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Back in the day, thrift stores were the treasure chest of the frugal fashionista. While they never had high-profile dress creations like the weird artistic statements displayed on the catwalk by haute couture designers, there were enough high-quality and perhaps even designer clothes there to be worth a trip – or two, or three. Thrift stores are still around in real life but it’s the age of the internet we live in – it was to be expected for them to make it into the big online, too. Let’s take a look at some of the online stores dealing in vintage items that can turn you into a veritable frugal fashionista without leaving your home.
ASOS is a major clothing retailer in the UK, carrying pretty much every brand available in the country. What makes it interesting is its Marketplace section, though, that features shops from vintage boutiques and independent designers, bringing London’s best vintage within the distance of a click or two.
Based in New York, The Vintage Twin is a treasure chest filled with unique pieces of clothing at a friendly price. Founded by twins Morgan and Samantha Elias in 2009, The Vintage Twin constantly hunts for treasures among the millions of pieces given up each year, reworking some, and salvaging fabric from others to create new designs. The items are hand-picked, altered, photographed, styled, and offered to fashionistas across the US.
ThredUp has already shown up on the pages of this blog a few years ago – now, the time has come to take a look at it again. It is one of the best-stocked thrift stores on the internet, having… well… pretty much everything you can think of. What makes it great is that you can not only browse through its seemingly endless stock of clothes, shoes, handbags, accessories, and jewelry, but you can also easily filter them by brand and, more importantly, by color, style, events, seasons, and local trends.
Refashioner takes vintage clothing to the next level: it sells exceptional vintage pieces from private collections. The sales are organized by the owners – and all sales come with stories attached. You can not only lay your hands on a few exceptional and perhaps unique pieces there but you will also learn a great deal about their backgrounds.
Tradesy is another online outlet to “connect women’s closets”. It is a peer-to-peer online resale marketplace for buying and selling women’s luxury and designer clothes, shoes, and accessories. Established in 2012, the outlet has served more than 7 million clients to date – and it doesn’t seem to stop.
In the age of social networking, it is not that difficult to get inspired by a look that a celebrity, blogger, friend or family member may have sported. Certain platforms help reduce the gap between an inspiration and a purchase by helping people shop the looks that are posted on their platforms. Even traditional social networks such as Instagram and Pinterest have incorporated buy-able buttons and pins on their posts that redirect a person to a website from where he/she can buy that particular product. This has helped brands to leverage their social media following to boost their sales.