Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thrift Store Conventions: Blue Jeans

When we think of jeans, a few well-known major retailers quickly come to mind. So off we go to fumble through their precisely folded stacks in little cubicles all the while feeling guilty for messing up their obsessive display.

Though they may carry a variety of sizes in waist and length, they really don’t have a selection of more than 10 or so styles. Like swim suits, one might need to try on 20 styles of jeans before they find the right fit. So, it’s off to another store. Lather, rinse and repeat until it’s nearly the end of the day and a pair that fits is found for $75.00 or more. Some jeans sell for hundreds if not thousands. Some people will pay the ridiculous prices because they are so tired and need to end this madness. This is crazy.

Go to the thrift store and find the blue jean racks. Then find your size. Voila! Chances are there will be about 40 or more jeans, in different styles, in your size waiting on the rack at the thrift store. All these different styles in one store, not five! And, the prices usually ranging from $4.99 to $7.99.
Remarkable.

And, some of the jeans at thrift stores are distressed, but fortunately for the thrift consumer the prices are not.

8 comments:

The Queen of Fifty Cents said...

Except at our local Goodwill stores, where all the clothing is sorted by color. Yup, ALL the jeans, men's & women's are all mixed up together. It's a jeans buyer's nightmare!

Anonymous said...

Goodwill must be different by state or city. In Denver, it's easy pickin's. I know the problem you write of and I empathize. I find that problem at Denver DAV stores where they don't necessarily dump jeans together but color co-ordinate ALL other clothing. So you may in essence find 10 sizes of similar colored dresses in one place. Oy! This is frustrating and doesn’t make shopping easy but I try to remember that the folks running these stores do not have national standards and obsessive designers. [Wink.]

Cool Threads said...

Jeans are a staple. Bell bottoms, ripped jeans - remember those travesties of fashion?

Let's face it, everyone loves to have jeans that are faded in some sort or another, preferably faded by one's own wear. I gravitate towards thrifting for jeans because there's always at least a couple of pairs that fit, and that I could wear right away in good fashion conscience.

Brand tags on jeans are for the vain. The only time I check them out is when I want to see what waist size someone either has or thinks they have. Even if you do care, a simple scissors-tip is handy for removing an unwanted tag.
Half the time you're just wearing a shirt or a sweater over the waist anyway.

Seems like a lot of people toss the jeans because they got big from too many visits to Baskin-Robbins, not becuase the jeans stink. Their loss. My gain. Or rather, their waist gain, my closet gain.

Unknown said...

I love sorting threw all of the piles isn't that where all of the fun is anyway? Why does everything have to be so clean and perfectly color coordinated before anyone will look in the pile? Snobs I say!

Jeanne Duncan said...

I am really picky and will only wear Levi's red tag jeans, usually men's, and they have to be just right: not too baggy, not tapered, not wide legged, can't sit too high on the waist but not ridiculously low either, back pockets have to be the right size (too small makes your butt look big), etc. I have about 20 pairs, all but maybe two bought used. Usually I try them on, but sometimes if I'm at the Bins that's not an option, so I buy on spec. If I get them home and they're not right after a few washings, I throw them back into the vast ocean of stuff at Goodwill from whence they came.

Anonymous said...

It has been so long since I bought new jeans that I honestly don't know what they cost.
Love the thrift store jeans -- especially the ones that ARE new, i.e., still have the tags.
Each year my sister and I adopt a family for the holidays. One of the requests from the grandfather of the family was a pair of jeans. We found a new pair in his size at Value Village, paying, I believe, $3.99 -- which helped our money stretch a lot further than it would have if we'd bought them new from a department store. I may not know what they cost there, but I know they don't cost $3.99....

Anonymous said...

If you want your jeans turned into a jeans skirt I do it. I can also pimp your jeans to make them cool.
www.danasusan.com.
I love thrifting and pimping the jeans baby.
Oh and I know how to fix "mom" jeans to make them cool if you want. I do it cheap.
Groovy-
Dana

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