20 Thrifting Disasters

After years of thrifting and some more of reading about the basics of thrifting, then some more admiring others’ amazing thrifted finds, I felt there’s a sore lack of a defining description of all that’s possible to go amiss when it comes to second hand shopping… Here’s a try at collecting some thrifting disasters!

1. When you set out with hours to kill to hunt the best finds, the second hand shops seem to be half empty of merchandise and you never find anything worthwhile.

2. However, if you just pop in with 10 minutes to kill before your train leaves, suddenly there are about 20 different items you don’t have time to try on.

3. And they change the full stock the day after, so you’ll never see them again.

4. Similarly, if you take a friend with you who always comments on what great stuff you find in thrift stores, when the two of you go together there are only lame denim skirts with pink trim and burgundy polyester blazers from the 90s.

5. Whatever amazing displays they put in the shop window are never for sale or have already been sold.

6. For some mysterious reason, this out-of-bounds window display always includes a clothing item you have been hunting for for months, like the perfect pencil skirt or a mint coloured blazer, or the cutest dress with a Peter Pan collar.

7. Anyway, you go in and hunt around. However, you always have to realise that when the size and the cut is perfect, the material or the colour are bound to be hideous.

8. Similarly, when the material and the colour are perfect, the size and the cut are hideous.

9. When something is a gorgeous, saturated hue, the colour is bound to be bleeding. You may convince yourself in the shop that the original owner must have lost weight, that’s why they donated the item, but deep down you know you will have to handwash that damn gorgeous blouse from now on until you donate it yourself.

10. “That lovely blouse is torn by the seam? I’ll sew it up in no time! Let’s get it.” (This happened 2 years ago and you still haven’t sewn it up.)

11. “That gorgeous skirt? It’s a bit too long but oh, I will alter it, no big deal!” (It’s been 3 years and now you actually use it as a shoe rag.)

12. “That huge shirt? The material is so pretty, I’ll totally make cushions-dolls-bookbinds-whatever from it.” (You have a whole drawer full of these and you don’t even own a sewing machine.)

13. If you spot a great colour and promising texture from afar, by the time you get there, another thrifter has it in her grubby hands and it’s an original Chanel blazer. 

14. In your size.

15. If you spot a well-known label and get there first, it surely has greasy stains, or moth-holes, or comes in such a small/huge size it’s impossible to alter.

16. There are plenty of beautiful purses to be found in second hand shops, but the most beautiful ones have an indelible smell hanging around them that you cannot get rid of, however hard you try. One option left – carry the purse around but never open it. Which is sort of like carrying a cushion around the city. Pretty, but pretty useless.

17. When you find something that’s missing a button, it’s bound to be a coat with buttons coated in the material of the original item. So it’s impossible to find a matching one and you have to change all of the buttons.

18. Your coat is of course double breasted and has 20 buttons on front and an extra 10 on the cuffs.

19. Finally you have chosen some pretty amazing stuff that seem to be fitting you well. You go up to pay when you realize that you don’t have enough cash, they don’t accept credit cards and the next ATM is a 10 minute walk away. The shop closes in 5 minutes.

20. Of course this shop has a policy never to set aside items for anyone. The perfect garment you had to leave there will haunt your dreams for years to come.

Now is the time to admit it, you’ve experienced at least one of the above!

Do you have any more to add to the list? I’m keen to hear about your thrifting disaters. :)

(Clip art used above by Amy Morby)