Read an Excerpt

Introduction
 
Thrifting hits all the right buttons. It’s good for the wallet, good for the planet and good for your creative side.
                —Allison Engel
 
If loving thrifting is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
                —Reise Moore
 
As the sign says at the Stuff Etc consignment stores, “Wear it like you paid full price.”
                —Margaret Engel
 

Every last item you see modeled in this book is thrifted: clothes, shoes, jewelry, and accessories. Most items were purchased in 2016, a few days before our photo shoots. If we were lucky, we scored an extra-special bargain at the $2 and $3 clothing sales at Salvation Army and Goodwill.

In the course of this project, we visited more than 165 thrift stores in multiple states. For cool points, we would like to say we are battle worn after making our way through all these stores. But the truth is, it was an absolute pleasure. It was a thrill to hunt for the ideal pair of pumps for the green sequined dress we found for $2, or the right pair of men’s trousers to match the bold boots we bought for $8.

As we shopped, digital pictures would fly among the authors via text message showing off a great find, soliciting a yea or nay on a so-so candidate or getting confirmation that one of us was right to walk away from a questionable choice. Thrifting is something anyone can learn to do successfully. It does not require a special eye or take endless amounts of time.

When we started this journey, the goal was to create the definitive guide to thrift shopping. Now we realize a journey into thrifting is about so much more. On the macro level, it is a multibillion-dollar nonprofit-based industry that accepts donations from everyday people, sells them on to consumers eager to save money on clothes, and uses the proceeds to fund missions that change lives for the better. On a global level, it also is about recycling, renewing, and keeping textile waste out of landfills. At the micro level, it is an activity in which we can discover our personal style while we support small, often family-owned businesses—the local cobbler, dry cleaner, tailor, reweave. And it’s about learning to master our clothes: how to repair them, clean them, wear them. All this happens while we become savvy shoppers, clued in to what makes up quality clothing and how to improve garments with creativity and imagination.

We hope there are several images and suggestions inside that will inspire you to visit your local thrift store—whether it is located across town or can be found by clicking on your phone—and invest in looking good while doing good.
All images are by photographer Roger Snider (rogersnider.com), except as noted.