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girl sorting through clothes rack
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Style > Fashion

Finding Your Thrifting Style: 4 Ways to Shop for Clothes

Seva Reilly
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCF chapter.

Second-hand shopping often gets a bad rap. A lot of people associate it with wearing their third cousin’s weird hand-me-down clothes as a kid. In reality, it’s different when you actively go thrifting yourself; you aren’t subject to the strange and unusual styles that someone else passes on to you. Here are four different thrifting styles that take into account your time, budget, goals and interests.

brown and tan clothes hanging on a rack
Photo by Alyssa Strohmann from Unsplash
The Classic: Thrifting in Person

The best option for you if you like treasure hunting, have time to thrift and want to support a local charity. 

Check out your local thrift stores, like Goodwill and Salvation Army locations near you. Fun fact: did you know that Goodwill has a rewards program, where you can earn points for every dollar spent, and you get inside information on special discount days? It’s definitely worth checking out whether the thrift stores you frequent have customer loyalty programs! 

Other thrift stores in the Orlando area include the Hope Chest Thrift Store, the Teen Challenge Super Thrift and THRIFT on 46. Most of these organizations also have a social mission by supporting individuals struggling with food insecurity or financial need, or by hiring and supporting individuals with disabilities.

The Tech-Savvy: Thrifting Online

The best option if you get frustrated browsing poorly-organized clothing aisles, are short on time or are looking for a niche item (a specific brand, vintage, etc.). 

There are a plethora of options for those of you who want to thrift online! My biggest tip for thrifting online is to make sure you have a reliable tape measure. Online stores typically provide clothing dimensions, and you really want to check these rather than going by the tag size. There’s nothing worse than ordering something that looks great in a picture online, only to unwrap it in the mail and find it doesn’t fit. 

My personal favorite for online thrifting is thredUP, a store stocked with items that you can filter by category, brand, size, style, color, material, price and more. You can even save searches for your favorite brands, and thredUP will send you email notifications when new items for that brand become available or when prices drop.

Though I haven’t bought from these stores before, I researched some other online options and found stores like Swap, Beyond Retro and Thrifted.

The Local: Thrifting from a small business

The best option if you have a specific style, want to support a small business and want to communicate directly with the seller. 

There are lots of people who run their own small businesses selling thrifted goods. Several Etsy shop owners feature thrifted items in their shops, with some centered around specific themes (like vintage goods). Depop, Poshmark, Ebay, Facebook Marketplace and similar platforms allow independent sellers to list clothes and accessories. 

Also, several sellers host weekly “drops,” where they feature all the pieces they’ve thrifted recently. I follow a couple of these sellers (such as Kelly’s Closet) on Instagram. There are usually “bidding” and “buy it now” prices, and you can set post notifications on your phone to get alerts when drops happen! 

While you will pay more to buy from someone who already did the thrifting work for you, you might find a lot of great pieces by following thrifters whose style matches yours. Plus, if the seller you follow is in your area, you might be able to score free shipping or pick your items up yourself.

The Social Butterfly: Hosting a clothing swap party

The best option if you want to “shop” with friends, have friends with similar tastes and styles and want to save even more money. 

Invite all your friends together for a clothing swap party! Put together a party with your friends where everyone brings gently-used tops, bottoms, dresses, scarves, accessories, etc. that they aren’t in love with anymore. One person’s trash is another’s treasure, right? Who knows what fun goodies you might find, and you never know which of your friends might be itching to get the very item that’s collecting dust at the back of your closet. 

Whether you’re a seasoned thrifter or interested in starting out, I hope some of these tips give you ideas for how to start thrifting in a way that makes sense for your time, budget and fashion tastes!

Clothing hangs on a rack with plants on the sides.
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya from Pexels
I'm a proud Knight who graduated summa cum laude in Spring of 2023, with a bachelor's of science in communication sciences and disorders, minor in psychology, human resources certificate, and leadership studies certificate. In undergrad I volunteered at UCF Aphasia House's program Aphasia Family to facilitate a community group for adult stroke survivors with aphasia, an acquired communication disorder. I also worked at the UCF Aphasia and Related Conditions (ARC) Research Lab and at the ASD Adult Achievement Center during college. Building meaningful connections with others through all forms of communication (the spoken word, prose and poetry, music, art, and theater) is my passion. My articles on Her Campus focus on mental health and self-care, minimalism, and using personality assessments (like MBTI and enneagram) to foster a deeper understanding of others and yourself. Currently I am taking a gap semester and plan to return for my master's degree in 2024.