I’ve Been Spending too Much time on ThredUp Buying Preowned Clothes
Have you heard of ThredUp before? They sell used clothes, handbags, and other accessories.
You may be thinking…why would you want to shop on a site like that?
I have a few really good reasons:
1. You can get some REALLY good deals on higher end clothing. Do you like Lilly Pulitzer but don’t want to spend that kind of money? No problem, you’ll find tons of options for a whole lot less. They have a lot of really high name brands, and the prices are a lot lower here.
2. The stores only sell a certain item for a short time. What if you missed it? Or you didn’t even know it existed but now that you do, you want it? No problem. The clothes here are not directly from the stores, so you might find exactly what you’re looking for!
3. Did you have an item of clothing that you really loved, but you ripped it or shrunk it? Or maybe it’s still in one piece, but it looks like it’s been worn 100 times and you wouldn’t wear it out of the house? You might find the same item here, looking brand new!
4. Most of the items are in great shape. Every item says if it’s in excellent shape, good shape, or not. There are often even items with price tags on them!
5. If you wait for good sales, you can get a lot of clothes for not a lot of money! (Yes, this is similar to the first one, but it doesn’t have to be high end clothing. You can find regular mall clothing type stores and get their items for a lot less too.
6. You’re saving the environment! Instead of these clothes going into the landfill (often either unworn or hardly worn) you’ll be using them.
Here’s how I started buying used clothing. I had a pair of Eddie Bauer shorts that I LOVED. They were the perfect length for me. Not too short, not too long. They were so comfortable. I wore them a lot over multiple summers.
Well, after a while they started to look like I’d been wearing them for years. I couldn’t wear them anymore. I was so upset that I started looking around for the same pair of shorts. So I went back to Eddie Bauer (and the outlet too.) The store didn’t sell anything even similar when I went to buy new shorts. I must have tried about 15 other stores (plus many websites) but couldn’t find something I was happy with.
So I started searching for the exact same shorts from Eddie Bauer. And I found them…pre-owned. It was a lot less than I was willing to pay for new ones, so I figured I’d take a chance. I ordered them, and was so excited when I got them. They looked like they were never worn…or if they had been it was only a few times.
For the past 4 or 5 summers now I’ve been wearing these second pair of shorts. I still love them and am so happy I bought them. I really don’t know what I’m going to do when I can’t wear these anymore. It’s been so many years since they made this style, I doubt I’d even find them used online.
Ever since I got them, I realized that it made sense to buy used clothes. The quality was great…I wasn’t buying someone’s old junk that they didn’t want anymore. It was more likely that someone bought something that they either didn’t end up liking how it looked on them, or they just didn’t end up wanting to wear it.
The next thing I did was buy a shirt that I had originally gotten from LOFT that I really loved and accidentally shrunk. It was nice to have that shirt again as well. Besides that, I’ve purchased many other items that I’ve found on the site as well. I’ve also tried a lot of new brands as well as purchased things from some of my favorites.
Actually my most exciting find happened about 3 weeks ago. A friend had a beautiful pair of Pilcro and the Letterpress Jeans from Anthropologie They had a line of embroidery going down the side in different colors. I really liked them when she bought them, but they didn’t have my size. I have to admit that I wouldn’t have paid that much for them anyway. Every time I went into Anthropologie, I’d look for those jeans, hoping they’d be in the sale rack with an additional discount. But they never were.
Unfortunately I never saw them again. I didn’t forget them though, and I think of them as the jeans that got away.
Well, 3 weeks ago I saw them on ThredUp and bought them. Guess how much I spent? $4.60. Seriously! I have no idea how much they were new (again, I wasn’t paying that price so it didn’t matter to me) but I’m sure they had to be way more than $100.
As soon as I got them I tried them on and they fit like they were made for me. I am so happy with them I (almost) can’t wait for fall just so I can start wearing them!
They have a lot of high end brands that I’d never pay anything near full price for, and now I can get them and not feel guilty. I know I’m paying a lot less for these items. I can also get things at stores that I never knew existed until now. I had never heard of the store Maurices because they weren’t anywhere within almost 2 hours of my house. But now I have quite a few items from them, and every time I go on a vacation that has one nearby, I stop and shop (and so does my daughter!) So you never know what you’ll find.
If you’ve never shopped used before, I’d strongly suggest trying it. ThredUp usually has a coupon on their website, where if it’s your first order you’ll get 45% off your entire purchase, as well as free shipping. Since the prices are already a lot less than you’d find in a store, an extra 45% off means you’ll be getting an incredible deal.
Another thing I love about them is that when you’re about to make a purchase, you can “Bundle” your items. This means that you buy the things you want, but you have 7 days to make more purchases and they’ll be shipped together. I love to get a free shipping coupon, and use that to bundle my purchase so I have an entire week to buy things with free shipping.
They often have other coupons as well, so once you’ve made your first purchase, you can still save. I just placed an order today, as I always find new things that I absolutely love. I suggest checking them out!
Shop ThredUp Now!
