I get asked a lot about this. A large portion of my wardrobe in recent years is preloved. I have had some amazing finds. If you follow me on Instagram, you will know I find a lot of great preloved items. So here’s some inspo for you if you aren’t already a preloved shopper and a few tips for what I do.
A Whistles Shearling (sheepskin) gilet for £60 RRP £700!!! This was from Vinted. The price had been reduced and then I got a further discount. Boden clogs (worn once) for £25 (Vinted). I have had trainers barely worn, some fabulous leather boots, my trench was £10 (Marks & Spencer via Vinted). I have a stunning oxblood leather skirt that was about £30 on Ebay.
Shopping preloved for me is mostly online, although I do love a good charity shop rummage. I use Vinted and Ebay. I actually find Vinted better these days mostly because you can buy it now and not have to bid and wait (although a lot of stuff on Ebay seems to have a Buy It Now option. It seems that on Vinted it is the done thing to offer a lower price. Sometimes it seems crazy when things are such a good price anyway, but hey ho if you want me to haggle so be it!
You can search by brand and save stuff you like. So when I was searching for a certain type of thing eg a sheepskin gilet I saved the shortlist of my favourites. If you know the brand you want or even just want a general mooch, searching by brands is a good idea, especially if you know you like that brand, you know the size you are in that store usually etc etc. The big thing that you need to accept before you buy and I always have this in the back of my mind is… what if I don’t like it, or what if it doesn’t fit. You have to accept that it might not be right and that you will need to sell it if that is the case. Yes this is a bit of a pain in the you know what… but 9 times out of 10 you won’t have to.
I did buy a faux fur coat that arrived and looked like a dressing gown(!) It was beautifully soft, new with tags and I loved the colour but it I couldn’t stop thinking dressing gown! So I popped it back on Vinted. You might lose a few quid in the process but you have to take this gamble to find some gems and believe me I have found some treasures and some amazing bargains.
The other thing to mention is that you can upgrade your wardrobe by shopping vintage and buy brands you might not have otherwise been able to. I have two Whistles leather bikers (one black and one khaki) both Ebay. Both were a fraction of the price. In fact I sold my old ASOS black leather biker and bought the whistles one for only about £10 more and it is absolutely gorgeous. The purple velvet dress pictured was brand new with tags (Whistles again) and was less than £20 and there was a load of them being sold on Ebay, so always worth looking if you want a special dress or soemthing sparkly. Sequins are great to buy preloved too.
Shopping vintage online is harder with sizes as things tend to be a lot smaller but you can always ask the seller for more info on the actual garment dimensions rather than trust you know what an S, M or L actually means!
Preloved is a great way to try out new trends or types of clothing. I bought a black denim skirt for a fiver a few years ago on Ebay. I bought some platform tan leather boots for £25. I probably wouldn’t have bought them for £120+ plus as I didn’t ‘need’ them (do we ever need anything?) but it turns out I have worn them loads.
The other thing about preloved shopping that you are helping the circular economy and being greener. Practically guilt free shopping and at a great price? What is not to love! Here are some of the pics of the gems I have bought preloved.
Just wanted to update this post as seen some fab tips for shopping on Vinted which I incuded in my newsletter from @thethistleedit, you can see them here.
Keira x