When I attended college more than a decade ago *gag*, one of my favorite weekend activities was thrifting. Saturdays were not for the boys; they were for bargains, and I was the Dave Portnoy of New London, Connecticut’s Salvation Army. For years, I strolled around campus in dead men’s pants and stained Hawaiian shirts, all for pennies on the dollar.
But as thrifting gained popularity, things changed for the worse. Old polo shirts and classic barn coats that used to sell for $20 at the downtown Goodwill were suddenly being displayed on mannequins for $400. Go to any “thrift” store in the East Village or LES today and try finding something worth buying for under $100. Spoiler: you can’t. Even the competition got worse. My biggest enemy in 2015 was the local high school production of Newsies shopping for tweed blazers. Nowadays, I can’t even buy a band tee without being bullied by a gang of tweens.
Thankfully, the art of thrifting hasn’t died out, it’s just retreated into the folds of the internet. More specifically, ebay. Now I know what you’re thinking: John, ebay is a place to buy porcelain tchotchkes and rare Pokémon cards. What does it have to do with clothing?
Well, my fashionable friends, ebay is likely one of the last places to source affordable, timeless clothing, be it vintage Brooks Brothers button-downs, Patagonia fleeces, or Woolrich jackets. You name it, ebay has it. You can even narrow your preferences down by color, size, and fit before you ever hit checkout. While a local thrifty might only produce one or two hidden gems among the racks, eBay is an endless treasure trove waiting to be plundered.
Lastly, with today’s fast-fashion epidemic, purchasing “up-cycled” clothing not only makes your wallet happy, but your conscience, too.
I won’t bore you with the details of how to peruse ebay; the site itself is intuitive enough. Instead, I’ll proudly display some items I’m currently watching, and you can be the judge of whether or not ebay “has it going on,” as us kids in college would say.
Just don’t outbid me…
