here), are they purely small-business commercial ventures, or a franchise of some kind...? How does that affect the pricing? I'm curious too re. how they acquire clothing stock if not through donations - do they just buy from estate sales or similar, or do people actually go there in person to sell the store their no-longer-wanted items?
Depends on the store. Some are run by larger charities (Goodwill, Salvation Army 🤮), some are small chains, some are local-only. A lot of the ones in my area do get lots of people selling their clothes, since they don't want to throw away something usable and they'll get money or store credit rather than giving away for free.
been doing it for 40ish years, always a fun treasure hunt. Favorite finds: 1975 a black crepe "new look" dress with a crossover drape, just gorgeous $5 1978 a black silk flapper dress I wore to several costume parties $5 1982 a white 1950s party dress with a big skirt, splashed all over with blue and purple roses $15 2008 a paisley silk smoking jacket $10 2019 a floor length suede duster complete with rain cape $35 2022 brand new cashmere lounge pants, purple, with tags on $7.50 There have been a lot of duds, too :-D
@@DawnDavidson Since they ended up being worn to events, they were part of the event, so it's easier to place them in time. I still haven't figured out where to wear the duster but it's gone to the movies a few times and it's kept both me and my husband warm when the air conditioner goes too low :-D
My favorite thrifted clothing find is actually a Frankenstein of two tops. The main fabric is this burnout velvet with a brocade pattern, and there’s solid black triangles inserted at the waist and hips, and a black rectangle in the front. There’s cap sleeves created using triangles sewn and pleated to the straps, and it looks like something a fairy would wear in a Tim Burton version of Tinker Bell, and it’s so soft. I wear it all the time in spring and summer, and I love to wear it with my tulle square circle skirt, which is made from new fabric, or my other favorite thrusted item which is a long black cotton button front skirt with floral embroidery at the bottom
I’ve had it about two years, and while I don’t get much wear out of it during the colder months, it’s like my uniform when I have to dress up in the warmer months, and my handmade skirt is about a month older than the top, while my other one is about 1 year and a half old and I wear it during the winter months with petticoats so it’s nice and warm
I'm always a lot more willing to modify thrifted things than newly made ones. Usually it's because they're inexpensive enough that I don't feel like I'm having to pay a bunch of time as well as money to get something I want to wear. This top sounds super pretty!
Almost everything I own was thrifted. I have worn second-hand all my life. My mom was a skilled sewist who could make alterations and I learned to do the same. She also worked as a domestic and many of our clothes came from the families she worked for.
My favorite item I've ever bought second hand is my leather jacket. Bought it at a Goodwill when I was 14. I didn't wear it much for the first few years, but the last 5 or so it's become the coat I'm almost never seen without. I've had it for a decade now, and I wear it to work every day. There are some patches I've put in the lining, and I really should get around to re-binding the zip out insulation layer because that's wearing out, but that's a good thing. It makes it my own :)
Re: making men’s clothes at home- I am still not sewing my husband anything to wear to work. I’ll make some alterations, but other than that, PJ pants are about it. Thrifting: I found a fully-lined black dress that was very well constructed… with an “LV” zipper (tag was cut out for some reason). Normally I do not care at all about designer clothes, but Louis Vuitton at thrift store price? Yes please.
Fascinating video! I remember my grandmother "turning" the collars on my grandfather's work shirts, so that the worn side was underneath. I also remember her darning socks. This was her habit from the days of the depression.
Janet, One of my Grandmothers, the one who taught College level "Home Economics", had a gingham bag with "Darn It" in cross-stitch. It lived on the back of a door, between the kitchen & the office. Easy to reach, yet out of casual sight. It still makes me smile.
I can't be bothered to darn socks that I have bought from the store. But now that I've started knitting my own socks, I've started darning them because I know the time and expense that went into them!
Thanks, that was really interesting! My favorite thrifted item is a blazer from at least the 80ies, top condition, for 5€. Saved my life for going on job interviews! When I think of second hand clothes, it's not only about what I buy for myself, but also about how well-meaning people donate their worn clothes to charity organisations exporting them to developing countries, a practice that destroys/destroyed the textile industry in many, e. g. Kenya or Tanzania and actually increasing poverty and dependence instead of reducing it -.-
I don't know as much about the export of secondhand (which is why I didn't speak about it in this video), but I feel like shipping them that far is also a huge environmental cost!
My great-grandmother had to make her children's clothes during the war and she used to unknit two small sweater and made one bigger plus a pair of socks out of the wool. When her children had to clear her house, they found she saved every bit of wool, fabric and thread she could since the beginning of WW2. She also knew how to made sandals out of old shoes. And my fahter's mom also re-knitted sweaters out of several smaller. She was amazing at knitting and I use the dressign gown she made me when I was five as a cardigan/cozy jacket fifteen years later. Edit : I started trhift-shopping maybe four or five years ago for environmental reasons and now I almost exclusively buy secondhand (except socks and underwear). I started making my own circle-skirts in 2019 because I couldn't find someting full colourful and long enough for my taste and I also wanted a new dance costume. Now I'm diving into historical clothing with split skirts and chemises. My goal is to have a self-made history-bounding wardrobe. I have the chance to have a great-aunt who is happy to give me a lot of good quality fabrics she doens't use and I purchase a lot of household fabrics in charity shops. My favourite skirt is made out of a tablecloth and my medieval-fantasy inspired summer dress was a duvet cover.
Best deal ever, ... probably 20 years ago... found a $250 Norton McNaughton 3 piece skirt suit New, With Tags (and the pricetag!) , marked $10/half off that day. 98% OFF! But my favorite is just a pretty purple dress that fits beautifully, is a little different than my usual style, but quite flattering, and it has Pockets! $5 Almost all of my clothes come from Thrift Stores or 2nd hand online.
More an accessory, but I found a black Italian leather clutch at an antique store for $10 over a decade ago. It is still my go to for a night out. Alas, as a tall and not small woman thrifting is hit or miss for me. But I lived most of my 20s with a kitchen full of secondhand items, so I still loved to go.
Whenever I think about the English used clothing trade, I think of the poem London Lickpenny. It's a fourteenth century poem about a guy from the london countryside who comes in the city for a trial. His hood is stolen while waiting at the courts, and while later wandering through the city, finds it for sale at a fripperers. He was too poor to buy it back, and quit the city out of frustration. A very fun sequence showing off the Italian secondhand trade happens in the Roman segments of Tom Swan (which, is probably among the pulpier of the historical fiction I've read). the secondhand marketplace is called no place for the proper Roman ladies Swan is buying new clothes for, because in order to find things that fit there are just a bunch of guys trying on things in the middle of the street. I think earlier in the same market they show how the salesmen would also adjust garments slightly (and repair the garments) to fit the wearer better
Very thematically, I'm watching this while repairing a used petticoat so that I can be properly dressed at work. This poor thing is getting so worn out in the waistband, I may cut it off and attach the bulk of it to a new one
With the exception of a few special pieces and blue jeans (because I have to work to find a pair that fits right) almost all of my clothes are second hand/hand-me-downs. I had a friend who lost a lot of weight share her now too big wardrobe and I've not really bought new things for years due to that. Now I'm finding a few pieces that I don't wear often because they aren't my style, I'm looking to pack them up and off to the thrift shop so they can get their third life. It really makes me happy.
Being able to bring things back into the thrift cycle is so great! I've hosted a couple "clothing swaps" where everyone brings their unwanted things, trades them around, and then at the end of the day we brought the leftovers to a local thrift shop run by a charity for HIV healthcare.
I have always thrift shopped. I like to wear interesting and different stuff and that is where you find it. My best thrifting was in the late 90s when I found a whole rack of men's silk shirts. I wore those until they shredded. The thing is I have a big bust and long arms and off the rack women's blouses just never fit right. These shirts were so versatile, I could wear them under suits, on their own with a belt because they came to my thighs or just as a kind of jacket over a tank top. Then of course I also thrifted for school plays. That was so much fun because it allowed me to bargain... we will put your name in the program if we can get a discount...
Second hand clothes were the staple of my wardrobe for most of my life. I learned to mend at a young age and have put the skill to use as young as middle school. We utilized patches and sewing holes to extend the life of everything. My most recent favorite thrifting find was a calf length buttoned linen skirt. It has deep pockets and sturdy waistband. When paired with knee high socks or leggings it fits my modesty requirements. I can squat and bed over without muddying my skirt and it is full, but not too big. Perfect for chasing a toddler, doing yard work or hiking and is a great length should I need to use a wheelchair again.
I can’t believe this only showed up on my feed this morning! The old clothing dealer’s mention of ‘shoddy’ reminds me: has any research gone into this? I could be wrong, but it struck me as remarkable in that it was a recycled fabric- before I would have thought the concept existed - I mean, it was given a whole new name- Ruth Goodman mentioned it in the ‘Victorian Farm’ doco; renting cotton (?) rags down to fibre, re-spinning, & re-weaving it- however, because it did not- dye, wash, or wear as well as original fabric- it ended up with a poor reputation- & ‘shoddy’ became a term for something of poor quality. Just an interesting historical tidbit.... I feel terrible that I don’t remember Meg’s hand-me-down mentions in ‘Little Women’- but I do remember Amy’s- she got clothes from a cousin, if I recall- & was almost always mortified by them, because her cousins’ mother was not very fashionably minded, from what I can remember. A lifetime ago, I read two books, both set in the 18th c- one set in Russia in the time of Peter the Great, ‘Katchya’- the other, England, ‘Slammerkin’- both had scenes describing second-hand clothes markets. The latter was especially interesting in that it was both inspired by a real-life murder trial of the time, & it went into crazy details of the period fashion.
When clothes had reached the very end of their lives they were given to the ‘rag and bone man’, who came round with horse and cart exchanging ‘rags’ for donkey stones for cleaning the front steps. (I remember them, scared me to death)
As a former Rocky Horror performer (and costumer), I worship the almighty thrift store. Many of my favorite massive “historical” skirts are thrifted. I’ve also been known to show up to the yard sales of the parents of casual acquaintances to raid their fabric sales. As a reader of a crapton of books written in the Victorian era, I can definitely remember reading about second hand shops in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle & Frances Hodgson Burnett. And I’m pretty sure both Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder refer to church sponsored charity shops. I’d have to find the books to be sure, it’s been a while.
We have a ton of thrift shops here. My friend and I go all the time. Some of my favorite things would be the antique singer sewing machine. I couldn't believe it was that cheep, and it still runs. I also found a shop that had wedding dresses that were displays for sale. I bought 2 for $40 there would be no way I could have gotten that much silk material for that. I have ripped the bodice off of one so I could make a petticoat. Even though the dress was way too small for me there was so much gathering in the skirt that I could have fit almost 3 of me in it.
My favourite thrifted or vintage items have ALWAYS been the vests. My first vest is something I still love and cherish because it always fits me JUST RIGHT and can make me look snazzy, or like a member of Fall Out Boy. (I genuinely want to draft a pattern out of it now, it's THAT good!) One of my other thrifted vests was actually one my mom got when I wasn't looking or expecting it - took me a while to get used to it, but once I realised it was to look like a Hobbit in, everything fell into place. Other notable but more groupless thrifted items include: an empire-waisted coat which could belong to a conductor (still brings a smile to my face like a little crow whenever I wear or look at it), a genuine, bona-fide Scottish wool kilt (which in the end can't fit me unless I were to drop some kg again HARDCORE, so it's going to a lil punk friend of mine who fits it better), and not one, but TWO silk robes from a clothes swap. And another thing: inheriting good clothes is EVEN BETTER. There's so much in my closet inherited from my mom that I love. When I went on an aesthetics rabbit hole and she walked in on me looking at Light Academia, the absolute RABBIT HOLE I went on when she said 'Oh yeah, I used to dress like that for university,' was (and is) REAL. I've inherited sweaters, blazers, pants, jackets and shirts from my mom, and it took me years to start finding a style - only to find that I share one with her! And I'm grateful that she's willing to help me out in my quest for my favourite type of academia styling. (Of course, there's a part of my style which I'll call 'Star Wars on Strawberry Milkshakes' which she disagrees with, but one day I'll flesh it out too. There's clothes to thrift, patterns to make stuff with and i've got two hands and a sewing machine. And that's gonna be the problem of everybody else.)
You might try pressing aluminum foil on your perfect vest, for pattern shapes. Please, add seam allowances, before cutting. The woman to whom I am apprenticed, uses the rubber lined curtain fabric, for "permanent patterns." Like this vest deserves to be, for you.
I love shopping second hand. I recently got a red wool pea coat, in my size, for 8$. It was like brand new. The only thing wrong with it was the lining was too long. I figure either they cut it wrong or the lining fabric had more stretch than they expected. I turned it inside out, put it on my dress form, and hand sewed the hem and cuff with a fold to hide the extra fabric, I looked it up, the coat is selling on places like poshmark for 125$+.
That was super interesting! You really picked a topic, that hasn't been discussed to death yet and did a ton of research on it, it seems. Great video. I got into thrifting a couple years ago...after stumbling on thriftshopping videos on TH-cam. I didn't really know, it was a thing before, honestly. Initially, I wasn't too successful with it, because there just aren't really many good quality, not visibly worn casual clothes on offer here (Germany) and that was, what I was mostly wearing at the time. So I tried going minimalist instead....but that I couldn't stick to, really. It became more interesting, when I took up sewing again and looked more at clothes for material and switched to a more formal style. I often buy ridiculously cheap wool trousers/skirts/jackets from the discount rack. No one wants them, because they look too old fashioned/conservative, to appeal to the mostly 20 something thrift shoppers. But considering the price for wool suiting by the meter...man. I couldn't afford material like that otherwise. Online thrift stores are much better here, for actual, wearable clothes. And shoes. I got severely pairs of good quality, 'office appropriate' leather shoes for like 30€ each. Which I'm so so grateful for, because I could never afford shoes like that new...they go for like 150-200€.
Thank you so much! I've wanted to do this one for a while so it's exciting to see it finished 😃 Thrift shopping for shoes is super underrated too! I have one or two brands that I know I can get a good fit from, so it's easy to search online for those and find really steep discounts.
What I love best about op-shop clothing (and it comprises most of my wardrobe that I haven't made myself) is the amazing variety! Contemporary clothing stores in smaller countries like this all seem to have things that look pretty similar & often kind of bland, whereas when you go second-hand you can have whole decades' worth of styles & colours to choose from. A close second-best thing is the fact that older clothes are more frequently 100% natural materials, important if one has skin reactions to synthetics? As someone who grew up poor & wearing badly-fitting & unflattering hand-me-downs, it actually took quite a while to get into thrifting as an adult, but I'm totally addicted now when budget allows. Must admit I don't purchase underwear second-hand though! I do notice that unfortunately, our thrift shops rarely seem to carry anything that is in larger sizes? There are also only a few places that carry 'male' clothing. However, I don't know if this is because they don't receive these as donations, or just don't stock them because they don't think they'll sell...? 🤔 The very best second-hand clothing item I've ever acquired is a cotton patchwork wrap-around skirt! When time allows, I want to try & reproduce it myself using thrifted silk business ties... 😁
another way to get good second hand clothes, is to do clothes swaps... a group of friends get togther and everyone brings clothes they're tired of/grown out of etc and people just swap I've gone to ones which are fairly orgainsed and everyone takes it in turns to pick one or two items, and then you go back for a second or third round... etc - others are more of a free for all..- usually no money changes hand.. although some groups might do it as more of a 'jumble sale' - and people would buy what they want paying the person who brought the item you want. there's also market stalls which sell 'seconds' which are clothes which didn't pass the qualtiy control, so they might be missing a button or be an odd size, r be last season's style... etc I almost never buy new...
Some of my favourite shirts (including one I've copied three times) have been thrift store finds, funny thing is it's home made, sewing machine, unfinished seams... unfortunately fast fashion is so cheap right now that replacing my work tshirts is best done at the discount store, not the thrift store. They're just going to get paint and sealant on them till they disintegrate anyways, so I kind of do need disposable clothing, much as I hate it. I have bought one pair of PJ pants or yoga pants a year plus sox, undies and new tshirts and that's pretty much all I buy these days, I've started making my own and mending things till they literally fall apart.
The History of selling used goods in an open market came to Europe from South West Asia, a lot of the words for thrift/second had in European languages come from Persian or Arabic (Bazaar and Souk are two of the most common words that appear) In Africa, much of their textiles are imported now and if you go to open-air markets you'd find a lot of what my Aunt called "White man has died" or second-hand clothes from Europe. I once ran into someone who said "We don't have thrift shops where I'm from, that's a Western thing." But they're not really, they exist in areas with class mobility, where middle and lower class people can intermingle. I can see someone who was wealthy in their own country seeing people talk about thrifting on social media and thinking those people must be even wealthier than you because "thrifting is trendy" without having any understanding of what climate those trends come out of.
The Or Foundation (theorispresent in YT, if i recall correctly) works with people in the second-hand clothes trade in Ghana, and has a series of videos exploring the situation titled "Dead White Man's Clothes"
I've taken to collecting scarves. They sell for pretty cheap at thrift stores where I am, and they make good gifts. I don't know how many of my supposed pashminas are actualité made of cashmere, but I seem to have collected them in most colors of the rainbow.
It depends on where you go for second hand stuff. I have a beautiful trench I got that has a beaded caplet. Probably 1980's, but reminiscent of 1880's. I paid $1 plus tax. Got a red leather jacket at the same place for the same price. Other times I go to stores closer to the city and many of the items I look at and say "It would cost about that new!". I love thrifting. Almost my entire wardrobe, sans undergarments are thrifted. Although I'm hoping to get more into handmade too.
I have been Thifting since my teens, and I'm in my 50s now! My father would give me 100.00 to buy clothes for school... OMG! I would come back with 4 gigantic bags of goodies. My Bubbie taught me basic sewing, and Alterations. Her saying was all young ladies should know how to thread a needle, and sew on a button! My Recent find was a Antique Embroidered Chemise that I found at a Local Charity Shop, here in NYC. I didn't realize what I had until I got it home, and proceeded to launder it! WOW! It's all stitched by hand! AND.....I only paid 8.00 for it! SHOP LOCAL..You never know what your going to find...😁💕💕💕
Thank you so much for the 💞. Yes it all hand Embroidered on the sleeves and neckline. With Tiny little stitches. There are 2 little initials in the front, E. P. The linen is in really good condition, for a antique garment. I've never seen linen of that quality before. I love your videos...especially about Jewish History and clothing..So Facinating ...keep up the good work. 🙂
i have SO MANY favorite thrifted finds. my favorite oldest piece is a capelet that the antique store owner said was probably from the 1890's. it was only $25!!!! theres stains on the bottom, the store owner said she thinks it was worn in rough weather because of some old waterproofing. i got it a while ago so i don't remember the entire conversation, but i want to bring it to a (different) vintage clothing store i go to where the owner loves to see antique clothes. some more favorites are: a pair of Guess high waisted mom jeans; a really nice oversized cotton sweater with color blocking, 80's style; at least 3 long skirts perfect for every season if i layer them right; 2 long 90's style dresses (also perfect for layering). i also have a cool story, i bought a cute dress from a brand id never heard of before at the thrift store, and then a few months later i went to a different store and found a dress from the same brand in a really similar style, the dresses were like cousins. and guess what? that happened AGAIN. i got this adorable pink dress with daisies embroidered on it. over a year later i went to a different store in a different state and found its sister. black fabric, same daisies, same brand. i got it because oh my god. also i love the pink one and the black is more understated. sorry for the long comment with bad punctuation and grammar lol
In his book Voices or Morebath, author Eamon Duffy found that dresses were often left to the church in women's wills during the early English renaissance. Presumably finer dresses were sold to support the church, while simpler garments were given to the poor.
This is super interesting! I've seen a lot of references to upper-class women sewing shirts for the poor, but mostly in historical fiction rather than primary sources. I love having the context.
When shopping malls got a bug in it's breeches for not letting people sit down and kicking teens out, me and friends got into thrifting. A lot cheaper and they didn't mind you scouring the racks for a few hours. I'll have to keep that trick of "turning" a piece of clothing to refurbish it in my back pocket. That's brilliant! Anyone know of a good equivalent to ThredUp for men's clothes? (Also, SD, the ThredUp link in the description has a bit of text stuck to the end that's making it 404.)
I love thrifting. I’m not surprised that it’s been around forever! When my kids were little and we were on a tight budget I would thrift or make their clothes. My oldest boy was professional at holes so I got very good at mending! I still hate having to replace zippers but a few bucks for a zipper or replacing a winter coat there was no real option but to figure it out! I have to admit I got very good at mending artfully with appliqués or designs to make it look like it was bought that way. I still love going thrift shopping our local thrift stores have books, patterns, materials, sewing supplies as well so it’s great fun! Over the years I’ve found leather, fabric, a tailors ham, french curves, yarn, patterns and lots of books! I can feed my pattern, book and fabric addiction for pennies on the dollar!!!
My coolest thrift find has been a good as new (if a bit cigarette smelling) corset that actually fits me well for 14€. When I shortened the planche in front, I saw a hidden name tag and found out it was actually handmade in the town I bought it and cost over 300€ new! Also if you ever wanted silk as cheap as possible, get some silk kimono from ebay straight from japan. They have a lot of fabric in straight rectangles to take apart and are often tie dyed or embroidered or hand painted (!). And since silk is light, the shipping is often under 10€.
it's difficult to find second hand clothes not only in my size, but also would look halfway decent on me. i'm sorry, but i detest bright colors and terribly designed blouses. the consignment shop nearest me rarely has clothes in my size, let alone something that would look flattering on me. and we don't talk about Goodwill. excluding thrift shopping, i really only buy clothes when what i have is at the point where i can no longer stitch it back together (or, you know, the wire snaps in a bra) because plus size clothing--even when it's on clearance--is expensive. it tends to get depressing when you see clothes on sale, but sizes only go up to MAYBE a 12, and i'm currently a 24 (US sizes here) if i knew how to pattern and could remember how to use a sewing machine after the four previous attempts to retain the knowledge--or was better at hand sewing beyond embroidery and patching clothes--i would just make my own frigging clothes lol
I use ThredUp too and my single favorite thrifted item is a 100% merino wool blouse that is SUPER thin, but still opaque, and quite comfortable temperature-wise for three seasons. It fits beautifully, is super comfortable and the dark blue color looks great on me. One of the best clothing purchases I've ever made!
My cousins gave me their hand me downs clothes. These clothes were worn by 5 girls before they got to me.👗 I'm from a Mexican family .We called the thrift store, The Segundo growing up. I found many favorite things there at the Segundo😀
Great combinations, I'm impressed with your ability to combine new and made pieces to get a look with a slightly historical feel. I'm from London, and my mother used to live in Long Lane EC1 which was actually the centre of the London second hand clothing trade in the 19thC. Most working people would never have owned new clothing except underwear/nightwear they had made themselves. Servants and clothing given to them as part of their wages (it enabled middle class and upper class people to pay very low wages- you could earn twice as much or more in a factory doing unskilled work).Dickens makes a good point about pawning clothing- he says petticoats pawned every weekend had been quite worn out by the toing and froing. You are interested in the Jewish involvement in textile trade- I recommend you look into the hire of luxury textiles in Venice, mostly to courtesans was exclusively a Jewish trade. This is illustrated a little in the film Dangerous Beauty.
I try to buy as little clothes as possible. My sister and I can swap our clothes which is good, because here in Germany there aren't that many thrift stores and second hand stores (at least to my knowledge) and most of the time when you find a second hand store they're almost as expensive as buying new (at least according to my experience)
also my local fabric store always has two containers with scraps and pieces of fabric labeled "zero waste" so it doesn't have to go to landfill. These pieces of fabric are also cheaper than buying fabric that's on the regular shelves. one of the last times I got new fabric from one of the shelves one of the shop assistants gave me the rest of the fabric for free because the small piece that was left would have gone to the zero waste container.
A pair of Granny Boots I got for $25!!! Was my best 2nd hand find. They were the most comfortable boots I ever owned. I got them re-soled and re-heeled . Lost them in a move. Take care and have fun!!! 😷😎😷
I found a linen sleeveless dress with jacket at a thrift store on sale for a dollar. Was looking for a dress to wear to a friends wedding. It was perfect.
I think my favorite thrift store find was a set of three pairs of gloves from the 1950s, they were all white but each had a different finish on the edge. I have small hands with long thin fingers and the gloves fit me perfectly even with my long nails. It has been more than 20 years and I still have all three sets of gloves, with the most worn set having the fingertips trimmed off and roughed up to go with my mock Victorian beggars garb. Now a days I hunt the Goodwill Bins and find the most fantastic clothes... including some low end Indian silk skirt and sari sets that I picked up for $1.29 a lb. which I have mended and are now part of my nice summer clothing set.
I grew up somewhere in the middle of 20 cousins, so I inherited clothes from the older cousins and then passed them along to the younger ones. Nowadays most of my clothes are from second hand stores, for various reasons. On my latest thrifting trip I found a beautiful hand decorated shoe organiser. They had sewn every petal of the flowers on by hand, in tiny neat stitches. 😍
I didn't start thrifting my clothing until I was in my late 20's - it definitely wasn't the norm for my family growing up. It's become a mainstay, for me, partly because of the bargains, and partly because it's fun for me: treasure hunting! It also has prompted me to donate more in turn. I'm currently finishing the hem of a dress I'm making from thrifted fabric.
I found a wool/cashmere/viscose long sleeved dress for some stupidly low price like £10 in a charity shop a few years ago, that has to be my favourite. Also, if you're going to look at the textile industry of the 19th Century I don't know if you've heard of the "Cotton Famine" in the north-west of England when mill workers went on strike to protest that their cotton was being grown by enslaved people.
I don’t have a lot of thrifted clothes just because it’s difficult to find them in my size, but one of the skirts in regular rotation for work was thrifted, and also kicked off my love for long skirts.
I'm not even a difficult size but I keep looking at thredup and finding things that say "size 12" but also "29 inch bust" so I don't know how much I should trust their sizing
@@laurenschiller1804 yeah, online sizing is so hard to decipher! I was looking at the sizing in more boutique-y little online stores and going to their sizes page and that was consistently putting me in sizes at least 3x larger than I buy in the store. But then I went to a couple of websites for stores where I know my size with them and checked their size charts, and I was getting the same numbers as the boutiques! So now I’m never sure and rarely buy anything.
My favorite thrift find? I found a dress with the most beautiful fabric, but it was too small. I bought it anyway...and then I found one the same size on ThreadUp! Now I have enough fabric to make myself a dress that fits!
Given the fact that my family never had much money, I always got to wear the cast off clothes from cousins, aunts, uncles etc., and my brother, respectively, then got some of those clothes from me. When I got older I also started to buy second hand clothing although many of my class mates turned up their noses. My favourite find is probably a dark blue linen dress. Furthermore, in my family it is common to mend and/or alter the clothes you have. And even if an item is not wearable any more, you can still use it as cloths to clean your house with (instead of paper towels), in patchwork quilts or as handkerchiefs... There are so many options to value clothes and make the most of them. Good for your finances and the environment! It's so cool to see that all of this has been done for centuries!
I can relate to this! I grew up in hand-me-downs until I started caring about clothes sometime in my early teens-- my parent were horribly frustrated that they couldn't just dress me in anything anymore. An old housemate of mine did a similar thing : she would take t-shirts that had holes in them, and cut them down to make underwear!
I use old T-shirts, cut into facial tissue sized pieces, instead of facial tissues. They have their own basket and their own hamper! I wash them with my towels in hot water with a little extra detergent and vinegar in the rinse cycle. SO much easier on your skin than paper! Especially if you have a rhinovirus or allergies.
In the rural areas where I grew up clothes were inherited. You passed the clothes down, altered and mended as needed until the item was in such a shape it had to be discarded. When I grew up that meant that we made dishrags out of I.e sheets and we also tore strips out of basically any fabric to weave carpets. Historically before we started using woodpulp for paper (mid 1800) the trade of "lump" collectors walked around and bought up these textile scraps to make paper in the paper mills. It was a very low-status profession and they were often followed by rumours of petty theft and other "side" hustles.
I have be fascinated by attitudes to historical second hand clothing and cloth since reading the ghost of Christmas yet to come scene in a Christmas carol as a child. It is the scene, along with the party scene in Christmas past, that is the most vivid to me because of the clothing. (I may have been a tad influenced by my mother who was a dress historian so often talked to me about clothes).
Oh my goodness, I didn't even think of that as an example! I feel extra silly because that's the passage I read over on @LizCapism's Christmas Carol stream last year 🤣
All the discussion of mending, altering, and remaking garments as long as possible, and then cutting the fabric down to make other things, reminded me a lot of my own upbringing. I grew up in the 90s, but still with a very depression era ethos where throwing out any piece of fabric larger than the palm of the hand that isn't irrevocably soiled or damaged (think massive blood stains or had battery acid spilled on it) was incredibly taboo. As I grew it was totally normal and expected for me to alter my (already second or third hand) clothes to fit, like turning dresses into skirts and the like. I still have a very hard time wrapping my head around the modern idea of clothing as more or less disposable.
My mother introduced me to thrifting in the 60s. Way before it was trendy like today. They were called 'opportunity shops' in Australia. All these years later we've shortened it to 'op shop'. I still love op shopping!
For a multitude of reasons as a tall fat person, it's basically impossible for me to find anything secondhand that'll actually fit me, that's in my style and has a fiber content I can tolerate (f**k polyester, why is everything made for fat people polyester?!?!). So I look for the good quality stuff I'm willing to pay for new (but on sale!), and have started making more of my own garments as well. However, my favorite pairs of boots I got for $10 secondhand, basically like-new, so keeping one's eyes peeled is definitely worth it.
@ Alex... You might try checking for natural fabrics in "housewares" at thrift places. Linen ...as tablecloths & runners. Cottons...as sheets, or curtains. Look for plaids or stripes woven in rather than printed. Wool...as blankets. ** good fortune,treasure hunting!**
I’ve found several petticoats in a savers that someone probably made for a theater costume but they were super affordable since they were handmade and thus not marked up for being a branded item. I also somehow have a knack for finding fancy Italian leather shoes in my size with minimal wear!?!?
I either make or thrift my clothes, but my single most favorite pieces are a random blue cotton top with an empire waist and flower embroidery that I just love for no reason and have already mended several times, and a black floor length Yves Saint Laurent overcoat that my aunt found and gave to me, a 14 year old goth at the time. I made some adjustments and it was my favorite coat until the fabric gave up the ghost and I made the next one myself! (edited for typos)
I can remember going to a consignment store for children's clothing when I was a kid (early 90s). It was a big deal when we went there to stock up when me and my brothers had grown out of things because we lived in Portland, OR, and it was across the river in Vancouver, WA. I would get hand-me-downs from my cousins--"girl" clothes and underthings from one cousin, and then "boy" clothes that I often wore to play outdoors in from another set of cousins. But while hand-me-downs and consignment stores were perfectly acceptable in our family, I can still remember, when, as a teenager, after I'd discovered thrifting, I asked my grandma to take me thrifting for my birthday rather than buying me something new from the department store like she usually did. She practically hissed that she was not going to buy me USED clothes. Once I hit university and no longer lived at home, though, I switched to buying nearly all of my clothing secondhand. I try to keep to either making or thrifting my own clothing now, and mending things when I can to extend their usefulness (on a side note, jersey knits are a challenge to repair because they don't hold patches well and darning is a challenge on something that's knitted out of thread so I'm starting to lean more and more towards woven fabrics that are easier to patch and using/making handknits that are easier to darn).
Subscribed! You're awesome! I saved up and bought some new boots (made by Frye Boots in Canada), REAL boots, ALL leather, EVEN THE SOLES ARE LEATHER!!! Which means that they can be resoled by a cobbler over and over again! These boots will last years and they are gorgeous! It is an investment upfront but saves money in the long term. I LOVE them so much! Fully recommend! 10/10! I just had to share!
Shoes are one thing where I try never to skimp. I'll buy secondhand if I can, but it's most important that they be repairable and last a long time. Those sound like wonderful boots indeed!
My favorite thrift store buy in, of all places, Fresno, CA. I found a gorgeous black wool sweater with red roses, hand-loomed in Bolivia. Very well-made. This button-up sweater nipped in a bit at the waist. The bottom edge was scalloped. I forget the type of wool but it felt like cashmere. It was ridiculously cheap too, about $6.
My mother was born in 1926 in the Netherlands, so her family had a rough time during WWII. Luckily several of her aunts had been professional seamstresses before they married, so they could, for example, take apart a woolen winter coat, reverse all the pieces so the faded side was now inside and not visible, and sew them back together with the lining reversed as well. My Oma was the family knitter. She made sure the entire extended family wore interesting striped sweaters and cardigans made from literally any usable scrap of yarn. The skills of my Oma and great-aunts allowed them to barter with farmers living just outside their town for food.
We don't give skills like sewing and knitting anywhere near enough trouble for getting people through hard times like that. Your ancestors sound like some strong ladies!
Same with my parents. It was mostly knitting and fixing. My mother related a story about how my grandmother got a big bag of green wool and how those sweaters got frogged and reknitted for the smaller kids and eventually became socks. "The frog sweaters" the family called them. By the 60s in Canada my mother refused to knit or sew. She thought I was a bit crazy to do it, she loved her polyester cheap clothing.
Second hand was bought in the market, not shops by my family.
What an amazing story and amazing skills they had!! 💖💖
@@lenabreijer1311 My parents were children of the depression (born 1922 & 23) and Mom was 42 when I was born. I learned how to sew before I even started school. At 57 I am always surprised by the number of people my age who have no idea how to sew. OTOH a lot more younger people seem to be getting into sewing, especially because of cosplay, and I think it's great.
@@jessiebrown6084 it was probably a reaction. My mother only taught me to sew after I decided I wanted something to fit. She thought it was a waste of time and something she was forced to do when younger. There was a class issue too, lower class people sewed because they had to, upper classes didn't do that kind of work. I had a nice argument (good practice) in French class in high school because the book we were reading was about some young women who wearing homemade clothing and the author went on and on about how that was such a horrible fall in class and they would never live it down.
Unfortunately the prices of second hand goods in my area are too high for me to buy from them, but I do get a lot of second hand fabric from sewists who are going through their fabric hoards. I've always liked making things anyway so sewing my own clothes has been a mostly fun experience. I've also started mending and found that I like to embroider over tears and make it beautiful instead of trying to get a seamless look.
That's my favorite way to get fabric! I've found some beautiful things for free or really low prices that way.
Squeee, thank you for reminding me of that embroidery technique! I've seen videos but had entirely forgotten. I just rediscovered an old favourite top in a closet clearout that I stopped wearing because it got a little tear in the front that I couldn't mend invisibly, and now I know exactly what to do with it! You've made my day 😊
Oh yeah, I've never had any luck with 2nd hand clothes in my area either, but fabric (and other sewing notions) is surprisingly common my area! So I try to keep myself to mending or creating my own clothes.
I do renaissance faires and the left over home decor fabric is wonderful for things like bodices.
Estate sales are your friend!
“ Because for the past century we would rather have something new then something good” what a perfect description of high fashion today
credit to @SewMuchHistory for sending me off on that train of thought by venting to me about her day job's marketing strategies 🤣
Not a personal story, but close. My friend found her wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses in a second-hand shop. Admittedly, the bridesmaids ’dresses didn’t quite match but the bride was happy. And so were the maidens who did not have to pay a three-figure sum on a single-use dress.
That's so great though! I have to admit, I've always found how bridesmaids' dresses work kind of confusing and wasteful. I like the idea of not-perfectly-matching dresses that the person might actually get more use out of, much better!
I gave my bridesmaids a color and then told them to get a dress they'd wear again. And you know what? Despite them all buying from different places, the dresses were all the exact same shade! (I was expecting some difference, but nope!)
@@emmarichardson965 I did a similar thing, but I told them to all choose cool colors, short sleeves, long skirts. It worked out really well.
(I also found my wedding dress at a thrift store. Paid $16 for it. It needed $40 of alterations, but still.)
Thanks for spreading awareness, while also acknowledging that some folks don't have the resources to stop buying cheap, fast fashion clothes. Those of us who can stop feeding the machine should do so, while not judging those who aren't able to do that heavy lifting. kudos!
Absolutely! I've heard a lot of frustration expressed with how that nuance isn't part of the usual "fight fast fashion!" take, and I didn't want to become another one of those.
@@SnappyDragon body size and disabilities are another thing…. I am petite, under 5 feet, and without the skills or time to make my own clothes or spend hours upon hours thrifting. I have found maybe 2 or 3 stores that I can consistently find things at that fit without more than hemming needed. Can’t imagine it’s any easier for the quite tall, those who can’t consistently manage buttons, etc.
@@archervine8064 you bring up a good point, for the need for easy to close garments. Velcro is very helpful, especially if altering favored clothes.
Garments that work when range of motion changes are needed,as well.
👏 👏 👏
My grandma used to volunteer at her local op-shop and we'd look forward to going each time we visited her. I got a fabulous trench coat that I wore throughout my high school and college years.
My other grandma, Oma, survived the WWII Japanese concentration camps in Indonesia as a child and she was a staunch advocate in knowing how to sew, knit, and make do.
I grew up wearing garage sale clothes, hand me downs, and homemade church dresses, but when it became cheaper to buy the clothes pre-made than the fabric to make them with, Mom switched to Walmart and thrift/charity stores.
Now, I am part of my local "Free Cycle", "Buy Nothing", and such communities. I haven't bought clothes (besides underwear, lingerie, and personalized family reunion shirts) in many years. I really appreciate these communities and the people in them.
I'm also sewing again and working through my fabric stash and the fabric stash my late friend bequeathed me. That's on top of the yarn that is begging to be knit and crocheted...
Freecycle and BuyNothing are the best!
When I went thrifting with one of my friends for the first time and they said they felt guilty for buying from a charity shop when they could afford fast-fashion (b/c they we're taking clothes away from low-income people). I had to explain that there are enough second hand clothes in the world for everyone and u are donating, in this case, to the local women's refuge, when u buy second hand. I think the internet discourse around secondhand clothes can be kind of toxic & self-defeating at times - I think you struck a balance, great video (oﾟ▽ﾟ)
There's definitely upsides and downsides to the industry for sure, but yes, these days we have so many more clothes that supply is not really the issue.
@@SnappyDragon wow 😍 now that I have your attention can I tell u smth rlly interesting. Last yr I wanted to write a paper about hidden signals in Jewish fashions but I couldnt get enough sources - there's a super cool paper however called "Weimar Jewish Chic" by K Wallach all about the secret language of "bubikopf" wigs for orthodox women - its a rabbit hole I definetly recommend
When I was a kid, my grandma bought me a reversible raincoat at Goodwill. It was solid yellow on one side, and on the other it was red with white whales. I loved it.
That sounds so cute! I love the whales.
My mum was born in 1930's Britain and I can remember her telling me of how she made a skirt for herself out of an old pair of my dad's trousers. She also 'turned' a wool tweed coat to get several more years wear out of it. As a child, all my clothes were second hand, and my first dressmaking experience was buying huge gathered early 1960's skirts, and chopping them up to make late 1960's mini shift dresses. Even in the 60's there was a thriving second hand clothing section in Leeds (Yorkshire, England) market. The second hand clothing market never actually went away.
I'd never thought about turning skirts into dresses that way, but that's so cool!
Recently? There was a men's wool coat, very well made, but worse for wear in some readily fixable ways (sleeve lining tucked back into the cuffs, new buttons, needle felt some matching fiber over a few little holes, etc.) It was ludicrously cheap because of the condition, and because it had lost its fiber content tags. I was sure it was wool from the feel, combined with the construction and the weight of it, and a burn test of some loose fibers from inside the pockets proved me right. Wool coat, large enough to fit a 42" bust sister, $10. Jackpot.
That's such a good find!
I'm wanting to make a walking or split skirt (or both) and I want to make it from wool. There's no way I can afford new wool fabric so I'm currently scouring the thrift stores for suitable clothing that is 100% wool to make this piece of clothing. In the meantime I'm also thrifting jeans of all kinds of colours as there's several skirts, dresses, waistcoats that I want to make from them. I also have a pair of gorgeous curtains that are also destined to be made over into trousers, skirt, waistcoat, jacket and a bag - and anything else I can make from that much fabric.
Nice!
I scored a camel hair sport coat once for about $10, and still have it. Maybe when I lose some weight?
I have a teal velvet Edwardian walking suit that my great grandmother made over in the 40’s to wear at a War wedding and then my mother wore it in the 60’s and my sister wore it in the 80’s.
That's AMAZING 😍
I know several of my ancestors were domestic servants, including one who was a housekeeper for an expensive central-london "working woman" for a while, something I gathered also included being security of a sort because she was a rather robust woman, and also selling on her employer's old clothes and a lot of the gifts from clients.
That's such a cool story! I love it.
That would be such an amazing setting for a novel... wouldn't you just kill for a diary of hers?
@@raraavis7782 not sure she was literate...
Heck yes, I need this novel STAT.
The movie Nuts with Barbara Streisand and Richard Dreyfuss is about a high class escort who funds her lifestyle through her client’s gifts (sometimes cash). It’s not the main plot, but did come up in the story. Good movie 🍿
I grew up wearing second-hand clothes! Apparently this caused all kinds of confusion among my mother's family, because she would go to the thrift shops in the nearby nice towns and get us good name brand stuff super cheap. So they all thought we were doing much better financially than we were.
My latest thredup orders have had some marvelous gems in them like: a wonderfully goth swishy black lace skirt, a fantastic wool wrap skirt, and a pair of jeans that actually fits me well and is comfortable - a massive challenge in the best of times.
Oooh you have had better luck there with skirts than I have! I looked but didn't find anything I wanted.
Even when I was a child in the 50's nothing was wasted especially in my Mama's and her Mama's house. Clothes were worn and then passed on to family members. Called hand me downs they were often looked down on but most people wore them. If a garment was unfixable or worn out they had anything usable (buttons, lace etc.) removed and reused. The garment became a rag for cleaning or dusting. I wore many hand me downs and still shop at thrift stores long before it was popular. I love to thrift.
I also grew up in hand-me-downs! Although, they were usually from friends rather than relatives so we often called them "hand-me-sideways" instead. I started being too interested in clothes for that when I was in my teens, but my brother wore them most of the way through high school!
I used to patronize a thrift shop-run by the Jewish Council on Aging- that had a deal with a high-end women's boutique, and they would get all the new, never-worn, tags-still-on, garments as each season ended. I remember getting a lovely cotton vest for $5 that was still carrying its original $120 price tag.
That's a fantastic find!
Props to the lady who took the "silver-hilted sword" with her.
Edit: Also, my favorite thrifted clothing find is this really durable dark green . . . I don't know how to describe it, imagine a t-shirt dress with long sleeves, a turtleneck collar, a brown lace panel down the back, and some of the same lace sewn just above the bottom hem. It also has functional pockets but I had to take a seam ripper to them because they were SEWN SHUT when I first got it?
(What kind of monster sews functional pockets shut?)
I think most other people would find it ugly as sin but it works perfectly in my weird Mori Kei wardrobe, heh. I'm also very fond of this dark brown pair of men's pants I sized down recently.
Major props indeed!
As for the pockets, apparently they'll often get basted shut during manufacturing so they don't sag or get caught in anything. I was super confused the first time I saw it, but once I started sewing things with pockets it made much more sense!
What really annoyed me though, is that on my new favorite pair of jeans, they went to all the trouble to sew welts for back pockets, and then just *didn't add pocket bags.* Why not just add pockets at that point? Next time I do mending I'll have to add them myself since all the fussy work is done already.
Real pockets are sewn shut on (good quality) new clothing so that the pockets do not catch on anything and tear the clothing while it is transported or tried on. You did the correct thing in ripping them open.
I just recently received pants as a gift and was so confused about the sewn up pockets!
@@SnappyDragon Oh, that does make a lot of sense! I've never seen it on clothing before myself, so I was very baffled. Good luck adding the pocket bags on those jeans though.
@@kittimcconnell2633 In that case, I suppose it's a good sign that the dress must be quality. The rest of the seamwork has lasted these few years without any issue, and the fabric is very sturdy, so I think it is!
Terry Pratchett's book 'Dodger' is well researched fiction, it references Mayhew's work and covers clothing options up and down the social scale. It's also a good read IMHO.
I haven't read it yet and now I *extra* need to!
@@SnappyDragon You'll never regret reading Pratchett, who passed away 7 years ago today. GNU Sir Terry.
@@nixhixx GNU pTerry
@@nixhixx GNU, sirTerry 🤦🏻♀️
meant ❤
Here in Ireland our version of thrift stores are mostly run by charities, so you're doing some good by shopping there as well as saving money, and they usually stock homewares and books as well as clothing. I'm a big fan - you never know what you might find, and it avoids the overwhelming paralysis-of-choice I get in new-stuff stores. My luckiest recent find was the dress I bought for Christmas Day; it was a designer piece originally costing many hundred euro, priced at next to nothing because somebody had altered it by painstakingly hand-sewing a gauze ruffle around the neckline. I loved the ruffle, I loved that it had a bit of a history, and it fit like a glove. I was so happy!
That's so amazing!
I'm an Ashki jew whose mother (converted) is of Irish Catholic and Irish protestant descent...so I LOVE this historical connection. :)
My family has always been down with thrifting clothes. It is amazing to think how long it has been in practice. My favorite pieces I ever thrifted were 3 flowy tunics, I loved wearing in high school. It would be great if we could reestablish making better quality clothes, appreciating our clothes and maintaining our clothes.
Those tunics sound so comfy! And yes, we definitely do need overall improvements in quality. There's only so far you can re-use and mend something that was always intended to fall apart.
My favorite thrift find thus far is a highly embroidered purse. It is designed to look like a beautiful pile of books. And it can fit a decently sized book in it easily.
That sounds so beautiful! I've never had a purse that interesting.
@@SnappyDragon I'm not really a purse person but I fell in love immediately. And it was a ThredUp find.
@ Kayleigh Dz Sounds fabulous!!
I have zero problems thrifting. I grew up with it, and as the youngest of 5, I rarely had any clothing brand new. I took my bf shopping at a favorite thrift store, and he was floored with how nice the clothes were, and at how many buyouts of brand new items were on the racks.
My favorite recent find is a calf length, short sleeved, black, fully lace dress, with an elongated sort of peter pan collar. It has a tie waist for adjustable fit, cinched perfectly at the natural waist. It's drop dead gorgeous, and oh-so-gothy.
That dress sounds absolutely gorgeous!
That reminds me, I *really* need to get back I to thrifting... that dress sounds amazing!
I also grew up with hand-me down clothes from my cousins and said clothes were usually used by at least five of us before being given away or used as rags. And even now, we still exchange clothes sometimes and I often lend clothes to my sister and borrow to my mom. We have an intra-familial thrift shop.
And I love thrifting chlothes so much ! I recently found an ankle-lenght, forest-green velvet gown that makes me feel like I stepped out of Lord of the Rings. It is a one size fit-all and so I can have a more casual style if I lace it loose. And it's so comfortable !
Love love loveeeee
Something like 75-80 percent of my wardrobe is thrifted. But I think my best purchases to date would be my over-ware: a denim jacket that's kinda trench shaped and an actual trench coat. Both have lasted 10+ years & I love them. And by all that's holy (& unholy) I wish the shop they came from was still in business. That place was magic.
It's so sad to lose a good thrift shop! One of my local favorites closed during the pandemic and I miss it so much 😭
I enjoyed the topic of this video as my paternal grandfather, who came from Russia due to the expulsion of Jews at the end of the 19th century, owned a shop where he sold second-hand suits for men and tailored them to fit in NYC from the 30's until around 1954. It is always interesting to lean how Jews in particular ended up in certain professions throughout history.
I was super excited to see that detail too! I knew a lot about Jewish garment workers on the construction/factory side of things, but not anything about the secondhand side.
My favorite find is probably a 1970s Fendi camel coat in a larger size, that I got for a steal because it had been mended really poorly. I carefully undid it, brushed up the nap, re-mended and now I feel swooshy and glamorous and have been kept warm for four years. It has buttons for attaching fur collar and cuffs and I might do something fun non-fur with that some time.
Early in my relationship with my eventual husband my MIL asked him what to give me for my birthday as she wasn’t sure what clothing I liked. He said, “Cash.” She was surprised, sure that I would find that crass (they were securely middle class). He replied, “Give her whatever you planned to spend and she’ll multiply it at the thrift store. And have fun doing it.”
Is there any doubt why I kept him?
❤️
I remember watching the 1950's I Love Lucy where they had a second hand clothing store that would buy clothes. So it wasn't that long ago that this was still a practice. BTW-second hand clothes are the best....you know the size (shrinking will have already occurred), you know if they're color-fast (will have run already), better price, and it keeps textiles out of the landfill. I would love to see you do an episode about repurposing/upcycling clothing. For example: during and after WWII, due to rationed fabric/clothing, a worn out garment (say a man's wool pants) would be made into another garment (woman's skirt or child's short pants).
I've been thinking about doing something like that! It's a super old practice for the same reasons that thrifting is an old practice, the fabric was too valuable to waste so when something got too worn-out for its original form you'd make something else from the leftovers.
@@SnappyDragon I'm looking forward to it!
@@SnappyDragon
I love this! I hope you will pursue this idea.
My absolute favorite? Would have to have been the coat with the messed-up sleeve lining. Seriously, like a 1 hour fix. Took the lining out to repair it, and my $5 faux-shearling-lined-with-polyester coat turned out to be an actual 100% sheepskin coat with a silk lining.
Yaaay I love being able to make something wearable with a quick fix like that!
@@SnappyDragon I know, right? Seriously the thing had NEVER been worn, because the lining in ONE sleeve was a little twisted!
I am in the area where most of the thrifted clothing is now cast off fast fashion. It is hard to find anything that was once quality.
That's definitely the tricky part. If I'm going to use fast fashion things I'd rather they be secondhand than new, but the overall decline in quality standards makes the whole system tricky to find good things in.
Yes, thats true, especially in areas that have a younger population. My tip to find good thrift shops is to seek out the ones near.. well, old peoples homes. They either get the clothes of the inhabitants when they have to downsize their wardrobe to move into the home or.. after they moved out. The amount of awesome wool coats and quality mens suits is incredible. I've seen loads of Harris Tweeds, Italian designer stuff, fur of course and the shirt section has these "country fashion" linen blouses that are great for history bonding. And many of these things have bigger seam allowances than fast fashion, even the trousers.
Also, ebay.
Exchanging a plant for clothes Doesn't surprise me. Victorians were plant mad. There's an interesting book called Potted History by Catherine Horwood that follows our plant obsession throughout history. An aspidistra would be a common plant in most homes because they survive in cold, drafty, gloomy rooms.
Oooh good to know! Maybe I should get one for my old, drafty, poorly-lit house 🤣
I love when theatres get rid of old costumes since they are mostly made in such a manner to be altered up to three sizes up, so you can easily take them apart and Resew them back together easily, most of them are flatlined so no trouble with the lining either…
I have only bought clothes from King Size and ASOS for the past 3-4 years, and holy shit I refuse to go elsewhere. I have a 56" waist, I cannot shop in stores, but ASOS Plus/Curve has ADORABLE pieces that last years and King Size is like, THE wardrobe staple shop for me. eventually all of my clothes will be from them and I am Glad.
Thanks for sharing! Super helpful to know of stores that have really good size ranges.
I grew up thrifting, as we were pretty poor. I still hit thrift stores and garage sales. I tend to check on Marketplace for things too, I found a formal dress there in my size that only needed taking up on the shoulders for me. I wore it for my occasion, and passed it along to another person when I was done.
Marketplace, Ebay, Poshmark . . . I got a dress that I couldn't afford in my teens because it was at least $150 new, for $25 a few months ago.
My family has always op shopped. Some of my favourite finds: a pure wool Highland Home Industries child's kilt with adjustable waist, which my son has been wearing for "best" since he was six, with the hem well taken up, and which has been progressively let down for the last four years; my partner's $20 Balenciaga jacket; and an Anna Davies Welsh tapestry weave skirt which is too small for my but which can be altered for my teenage daughter.
Those all sound lovely! Extra great that the kilt is adjustable.
I love mending clothing. I use sashiko (Japanese mending method) on my husband's jeans because I swear he has knives for knees. Sashiko thread and needles are *incredible* I highly recommend them. I used the swiss method (mock knit) just recently to mend a hole in the elbow of my husband's sweater. Just a couple days ago I let my son pick the color of thread for me to use on his holey pants and he was so excited to see the pops of lime green and orange on his plain navy pants. I feel like I'm not only repairing the clothing, but also showing both my love and my artistry when I mend my family's clothes.
I'm also all about reusing what I have. I have started getting more comfortable with sewing knits and tried my hand at repurposing my maternity clothes I no longer need into cute underwear for my daughter. They honestly fit her better than store bought. Also, clothing that was made extremely cheaply (maternity clothes are honestly the most cheaply made clothes after store bought Halloween costumes in my opinion) gets another chance at life before I slice them up into tiny scraps to be used as stuffing in other projects. I sincerely am excited that more brands are looking to create garments for the entire lifetime of motherhood, not just 6 months or so.
I do love thrifting. My favorite item I've thrifted is a red silk top I got almost 10 years ago. I love wearing it because it looks great in both casual and formal settings. It has an empire waist so I could even wear it while pregnant.
I've only just started to learn how to mend things and it's so soothing! I need to learn the Swiss method because I have knives for elbows and have worn holes in my favorite sweater.
Related to the "gifting clothes to servants"-thing; Queen Elizabeth the first likely gifted one of her garments to the church of one of her favourite servants (Blanche Parry), an altar piece was made of the cloth of silver of the dress and it still survives to this day. In fact, afaik it's the only surviving cloth of Queen Elizabeth I's wardrobe. So that's cool!
Also, the social image of thrifting being marred by classism?! Who would've expected that?! /s
Also, interestingly enough, my grandmother *refused* to make or mend any clothing herself, even though she had the skills to do it. It reminded her too much of a time when that was literally the only option since she grew up really poor in the 30s (in the Netherlands). So as soon as she was married and technological advances and income allowed her to just buy socks in bulk and throw them away when they had holes, that's exactly what she did.
That's such a cool story! I wonder how many other old garments we still have pieces of in similar forms.
over the last couple years i’ve started my social transition, so all my good menswear- jeans, slacks, button downs, sweaters, have been purchased at estate or garage sales. i would like to say i have pretty quality clothes. my family was of middling income but my parents grew up poorer so i’ve always had hand-me-downs (not personally lol as i’m the oldest) and thrifted children’s clothes. my only real problem is that i’ve never found a blazer with a 34” chest, even though i have pants and shirts in that size. who knows why?
So I know the size distribution can be super weird on the womenswear side. Maybe it's a similar thing? I wish you all the blazer-hunting luck in the world!
I'm the 3rd girl in my family I wore a lot of second and third and forth hand clothes. My favorite 2nd hand piece is a beautiful blue Kate Spade bag. I don't have a thing it goes with, but I don't care., I love how soft and beautiful it is.
If you love it, who cares what it "goes" with?
@@SnappyDragon that is so true, mostly it goes with me, and that's enough.
Thrifting in the US is such a hit or miss experience. Since most people wear fast fashion, the majority of what ends up in the thrift stores is of such poor quality that isn't worth spending money on and half the time the price difference between thrifted and new is negligible. Yes, you can find nice things, but that tends to require a lot of time searching through hundreds of items and returning to the stores multiple times, something that many people are not willing or able to do.
Really shocked at the cost of 2nd hand clothes in USA. Also that they don't seem to come from charity shops as do most in UK.
Best buy ever was perhaps 20 years ago when I paid 50p for a camel coloured cashmere 1950s swing coat with stand up collar that Hepburn could have worn to breakfast. Except that it was labled Utility which indicated it was made to standards set for rationing during and post WW2 which were very high compared with modern items sold as 'designer' After wearing it for 10 years I took it to another charity shop which asked a far higher price for it. I still have the 1920s lace silk dresses from Paris that cost £5 each in Bayswater Oxfam in 1970 and the victorian brolly with silver floral handle bought in Bath in 1968 for £2 which was 1/10 of my wages as a waitress.
Now back to my knitting which is with yarn made from wool/hemp mix bought in the Red cross shop for 1/10th paid by whoever donated it and I must hang up the slub silk scarf I bought for 99p in Oxfam today. The charity shopping trick is to know what you want and you will find it within 2 weeks ,meanwhile because you are looking you will find books you need and get the stimulation we hunter gatherers need without spending or buying much
That's amazing! Older things like those tend to be in higher-end "vintage" or "antique" shops here. Some thrift stores are run by charities, but they're usually chains like Out Of The Closet.
@Cadi Leigh That's so interesting! So if the USA op-shops are not being run as fundraisers by charity organisations (still very much the norm here), are they purely small-business commercial ventures, or a franchise of some kind...? How does that affect the pricing? I'm curious too re. how they acquire clothing stock if not through donations - do they just buy from estate sales or similar, or do people actually go there in person to sell the store their no-longer-wanted items?
Depends on the store. Some are run by larger charities (Goodwill, Salvation Army 🤮), some are small chains, some are local-only. A lot of the ones in my area do get lots of people selling their clothes, since they don't want to throw away something usable and they'll get money or store credit rather than giving away for free.
been doing it for 40ish years, always a fun treasure hunt. Favorite finds:
1975 a black crepe "new look" dress with a crossover drape, just gorgeous $5
1978 a black silk flapper dress I wore to several costume parties $5
1982 a white 1950s party dress with a big skirt, splashed all over with blue and purple roses $15
2008 a paisley silk smoking jacket $10
2019 a floor length suede duster complete with rain cape $35
2022 brand new cashmere lounge pants, purple, with tags on $7.50
There have been a lot of duds, too :-D
all of these sound gorgeous but aaaah that duster coat especially!
I’m amazed that you know when you found each one! Impressive, and they all sound amazing. :)
@@DawnDavidson Since they ended up being worn to events, they were part of the event, so it's easier to place them in time. I still haven't figured out where to wear the duster but it's gone to the movies a few times and it's kept both me and my husband warm when the air conditioner goes too low :-D
My favorite thrifted clothing find is actually a Frankenstein of two tops. The main fabric is this burnout velvet with a brocade pattern, and there’s solid black triangles inserted at the waist and hips, and a black rectangle in the front. There’s cap sleeves created using triangles sewn and pleated to the straps, and it looks like something a fairy would wear in a Tim Burton version of Tinker Bell, and it’s so soft. I wear it all the time in spring and summer, and I love to wear it with my tulle square circle skirt, which is made from new fabric, or my other favorite thrusted item which is a long black cotton button front skirt with floral embroidery at the bottom
I’ve had it about two years, and while I don’t get much wear out of it during the colder months, it’s like my uniform when I have to dress up in the warmer months, and my handmade skirt is about a month older than the top, while my other one is about 1 year and a half old and I wear it during the winter months with petticoats so it’s nice and warm
I'm always a lot more willing to modify thrifted things than newly made ones. Usually it's because they're inexpensive enough that I don't feel like I'm having to pay a bunch of time as well as money to get something I want to wear. This top sounds super pretty!
Almost everything I own was thrifted. I have worn second-hand all my life. My mom was a skilled sewist who could make alterations and I learned to do the same. She also worked as a domestic and many of our clothes came from the families she worked for.
Altering clothes is how I learned to sew! Such an important skill.
My favorite item I've ever bought second hand is my leather jacket. Bought it at a Goodwill when I was 14. I didn't wear it much for the first few years, but the last 5 or so it's become the coat I'm almost never seen without. I've had it for a decade now, and I wear it to work every day. There are some patches I've put in the lining, and I really should get around to re-binding the zip out insulation layer because that's wearing out, but that's a good thing. It makes it my own :)
Re: making men’s clothes at home- I am still not sewing my husband anything to wear to work. I’ll make some alterations, but other than that, PJ pants are about it.
Thrifting: I found a fully-lined black dress that was very well constructed… with an “LV” zipper (tag was cut out for some reason). Normally I do not care at all about designer clothes, but Louis Vuitton at thrift store price? Yes please.
Menswear quite honestly confuses me too o.o
Fascinating video! I remember my grandmother "turning" the collars on my grandfather's work shirts, so that the worn side was underneath. I also remember her darning socks. This was her habit from the days of the depression.
Thank you! There are so many skills from that era that seem to have dropped off the radar and never should have.
Janet,
One of my Grandmothers, the one who taught College level "Home Economics", had a gingham bag with "Darn It" in cross-stitch. It lived on the back of a door, between the kitchen & the office. Easy to reach, yet out of casual sight.
It still makes me smile.
I can't be bothered to darn socks that I have bought from the store. But now that I've started knitting my own socks, I've started darning them because I know the time and expense that went into them!
Thanks, that was really interesting! My favorite thrifted item is a blazer from at least the 80ies, top condition, for 5€. Saved my life for going on job interviews!
When I think of second hand clothes, it's not only about what I buy for myself, but also about how well-meaning people donate their worn clothes to charity organisations exporting them to developing countries, a practice that destroys/destroyed the textile industry in many, e. g. Kenya or Tanzania and actually increasing poverty and dependence instead of reducing it -.-
I don't know as much about the export of secondhand (which is why I didn't speak about it in this video), but I feel like shipping them that far is also a huge environmental cost!
My great-grandmother had to make her children's clothes during the war and she used to unknit two small sweater and made one bigger plus a pair of socks out of the wool. When her children had to clear her house, they found she saved every bit of wool, fabric and thread she could since the beginning of WW2. She also knew how to made sandals out of old shoes.
And my fahter's mom also re-knitted sweaters out of several smaller. She was amazing at knitting and I use the dressign gown she made me when I was five as a cardigan/cozy jacket fifteen years later.
Edit : I started trhift-shopping maybe four or five years ago for environmental reasons and now I almost exclusively buy secondhand (except socks and underwear). I started making my own circle-skirts in 2019 because I couldn't find someting full colourful and long enough for my taste and I also wanted a new dance costume. Now I'm diving into historical clothing with split skirts and chemises. My goal is to have a self-made history-bounding wardrobe. I have the chance to have a great-aunt who is happy to give me a lot of good quality fabrics she doens't use and I purchase a lot of household fabrics in charity shops. My favourite skirt is made out of a tablecloth and my medieval-fantasy inspired summer dress was a duvet cover.
That's so amazing, especially remaking shoes! I had no idea that was possible.
Best deal ever, ... probably 20 years ago... found a $250 Norton McNaughton 3 piece skirt suit New, With Tags (and the pricetag!) , marked $10/half off that day. 98% OFF!
But my favorite is just a pretty purple dress that fits beautifully, is a little different than my usual style, but quite flattering, and it has Pockets! $5
Almost all of my clothes come from Thrift Stores or 2nd hand online.
Those both sound like amazing finds! Especially the pockets.
More an accessory, but I found a black Italian leather clutch at an antique store for $10 over a decade ago. It is still my go to for a night out.
Alas, as a tall and not small woman thrifting is hit or miss for me. But I lived most of my 20s with a kitchen full of secondhand items, so I still loved to go.
I can't imagine a newly-made $10 purse holding up for a decade! That's so great.
Whenever I think about the English used clothing trade, I think of the poem London Lickpenny. It's a fourteenth century poem about a guy from the london countryside who comes in the city for a trial. His hood is stolen while waiting at the courts, and while later wandering through the city, finds it for sale at a fripperers. He was too poor to buy it back, and quit the city out of frustration.
A very fun sequence showing off the Italian secondhand trade happens in the Roman segments of Tom Swan (which, is probably among the pulpier of the historical fiction I've read). the secondhand marketplace is called no place for the proper Roman ladies Swan is buying new clothes for, because in order to find things that fit there are just a bunch of guys trying on things in the middle of the street. I think earlier in the same market they show how the salesmen would also adjust garments slightly (and repair the garments) to fit the wearer better
Very thematically, I'm watching this while repairing a used petticoat so that I can be properly dressed at work. This poor thing is getting so worn out in the waistband, I may cut it off and attach the bulk of it to a new one
Okay but both of these are HILARIOUS 🤣🤣
With the exception of a few special pieces and blue jeans (because I have to work to find a pair that fits right) almost all of my clothes are second hand/hand-me-downs. I had a friend who lost a lot of weight share her now too big wardrobe and I've not really bought new things for years due to that. Now I'm finding a few pieces that I don't wear often because they aren't my style, I'm looking to pack them up and off to the thrift shop so they can get their third life. It really makes me happy.
Being able to bring things back into the thrift cycle is so great! I've hosted a couple "clothing swaps" where everyone brings their unwanted things, trades them around, and then at the end of the day we brought the leftovers to a local thrift shop run by a charity for HIV healthcare.
Love the "third life"! Thank you!
I have always thrift shopped. I like to wear interesting and different stuff and that is where you find it. My best thrifting was in the late 90s when I found a whole rack of men's silk shirts. I wore those until they shredded. The thing is I have a big bust and long arms and off the rack women's blouses just never fit right. These shirts were so versatile, I could wear them under suits, on their own with a belt because they came to my thighs or just as a kind of jacket over a tank top.
Then of course I also thrifted for school plays. That was so much fun because it allowed me to bargain... we will put your name in the program if we can get a discount...
Those shirts sound absolutely lovely!
Second hand clothes were the staple of my wardrobe for most of my life. I learned to mend at a young age and have put the skill to use as young as middle school. We utilized patches and sewing holes to extend the life of everything. My most recent favorite thrifting find was a calf length buttoned linen skirt. It has deep pockets and sturdy waistband. When paired with knee high socks or leggings it fits my modesty requirements. I can squat and bed over without muddying my skirt and it is full, but not too big. Perfect for chasing a toddler, doing yard work or hiking and is a great length should I need to use a wheelchair again.
It's like the Goldilocks of skirts!
I LOVE that you take into consideration the possible need for a wheelchair.
I could not manage without a walker.
I can’t believe this only showed up on my feed this morning!
The old clothing dealer’s mention of ‘shoddy’ reminds me: has any research gone into this? I could be wrong, but it struck me as remarkable in that it was a recycled fabric- before I would have thought the concept existed - I mean, it was given a whole new name- Ruth Goodman mentioned it in the ‘Victorian Farm’ doco; renting cotton (?) rags down to fibre, re-spinning, & re-weaving it- however, because it did not- dye, wash, or wear as well as original fabric- it ended up with a poor reputation- & ‘shoddy’ became a term for something of poor quality.
Just an interesting historical tidbit....
I feel terrible that I don’t remember Meg’s hand-me-down mentions in ‘Little Women’- but I do remember Amy’s- she got clothes from a cousin, if I recall- & was almost always mortified by them, because her cousins’ mother was not very fashionably minded, from what I can remember.
A lifetime ago, I read two books, both set in the 18th c- one set in Russia in the time of Peter the Great, ‘Katchya’- the other, England, ‘Slammerkin’- both had scenes describing second-hand clothes markets. The latter was especially interesting in that it was both inspired by a real-life murder trial of the time, & it went into crazy details of the period fashion.
When clothes had reached the very end of their lives they were given to the ‘rag and bone man’, who came round with horse and cart exchanging ‘rags’ for donkey stones for cleaning the front steps. (I remember them, scared me to death)
As a former Rocky Horror performer (and costumer), I worship the almighty thrift store. Many of my favorite massive “historical” skirts are thrifted. I’ve also been known to show up to the yard sales of the parents of casual acquaintances to raid their fabric sales.
As a reader of a crapton of books written in the Victorian era, I can definitely remember reading about second hand shops in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle & Frances Hodgson Burnett. And I’m pretty sure both Louisa May Alcott and Laura Ingalls Wilder refer to church sponsored charity shops. I’d have to find the books to be sure, it’s been a while.
Praise be to secondhand clothes indeed!
We have a ton of thrift shops here. My friend and I go all the time. Some of my favorite things would be the antique singer sewing machine. I couldn't believe it was that cheep, and it still runs. I also found a shop that had wedding dresses that were displays for sale. I bought 2 for $40 there would be no way I could have gotten that much silk material for that. I have ripped the bodice off of one so I could make a petticoat. Even though the dress was way too small for me there was so much gathering in the skirt that I could have fit almost 3 of me in it.
You found a *sewing machine?!?!* That's beyond amazing!
My favourite thrifted or vintage items have ALWAYS been the vests. My first vest is something I still love and cherish because it always fits me JUST RIGHT and can make me look snazzy, or like a member of Fall Out Boy. (I genuinely want to draft a pattern out of it now, it's THAT good!)
One of my other thrifted vests was actually one my mom got when I wasn't looking or expecting it - took me a while to get used to it, but once I realised it was to look like a Hobbit in, everything fell into place.
Other notable but more groupless thrifted items include: an empire-waisted coat which could belong to a conductor (still brings a smile to my face like a little crow whenever I wear or look at it), a genuine, bona-fide Scottish wool kilt (which in the end can't fit me unless I were to drop some kg again HARDCORE, so it's going to a lil punk friend of mine who fits it better), and not one, but TWO silk robes from a clothes swap.
And another thing: inheriting good clothes is EVEN BETTER. There's so much in my closet inherited from my mom that I love. When I went on an aesthetics rabbit hole and she walked in on me looking at Light Academia, the absolute RABBIT HOLE I went on when she said 'Oh yeah, I used to dress like that for university,' was (and is) REAL. I've inherited sweaters, blazers, pants, jackets and shirts from my mom, and it took me years to start finding a style - only to find that I share one with her! And I'm grateful that she's willing to help me out in my quest for my favourite type of academia styling.
(Of course, there's a part of my style which I'll call 'Star Wars on Strawberry Milkshakes' which she disagrees with, but one day I'll flesh it out too. There's clothes to thrift, patterns to make stuff with and i've got two hands and a sewing machine. And that's gonna be the problem of everybody else.)
Ahhh thrifted vests! I just gave away one I bought secondhand in high school that started my love of vests in general.
You might try pressing aluminum foil on your perfect vest, for pattern shapes. Please, add seam allowances, before cutting.
The woman to whom I am apprenticed, uses the rubber lined curtain fabric, for
"permanent patterns." Like this vest deserves to be, for you.
I love shopping second hand. I recently got a red wool pea coat, in my size, for 8$. It was like brand new. The only thing wrong with it was the lining was too long. I figure either they cut it wrong or the lining fabric had more stretch than they expected. I turned it inside out, put it on my dress form, and hand sewed the hem and cuff with a fold to hide the extra fabric, I looked it up, the coat is selling on places like poshmark for 125$+.
That's so great! Absolutely worth it.
@@SnappyDragon If you can sew you can do so well thrifting. That and I keep a tape measure in my purse to confirm sizes.
Keeping a tape measure to hand is a great idea!
That was super interesting!
You really picked a topic, that hasn't been discussed to death yet and did a ton of research on it, it seems. Great video.
I got into thrifting a couple years ago...after stumbling on thriftshopping videos on TH-cam. I didn't really know, it was a thing before, honestly.
Initially, I wasn't too successful with it, because there just aren't really many good quality, not visibly worn casual clothes on offer here (Germany) and that was, what I was mostly wearing at the time. So I tried going minimalist instead....but that I couldn't stick to, really. It became more interesting, when I took up sewing again and looked more at clothes for material and switched to a more formal style. I often buy ridiculously cheap wool trousers/skirts/jackets from the discount rack. No one wants them, because they look too old fashioned/conservative, to appeal to the mostly 20 something thrift shoppers. But considering the price for wool suiting by the meter...man. I couldn't afford material like that otherwise.
Online thrift stores are much better here, for actual, wearable clothes. And shoes. I got severely pairs of good quality, 'office appropriate' leather shoes for like 30€ each. Which I'm so so grateful for, because I could never afford shoes like that new...they go for like 150-200€.
Thank you so much! I've wanted to do this one for a while so it's exciting to see it finished 😃
Thrift shopping for shoes is super underrated too! I have one or two brands that I know I can get a good fit from, so it's easy to search online for those and find really steep discounts.
What I love best about op-shop clothing (and it comprises most of my wardrobe that I haven't made myself) is the amazing variety! Contemporary clothing stores in smaller countries like this all seem to have things that look pretty similar & often kind of bland, whereas when you go second-hand you can have whole decades' worth of styles & colours to choose from.
A close second-best thing is the fact that older clothes are more frequently 100% natural materials, important if one has skin reactions to synthetics? As someone who grew up poor & wearing badly-fitting & unflattering hand-me-downs, it actually took quite a while to get into thrifting as an adult, but I'm totally addicted now when budget allows. Must admit I don't purchase underwear second-hand though!
I do notice that unfortunately, our thrift shops rarely seem to carry anything that is in larger sizes? There are also only a few places that carry 'male' clothing. However, I don't know if this is because they don't receive these as donations, or just don't stock them because they don't think they'll sell...? 🤔
The very best second-hand clothing item I've ever acquired is a cotton patchwork wrap-around skirt! When time allows, I want to try & reproduce it myself using thrifted silk business ties... 😁
I have a few friends who've done tie skirts and they're gorgeous! Super twirly, good for dancing.
another way to get good second hand clothes, is to do clothes swaps... a group of friends get togther and everyone brings clothes they're tired of/grown out of etc and people just swap I've gone to ones which are fairly orgainsed and everyone takes it in turns to pick one or two items, and then you go back for a second or third round... etc - others are more of a free for all..- usually no money changes hand..
although some groups might do it as more of a 'jumble sale' - and people would buy what they want paying the person who brought the item you want.
there's also market stalls which sell 'seconds' which are clothes which didn't pass the qualtiy control, so they might be missing a button or be an odd size, r be last season's style... etc
I almost never buy new...
I miss hosting clothing swaps before the pandemic so much! Always a really good time, and I got some things I still have and love today.
Some of my favourite shirts (including one I've copied three times) have been thrift store finds, funny thing is it's home made, sewing machine, unfinished seams... unfortunately fast fashion is so cheap right now that replacing my work tshirts is best done at the discount store, not the thrift store. They're just going to get paint and sealant on them till they disintegrate anyways, so I kind of do need disposable clothing, much as I hate it. I have bought one pair of PJ pants or yoga pants a year plus sox, undies and new tshirts and that's pretty much all I buy these days, I've started making my own and mending things till they literally fall apart.
One of my favorite thrifted finds was also originally homemade! It had hand-finishing that looked a lot like my early hand-stitching.
The History of selling used goods in an open market came to Europe from South West Asia, a lot of the words for thrift/second had in European languages come from Persian or Arabic (Bazaar and Souk are two of the most common words that appear)
In Africa, much of their textiles are imported now and if you go to open-air markets you'd find a lot of what my Aunt called "White man has died" or second-hand clothes from Europe.
I once ran into someone who said "We don't have thrift shops where I'm from, that's a Western thing." But they're not really, they exist in areas with class mobility, where middle and lower class people can intermingle. I can see someone who was wealthy in their own country seeing people talk about thrifting on social media and thinking those people must be even wealthier than you because "thrifting is trendy" without having any understanding of what climate those trends come out of.
This is super interesting!
The Or Foundation (theorispresent in YT, if i recall correctly) works with people in the second-hand clothes trade in Ghana, and has a series of videos exploring the situation titled "Dead White Man's Clothes"
I've taken to collecting scarves. They sell for pretty cheap at thrift stores where I am, and they make good gifts. I don't know how many of my supposed pashminas are actualité made of cashmere, but I seem to have collected them in most colors of the rainbow.
Thrifted scarves are the best! My old housemate and I used to hang interesting ones on the walls to decorate.
It depends on where you go for second hand stuff. I have a beautiful trench I got that has a beaded caplet. Probably 1980's, but reminiscent of 1880's. I paid $1 plus tax. Got a red leather jacket at the same place for the same price. Other times I go to stores closer to the city and many of the items I look at and say "It would cost about that new!". I love thrifting. Almost my entire wardrobe, sans undergarments are thrifted. Although I'm hoping to get more into handmade too.
I have been Thifting since my teens, and I'm in my 50s now! My father would give me 100.00 to buy clothes for school...
OMG! I would come back with 4 gigantic bags of goodies. My Bubbie taught me basic sewing, and Alterations. Her saying was all young ladies should know how to thread a needle, and sew on a button!
My Recent find was a Antique Embroidered Chemise that I found at a Local Charity Shop, here in NYC. I didn't realize what I had until I got it home, and proceeded to launder it! WOW! It's all stitched by hand! AND.....I only paid 8.00 for it!
SHOP LOCAL..You never know what your going to find...😁💕💕💕
That chemise sounds amazing!
Thank you so much for the 💞.
Yes it all hand Embroidered on the sleeves and neckline. With Tiny little stitches. There are 2 little initials in the front, E. P. The linen is in really good condition, for a antique garment. I've never seen linen of that quality before. I love your videos...especially about Jewish History and clothing..So Facinating ...keep up the good work.
🙂
i have SO MANY favorite thrifted finds. my favorite oldest piece is a capelet that the antique store owner said was probably from the 1890's. it was only $25!!!! theres stains on the bottom, the store owner said she thinks it was worn in rough weather because of some old waterproofing. i got it a while ago so i don't remember the entire conversation, but i want to bring it to a (different) vintage clothing store i go to where the owner loves to see antique clothes. some more favorites are: a pair of Guess high waisted mom jeans; a really nice oversized cotton sweater with color blocking, 80's style; at least 3 long skirts perfect for every season if i layer them right; 2 long 90's style dresses (also perfect for layering). i also have a cool story, i bought a cute dress from a brand id never heard of before at the thrift store, and then a few months later i went to a different store and found a dress from the same brand in a really similar style, the dresses were like cousins. and guess what? that happened AGAIN. i got this adorable pink dress with daisies embroidered on it. over a year later i went to a different store in a different state and found its sister. black fabric, same daisies, same brand. i got it because oh my god. also i love the pink one and the black is more understated. sorry for the long comment with bad punctuation and grammar lol
In his book Voices or Morebath, author Eamon Duffy found that dresses were often left to the church in women's wills during the early English renaissance. Presumably finer dresses were sold to support the church, while simpler garments were given to the poor.
This is super interesting! I've seen a lot of references to upper-class women sewing shirts for the poor, but mostly in historical fiction rather than primary sources. I love having the context.
When shopping malls got a bug in it's breeches for not letting people sit down and kicking teens out, me and friends got into thrifting. A lot cheaper and they didn't mind you scouring the racks for a few hours. I'll have to keep that trick of "turning" a piece of clothing to refurbish it in my back pocket. That's brilliant! Anyone know of a good equivalent to ThredUp for men's clothes?
(Also, SD, the ThredUp link in the description has a bit of text stuck to the end that's making it 404.)
Fixed! TH-cam's link-abbreviating was messing it up.
I found several Gunne Sax dresses as a teenager and wore them till they fell apart!
I love thrifting. I’m not surprised that it’s been around forever! When my kids were little and we were on a tight budget I would thrift or make their clothes. My oldest boy was professional at holes so I got very good at mending! I still hate having to replace zippers but a few bucks for a zipper or replacing a winter coat there was no real option but to figure it out! I have to admit I got very good at mending artfully with appliqués or designs to make it look like it was bought that way. I still love going thrift shopping our local thrift stores have books, patterns, materials, sewing supplies as well so it’s great fun! Over the years I’ve found leather, fabric, a tailors ham, french curves, yarn, patterns and lots of books! I can feed my pattern, book and fabric addiction for pennies on the dollar!!!
I need to find myself some thrift stores that have craft supplies! My nearby ones are all clothes and occasional housewares.
@@SnappyDragon try asking at the thrift shops near you, if they know of anywhere as a source. They might have a pile in a Back room.
My coolest thrift find has been a good as new (if a bit cigarette smelling) corset that actually fits me well for 14€. When I shortened the planche in front, I saw a hidden name tag and found out it was actually handmade in the town I bought it and cost over 300€ new!
Also if you ever wanted silk as cheap as possible, get some silk kimono from ebay straight from japan. They have a lot of fabric in straight rectangles to take apart and are often tie dyed or embroidered or hand painted (!). And since silk is light, the shipping is often under 10€.
That's so incredibly lucky, to find a corset that fits you!
it's difficult to find second hand clothes not only in my size, but also would look halfway decent on me. i'm sorry, but i detest bright colors and terribly designed blouses. the consignment shop nearest me rarely has clothes in my size, let alone something that would look flattering on me. and we don't talk about Goodwill.
excluding thrift shopping, i really only buy clothes when what i have is at the point where i can no longer stitch it back together (or, you know, the wire snaps in a bra) because plus size clothing--even when it's on clearance--is expensive. it tends to get depressing when you see clothes on sale, but sizes only go up to MAYBE a 12, and i'm currently a 24 (US sizes here)
if i knew how to pattern and could remember how to use a sewing machine after the four previous attempts to retain the knowledge--or was better at hand sewing beyond embroidery and patching clothes--i would just make my own frigging clothes lol
I use ThredUp too and my single favorite thrifted item is a 100% merino wool blouse that is SUPER thin, but still opaque, and quite comfortable temperature-wise for three seasons. It fits beautifully, is super comfortable and the dark blue color looks great on me. One of the best clothing purchases I've ever made!
Really good-quality wool is getting harder to find. That sounds so beautiful!
My cousins gave me their hand me downs clothes. These clothes were worn by 5 girls before they got to me.👗 I'm from a Mexican family .We called the thrift store, The Segundo growing up. I found many favorite things there at the Segundo😀
Great combinations, I'm impressed with your ability to combine new and made pieces to get a look with a slightly historical feel. I'm from London, and my mother used to live in Long Lane EC1 which was actually the centre of the London second hand clothing trade in the 19thC. Most working people would never have owned new clothing except underwear/nightwear they had made themselves. Servants and clothing given to them as part of their wages (it enabled middle class and upper class people to pay very low wages- you could earn twice as much or more in a factory doing unskilled work).Dickens makes a good point about pawning clothing- he says petticoats pawned every weekend had been quite worn out by the toing and froing.
You are interested in the Jewish involvement in textile trade- I recommend you look into the hire of luxury textiles in Venice, mostly to courtesans was exclusively a Jewish trade. This is illustrated a little in the film Dangerous Beauty.
Thanks so much! I'll check it out.
I try to buy as little clothes as possible. My sister and I can swap our clothes which is good, because here in Germany there aren't that many thrift stores and second hand stores (at least to my knowledge) and most of the time when you find a second hand store they're almost as expensive as buying new (at least according to my experience)
also my local fabric store always has two containers with scraps and pieces of fabric labeled "zero waste" so it doesn't have to go to landfill. These pieces of fabric are also cheaper than buying fabric that's on the regular shelves. one of the last times I got new fabric from one of the shelves one of the shop assistants gave me the rest of the fabric for free because the small piece that was left would have gone to the zero waste container.
I love getting bolt ends and remnants like that!
A pair of Granny Boots I got for $25!!! Was my best 2nd hand find. They were the most comfortable boots I ever owned. I got them re-soled and re-heeled . Lost them in a move. Take care and have fun!!! 😷😎😷
Good-quality thrifted shoes are the best! It's tricky to find shoes worth getting repaired and maintained that don't cost an arm and leg otherwise.
I found a linen sleeveless dress with jacket at a thrift store on sale for a dollar. Was looking for a dress to wear to a friends wedding. It was perfect.
That sounds amazing! I bet it was comfy as well as beautiful.
I think my favorite thrift store find was a set of three pairs of gloves from the 1950s, they were all white but each had a different finish on the edge. I have small hands with long thin fingers and the gloves fit me perfectly even with my long nails. It has been more than 20 years and I still have all three sets of gloves, with the most worn set having the fingertips trimmed off and roughed up to go with my mock Victorian beggars garb. Now a days I hunt the Goodwill Bins and find the most fantastic clothes... including some low end Indian silk skirt and sari sets that I picked up for $1.29 a lb. which I have mended and are now part of my nice summer clothing set.
I grew up somewhere in the middle of 20 cousins, so I inherited clothes from the older cousins and then passed them along to the younger ones.
Nowadays most of my clothes are from second hand stores, for various reasons. On my latest thrifting trip I found a beautiful hand decorated shoe organiser. They had sewn every petal of the flowers on by hand, in tiny neat stitches. 😍
My local thrift shops are nearly all clothes, so I'm super envious of people who have housewares too! That organizer sounds beautiful.
Irish and Jewish cultures both have very strong storytelling culture, we tend to understand each other more easily because of that.
And we exchanged food. Irish American corned beef and cabbage came from Jewish delis.
I didn't start thrifting my clothing until I was in my late 20's - it definitely wasn't the norm for my family growing up. It's become a mainstay, for me, partly because of the bargains, and partly because it's fun for me: treasure hunting! It also has prompted me to donate more in turn. I'm currently finishing the hem of a dress I'm making from thrifted fabric.
I found a wool/cashmere/viscose long sleeved dress for some stupidly low price like £10 in a charity shop a few years ago, that has to be my favourite. Also, if you're going to look at the textile industry of the 19th Century I don't know if you've heard of the "Cotton Famine" in the north-west of England when mill workers went on strike to protest that their cotton was being grown by enslaved people.
I don’t have a lot of thrifted clothes just because it’s difficult to find them in my size, but one of the skirts in regular rotation for work was thrifted, and also kicked off my love for long skirts.
I'm not even a difficult size but I keep looking at thredup and finding things that say "size 12" but also "29 inch bust" so I don't know how much I should trust their sizing
I love it when you find something you wouldn't have normally worn and it turns out it's your new favorite!
@@SnappyDragon I would have passed right by it if not for my BFF who insisted I try it on!
@@laurenschiller1804 yeah, online sizing is so hard to decipher! I was looking at the sizing in more boutique-y little online stores and going to their sizes page and that was consistently putting me in sizes at least 3x larger than I buy in the store. But then I went to a couple of websites for stores where I know my size with them and checked their size charts, and I was getting the same numbers as the boutiques! So now I’m never sure and rarely buy anything.
My favorite thrift find? I found a dress with the most beautiful fabric, but it was too small. I bought it anyway...and then I found one the same size on ThreadUp! Now I have enough fabric to make myself a dress that fits!
That's wonderful!
Given the fact that my family never had much money, I always got to wear the cast off clothes from cousins, aunts, uncles etc., and my brother, respectively, then got some of those clothes from me. When I got older I also started to buy second hand clothing although many of my class mates turned up their noses. My favourite find is probably a dark blue linen dress.
Furthermore, in my family it is common to mend and/or alter the clothes you have. And even if an item is not wearable any more, you can still use it as cloths to clean your house with (instead of paper towels), in patchwork quilts or as handkerchiefs... There are so many options to value clothes and make the most of them. Good for your finances and the environment! It's so cool to see that all of this has been done for centuries!
I can relate to this! I grew up in hand-me-downs until I started caring about clothes sometime in my early teens-- my parent were horribly frustrated that they couldn't just dress me in anything anymore.
An old housemate of mine did a similar thing : she would take t-shirts that had holes in them, and cut them down to make underwear!
I use old T-shirts, cut into facial tissue sized pieces, instead of facial tissues. They have their own basket and their own hamper! I wash them with my towels in hot water with a little extra detergent and vinegar in the rinse cycle. SO much easier on your skin than paper! Especially if you have a rhinovirus or allergies.
In the rural areas where I grew up clothes were inherited. You passed the clothes down, altered and mended as needed until the item was in such a shape it had to be discarded. When I grew up that meant that we made dishrags out of I.e sheets and we also tore strips out of basically any fabric to weave carpets. Historically before we started using woodpulp for paper (mid 1800) the trade of "lump" collectors walked around and bought up these textile scraps to make paper in the paper mills. It was a very low-status profession and they were often followed by rumours of petty theft and other "side" hustles.
I have be fascinated by attitudes to historical second hand clothing and cloth since reading the ghost of Christmas yet to come scene in a Christmas carol as a child. It is the scene, along with the party scene in Christmas past, that is the most vivid to me because of the clothing. (I may have been a tad influenced by my mother who was a dress historian so often talked to me about clothes).
Oh my goodness, I didn't even think of that as an example! I feel extra silly because that's the passage I read over on @LizCapism's Christmas Carol stream last year 🤣
All the discussion of mending, altering, and remaking garments as long as possible, and then cutting the fabric down to make other things, reminded me a lot of my own upbringing. I grew up in the 90s, but still with a very depression era ethos where throwing out any piece of fabric larger than the palm of the hand that isn't irrevocably soiled or damaged (think massive blood stains or had battery acid spilled on it) was incredibly taboo. As I grew it was totally normal and expected for me to alter my (already second or third hand) clothes to fit, like turning dresses into skirts and the like. I still have a very hard time wrapping my head around the modern idea of clothing as more or less disposable.
My mother introduced me to thrifting in the 60s. Way before it was trendy like today. They were called 'opportunity shops' in Australia. All these years later we've shortened it to 'op shop'. I still love op shopping!
For a multitude of reasons as a tall fat person, it's basically impossible for me to find anything secondhand that'll actually fit me, that's in my style and has a fiber content I can tolerate (f**k polyester, why is everything made for fat people polyester?!?!). So I look for the good quality stuff I'm willing to pay for new (but on sale!), and have started making more of my own garments as well. However, my favorite pairs of boots I got for $10 secondhand, basically like-new, so keeping one's eyes peeled is definitely worth it.
Uuurgh polyester! The bane of our collective existence.
@ Alex...
You might try checking for natural fabrics in "housewares" at thrift places.
Linen ...as tablecloths & runners.
Cottons...as sheets, or curtains. Look for plaids or stripes woven in rather than printed.
Wool...as blankets.
** good fortune,treasure hunting!**
I’ve found several petticoats in a savers that someone probably made for a theater costume but they were super affordable since they were handmade and thus not marked up for being a branded item. I also somehow have a knack for finding fancy Italian leather shoes in my size with minimal wear!?!?
I'm so envious! I love wearing petticoats but hate sewing them.
@@SnappyDragon just a hint: look for a square dance club; often a good source for petticoats.
I either make or thrift my clothes, but my single most favorite pieces are a random blue cotton top with an empire waist and flower embroidery that I just love for no reason and have already mended several times, and a black floor length Yves Saint Laurent overcoat that my aunt found and gave to me, a 14 year old goth at the time. I made some adjustments and it was my favorite coat until the fabric gave up the ghost and I made the next one myself! (edited for typos)
My favorite thrifting find EVER I scored today. It's a maroon suit waistcoat. I've never felt so much like a hobbit. It's amazing.
I can remember going to a consignment store for children's clothing when I was a kid (early 90s). It was a big deal when we went there to stock up when me and my brothers had grown out of things because we lived in Portland, OR, and it was across the river in Vancouver, WA. I would get hand-me-downs from my cousins--"girl" clothes and underthings from one cousin, and then "boy" clothes that I often wore to play outdoors in from another set of cousins. But while hand-me-downs and consignment stores were perfectly acceptable in our family, I can still remember, when, as a teenager, after I'd discovered thrifting, I asked my grandma to take me thrifting for my birthday rather than buying me something new from the department store like she usually did. She practically hissed that she was not going to buy me USED clothes. Once I hit university and no longer lived at home, though, I switched to buying nearly all of my clothing secondhand. I try to keep to either making or thrifting my own clothing now, and mending things when I can to extend their usefulness (on a side note, jersey knits are a challenge to repair because they don't hold patches well and darning is a challenge on something that's knitted out of thread so I'm starting to lean more and more towards woven fabrics that are easier to patch and using/making handknits that are easier to darn).
Subscribed! You're awesome! I saved up and bought some new boots (made by Frye Boots in Canada), REAL boots, ALL leather, EVEN THE SOLES ARE LEATHER!!! Which means that they can be resoled by a cobbler over and over again! These boots will last years and they are gorgeous! It is an investment upfront but saves money in the long term. I LOVE them so much! Fully recommend! 10/10! I just had to share!
Shoes are one thing where I try never to skimp. I'll buy secondhand if I can, but it's most important that they be repairable and last a long time. Those sound like wonderful boots indeed!
My favorite thrift store buy in, of all places, Fresno, CA. I found a gorgeous black wool sweater with red roses, hand-loomed in Bolivia. Very well-made. This button-up sweater nipped in a bit at the waist. The bottom edge was scalloped. I forget the type of wool but it felt like cashmere. It was ridiculously cheap too, about $6.