People love to say that nobody finds real designer pieces at the thrift store anymore. Longtime thrifter @emilyayay17 has a closet that says otherwise. After about ten years of hunting, she walked through her favorite high end finds, and she was careful to point out where they came from: true thrift stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul, not consignment shops and not resale chains that buy and curate their stock.
She even warns that if you get easily jealous, you may want to keep scrolling. Here is the tour, with the prices she remembers paying, which she notes can be fuzzy since some of these finds go back years.
@emilyayay17
The Handbags
She starts with handbags, and her favorite of all is a butter yellow Louis Vuitton mini bag. She says she brings it on every vacation, and it is just so cute and so her. It cost thirty dollars. Next to it at the Salvation Army was a Louis Vuitton Speedy, also thirty dollars. She says she usually passes those bags up because they are either extremely overpriced or fake, but these were behind the counter, they looked real, and the price was right. She grabbed them both and had them authenticated later, and she has been carrying them ever since. One man once complimented the Speedy and told her he used to work at a Louis Vuitton store, and she says he had no idea she paid thirty dollars for it.
The list keeps going. A Cult Gaia clutch cost about twenty dollars, and she used it for her wedding. A Chanel wallet, to which she added a chain, was around eighty dollars, which she admits was marked up, but it was authenticated and she wears it to winter weddings. A Louis Vuitton travel tote was marked just twelve dollars. It has some wear, but she says she is not gentle with luggage anyway, and she had that one authenticated too. She also gives an honorable mention to her vintage Coach bags, a little brown crossbody in pristine condition and a bucket bag.
The Accessories
On the accessories side, she has a silver Michele Deco watch from Goodwill. She bought it about five years ago for two hundred dollars, and she says it originally sold for around two thousand. She wears it to work a lot. She also has a pair of Chanel sunglasses from Savers, which she says cost thirteen dollars with a twenty five percent off coupon.
The Shoes
Shoes are where her bin finds really shine. She found little Burberry sneakers for her daughter in the bin, probably for a dollar. She also found some short white flats at a Salvation Army in the city. For herself, she wears a pair of Ferragamo shoes in brown and black two tone leather to work all the time, plus a vintage pair from the Goodwill bins for a couple of dollars. She says she always seems to find Ferragamos there. A pair of pink Prada Sport sandals also came from the bins. They are a bit worn, but she wears them a lot.
One pair was not even thrifted by her. A coworker who has a second job at a thrift chain picked up a pair of Gucci platform shoes for her honeymoon, and she says it made her cry. Her most recent find was a pair of Jimmy Choos in her size, fifteen dollars at Goodwill, which she plans to wear to work. Her last pair of shoes was Chanel ballet flats, which she believes were between one hundred and one hundred forty dollars. She admits that was overpriced for a thrift store, but in her size and for something she will wear all the time, she says it was worth it.
The Clothes
She saves the clothing for last. There is a vintage Ralph Lauren maxi gown made of 100 percent wool, perfect for a winter wedding, with an off the shoulder look that can also be worn as a scoop neck. She also has a Ralph Lauren jacket she wears almost every day in the winter, which cost about forty dollars at Goodwill, and a Ralph Lauren dress for sixteen to twenty dollars.
From the Goodwill bins she pulled out a sweater from a brand she had never heard of, then looked it up and found it was worth around seven hundred dollars. At Goodwill she also found a brand new silk dress with the tags still on for 6.99, which she says is also a seven hundred dollar dress, and a second designer dress for the same price. At Savers she found a Burberry dress in toddler size, marked 3.99 and half off, so just two dollars. It was detached at the waist, so she sold it, and she says it was an easy fix.
Her Takeaway
She closes with a reminder that this is your sign to hit the thrift stores because you never know what you will find. She is honest that it has taken years to build this closet and that there is a component of luck. But she says it is thrilling when you do find something.
How to Thrift Designer Pieces Wisely
You can take a few lessons from her approach even if you are not out to build a designer wardrobe. First, notice where she looks. A lot of her best finds came from the bins and from behind the counter, places that many shoppers skip. Ask the staff whether higher priced items are kept in a case or at the register.
Second, be skeptical. She says she usually passes on designer bags at thrift stores because they are overpriced or fake, and that she authenticated her purchases. If you spend real money on a luxury item, use a professional authentication service rather than relying on a tag or a gut feeling. Third, check condition. Look over leather corners, linings, zippers and soles, and be realistic about what repairs will cost.
Fourth, learn to read labels and fabric tags. Many of her finds were identified by quality materials like wool and silk. A quick search of an unfamiliar name can reveal a piece’s value, as she discovered with her sweater. Finally, be patient. Visit often, go through the racks carefully and be willing to leave empty handed. The best finds, as she says herself, take years of looking.
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