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Vintage Clothing for Sale: Where to Buy Vintage Clothes

DKrunner | Oct 9, 2010 |

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I love to shop for vintage clothing; the clothes tend to be cheap and full of character. After you have spent a little bit of time searching through vintage clothing for sale, it tends to get a little boring to go back to plain old department stores where everything is overpriced and looks the same as the previous store you lollygagged through.

Vintage clothing has become a style all its own; people are striving for the look and even some celebrities are looking as though they have picked their outfits out of a secondhand shop. There are many different kinds of looks that revolve around vintage clothing; there is retro vintage (which is sort of in a funky little category of it's own), romantic vintage, formal vintage, men and womens vintage, indie vintage, and more. The look is very versatile.

Here's where to shop for vintage clothing for sale:

Garage sales
If you've got the patience and time to really comb through the clothes, garage sales can be a really great place to find vintage clothing for sale. It might take a while to find a house sale that has the kinds of clothes that you are looking for (you have to take taste, style, and size of the person's vintage clothes you are carousing into consideration), but once you find an appropriate fit, you will likely find that they have a whole treasure trove of vintage clothes for sale that are right up your alley. Watch the classifieds for hints on where to find garage sales where vintage clothing might be sold.

Estate sales
Depending on whose estate is being sold, you might find yourself with a whole lot of cheap vintage clothes to rummage through. Bring cash and be ready to fill up your closet with all kinds of vintage clothing.

Visit Value Village
Value Village is kind of a wild card when it comes to vintage clothes for sale, but whenever I go I always end up walking out with a super cheap purchase that I am super pleased with! As I said in another article about vintage dresses, I think that even if I was filthy rich, I would still shop thrift every now and again. It's not about cheap clothes, it's fun just for the exciting feeling of finding a piece of clothing that is not completely identical to 1,000 items next to it on the rack. When you are thrift shopping for vintage clothes for sale, it's all about luck and coming across what someone else had turned in as disposable the day before; not necessarily because it wasn't wearable or stylish, just because it wasn't working for them anymore. It's like letting someone drive a car off of the lot for full price, then having them pull over a mile down the road and then selling it to you at the reduced price of a "used" car!

You can find true vintage pieces for next to nothing at a Value Village. My best advice is to look in the dress section; there is a mixture of vintage dresses for sale and also dressy tops that look great with a pair of tights of leggings.

Check out your local thrift and secondhand shops
For the same reasons that a big box store secondhand shop can be a hot spot for vintage clothes for sale, local thrift stores can also have a great array of fashionable retro pieces. The smaller thrift boutiques and vintage shops sometimes even get a little bit choosy about the items that they will and wont accept. For example, they will take all of the vintage clothing that you can send their way, so long as it is clean, ironed, and free of any stains or damage. Check out your local thrift stores to find everything from vintage dresses, casual wear, and even vintage jewelry.

Look through specialty Stores and vintage clothing shops
As mentioned above, there are specialty stores that boast a large inventory of secondhand, cheap vintage clothing. They tend to accept donations from the community and hold the pieces that they accept to a high standard. At many of these stores, they even let you bring in your old clothing to trade in for their vintage clothing or cash. It's a great way to clear out your old closet, walk away with some cash, or get credit to fill your closet full of all sorts of new (to you anyway!) cheap vintage clothing.

Search vintage clothing online; a vintage clothing shoppers dream
There are a plethora of vintage clothing shops online that sell everything from vintage prom dresses to vintage wedding dresses and jewelry. Type vintage into a Google search and you will be inundated with results. Shopping to buy vintage clothing online can be quite a lot more expensive than hitting up any regular old vintage shop or secondhand thrift store. The people running these vintage clothing online stores know that they are targeting a specific audience and some ask quite a lot for their clothes. One thing is for sure; anyone who loves vintage clothing will be enthralled by all of the cute things that you have to choose from when you take your search for vintage clothing online.

Shop specialty online shops that specialize in secondhand vintage clothing styles, sold by independent sellers.
Another way to shop for vintage clothing online is to look in classified type sales sections online. Places like eBay, and Craigslist can be a great place to find cheap vintage clothing. Another fun place to shop for vintage clothing online is to search through Etsy. Etsy sells everything from vintage clothing to handmade arts and crafts. It's a lot of fun to search through this website; if you aren't careful you could easily lose yourself in a mindless search through all of the cute things that they have for sale. I am signed up for their mailing letter and I get frequent emails filled with both beautiful handmade clothing and vintage clothing styles; everything from boots to dresses and hairpieces. Etsy ranges from dirt cheap vintage clothing to very expensive, exquisite outfit option.