Quality on a Budget: Building a Thoughtful Wardrobe with Thrift Finds
When you open your closet, do you feel excited to pick out an outfit, or do you feel frustrated and overwhelmed?
These days, having a “closet full of nothing to wear” is all too common. Clothing items that look cute in their online listings rarely look as nice in person, and when you try them on, they feel funny and don’t look right. Even if you do like the pieces, you might find that you rarely have occasion to wear them or that they fall apart after a few washes.
What can you do? All the well-made, high-quality clothing items are way out of your budget, and thrift stores these days are full of the same cheap fast-fashion items that caused this issue in the first place.
Here at New Horizons Thrift Stores, we understand the struggle! But we have good news: despite the fast fashion flooding thrift stores, there are still affordable, high-quality pieces out there if you know how to find them.
In this blog, we’ll explore how to revamp your wardrobe into something manageable and full of high-quality pieces, even on a budget!
The Clothing Overconsumption Problem
In 1980, the average American bought about 12 new clothing items per year. By 2019, this number had ballooned to 68 new clothing items per year, and it keeps getting worse.
You see, the clothing industry today is dominated by fast fashion. Clothing manufacturers make high volumes of trendy, low-quality, low-cost clothing by utilizing low-wage workers and slave laborers overseas.
Although clothing is more affordable than ever, this system has significant drawbacks.
First, the fast fashion industry has a huge environmental impact. According to some estimates, it uses up to 93 billion cubic meters of water and creates 92 tons of textile waste.
The chemicals used in producing and dying fabric get pumped back into the water system, poisoning humans and animals.
But on a more personal level, most people don’t actually want to buy 68 new items of clothing a year. These items clog up our closets, are notorious for not looking like their listing pictures, and often pill, shrink, or otherwise deteriorate after a few washes.
Finally, since these items are usually made with synthetic fibers, they don’t “breathe” well and may make us feel sweaty, stinky, and uncomfortable.
So the reality is this: Americans are buying more clothes, but it’s not making their lives any easier.
Four Steps To Building a Sustainable, Functional Wardrobe
It’s time to re-think our wardrobe, both for ourselves and for the sake of the planet. Here’s a simple, step-by-step guide to building a wardrobe that’s more functional and sustainable.
Step 1: Inventory your wardrobe
Before buying new items, take stock of what you already have. What items have held up for years? What fits you well and feels comfortable? What pieces do you gravitate towards again and again?
Next, create a spreadsheet or take out a notebook. List the item, taking note of:
- The brand
- The type of fabric it’s made of
This will serve as a guide moving forward.
Step 2: Purge items you don’t need
As you go through your closet, you’ll come across items that you rarely wear or that are uncomfortable or out of style. Box these items up and take them to your local thrift store so that you have fewer items to sort through as you move on to the next step.
Step 3: Make a list of what you need
Make a list of any staples missing from your closet. Do you have a pair of high-quality boots? Do you have plenty of underwear and socks, or are you wearing things that are stretched out and full of holes? Do you have a warm winter coat? What about bathing suits for the summer?
Try to think a whole year ahead. Even if it’s the middle of winter, write down staples you’ll need in the summer.
Step 4: Come up with a plan
Now that you have a list of things you need, come up with a plan to purchase high-quality versions of those staple items.
One way to do this is to spend your entire clothing budget on one high-quality piece every month or season. If you stop spending $10-$20 on cheap pieces of clothing, eventually, you’ll be able to afford to pay several hundred dollars for a coat, although it may be the only thing you buy that season.
The other option is to buy secondhand items from thrift stores. If you enjoy shopping and experimenting with different looks, this is the route for you.
But remember—while thrift stores don’t pose the same environmental threat as fast fashion, they’re still bursting with castoff fast fashion pieces.
Finding high-quality items at your local thrift store is challenging, but it can be done.
(And if you’ve never thrifted before, don’t worry—we wrote a handy beginner’s guide to thrifting!)
How to Find Durable, High-Quality Clothing at Thrift Stores
You walk into your local thrift store, but when you see the racks upon racks of clothing, you feel overwhelmed. How can you tell what is high quality and what isn’t?
1. Examine the fabric
The first thing you should do when examining a piece of clothing is check the tag to see what fabric it’s made of. There are three basic fabric types:
- Natural fibers like cotton, linen, wool, and silk
- Synthetic fibers like nylon, polyester, acrylic, nylon, and spandex
- Fabrics like rayon and bamboo, which are made of plant material but are sometimes considered synthetic because they go through complex chemical processes
Natural fibers tend to feel better and hold up longer than synthetic fibers. However, blending some synthetic fibers with natural fibers may help the fabric maintain its shape, reduce wrinkling, and hold on to its color. That’s why it’s a good idea to keep track of what your favorite clothes are made of so you can make better decisions regarding blends.
If you’re buying wool, note what type of wool you’re getting. Some types are itchier than others, some are more expensive, and some are harder to maintain.
When looking at prints, check the wrong side of the fabric to see if the design is woven into the fabric or merely printed on the front. Printed fabrics are generally lower quality.
Finally, feel the fabric to get a general sense of its thickness and weight. One clear sign of low-quality fabric is if it’s thin and see-through.
2. Examine the workmanship
After examining the fabric, take a look at the workmanship. Signs of shoddy and low-quality workmanship include:
- Loose stitches (tug on the fabric to see how tight the seams are)
- Loose threads
- Edges that are serged instead of hemmed
- Puckered seams
Conversely, for high-quality items, you can expect to find things like:
- Extra touches like pockets, linings, and vents
- Print-matched seams
- Reinforced seams in areas that are likely to tear, such as the center seam of pants or the shoulder seams of shirts
The more you practice examining the workmanship, the more you’ll be able to make good judgments about the quality of clothing items.
3. Shop at the right place
If you’re trying to find high-quality items at thrift stores, you’re going to have to spend a lot of time examining garments. But the good news is, the more you practice, the more you’ll be able to quickly spot fabrics like linen, wool, and silk by look and feel.
In the meantime, if you’re struggling with the time commitment, try thrifting at a consignment shop or a thrift store near the wealthier section of town. Some thrift stores even have a section of the store where they put the nicer items. You’ll pay more, but it will be easier to find high-quality goods.
For more thrifting tips, read our related blog post: How to Score Great Deals at Thrift Stores Without Losing Your Mind!
4. Learn to do minor repairs
Although high-quality clothing lasts much longer than fast fashion items, they’re not invulnerable to wear and tear. However, if you learn to mend your damaged high-quality pieces, they’ll last at least another five or ten years.
If you learn basic clothing maintenance skills like sewing on buttons or sewing up loose seams, you’ll have a much wider array of pieces to choose from in a thrift store.
5. Always try it on
Remember—even if the fabric and workmanship are great, always try on the piece before buying. The most important part of any clothing purchase is that it feels right when it’s on you. Otherwise, it will just be another thing in your closet you never reach for!
6. Learn to let go of the “almost”
If you’re not careful, a closet full of thrift store clothing can be just as bad as a closet full of fast-fashion clothes. The problem is that you’ll come across so many things that are “almost” perfect. Beautiful shoes that are a half-size too small. A skirt that will be perfect if you just lose a little weight. A blouse with a stain that you’re sure you’ll figure out how to remove.
Soon, your closet is full of things you never wear because they don’t fit right and you never got around to researching stain-removal techniques. If you want to live that quality-over-quantity life, you need to learn to let go of those “almost” items.
Final Tips for Choosing Quality over Quantity
There’s no one right way to revamp your wardrobe into something functional that no longer overwhelms you. You’ll probably buy some items new, but if you know what you need a season ahead, it will give you time to search your local thrift stores for those items.
If you live in Colorado, feel free to come check out New Horizons Thrift Stores for great items at affordable prices! We have locations in:
Stop by and see us, or reach out if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you!