Are you someone that loves thrifting but is terrified by the thought of leaving the comfort of your own home? Or maybe you’re someone who likes designer clothing but not very fond of the price you have to pay. Maybe you have a very vintage/old school sense of style and like to buy things that you can no longer find in stores. For whatever reasons you like thrifting, online thrifting is something that you can definitely check out. Because now thrifting becomes an opportunity to not only see clothing that people who live in your neighborhood have contributed, but now your options are on a global scale. Even if you don’t like the idea of owning second-handed goods because you’re scared it’s worn out, my advice to you would be: don’t be so quick to refute the idea of thrifting because many times you find things within good condition and people sell their merchandise for different reasons. Maybe the seller got the piece as an unwanted gift, or they bought it from a store with a strict “no return” policy or on a final sale. Therefore, don’t be afraid to take advantage of some of these platforms, in order to get the pieces you want for a lower cost, right in the comfort of your own home.
Here are 5 online destinations where you can thrift streetwear:
Grailed
When it comes to thrifting streetwear online, the #1 spot I would recommend is Grailed. I love this platform because you can search for pieces in their respective categories, such as by the type of pieces, size, designer, etc. just like you can search for items in any other e-commerce store. They also have a huge list of designers you can choose from such as Hood By Air, COMME De GARÇON, Damir Doma, Dries Van Noten, Off-White and many more. They also have more affordable brands like Adidas, Dr. Martens, Fila, Huf, along with many other affordable streetwear brands. Also, If you really like an item a seller is selling but maybe you have questions about the item, the site allows you to ask the seller. Or perhaps the price of the item is still a little hefty, you can offer the seller a price that you are willing to pay for that item and if they accept your price, they’ll sell you the item. The best item I manage to cop were a pair of The Hood By Air Avalanche boots from last season for $70 less than what the seller was selling it for and $400 less than the original retail price, which was $780. Lucky for me, I paid $380. check out the shoes below:
PoshMark
Another spot I would recommend you hit up is Poshmark. I can admit that their marketing strategies in no way or form target the average streetwear consumer, nor do they target males. From the home page all the way through the login process, I was asking myself: “What am I signing on to?” However, they do have a men’s department that seems to get a little overshadowing from the womens’ department. Regardless of that, what I do like about the site is that it offers a lot of affordable streetwear. You can find brands like Billionaire Boy’s Club, Fila, Huf, Neff, Stussy, and many others. Also, From going through the list, you’ll see the more mainstream designers, for example, Gucci, Prada, Tommy Hilfiger etc. I must admit though, you won’t see more specific streetwear designer brands like Off-White, A-COLD-WALL*, Vetements or any others that fit into that category. You can give their search engine a shot but the main reason why I believe their options aren’t diverse is because the site isn’t very well known as yet, atleast not by the streetwear culture. So let’s try to get the word out on this site and if you have some pieces you’d like to add, this could really make you some extra bucks while giving the current consumers more options.
ASOS Marketplace
ASOS Marketplace is a great place to do online thrifting. You can buy pieces to compliment that vintage, hipster, or retro style that you might be trying to achieve and you also have a wide range of options to help you do so. The reason why I say this is because ASOS Marketplace consists of many different vintage retailers all selling on one platform. So, you get to see a variety of different styles to choose from. You also get to see real people model the clothes so that you can see the condition that they are in, what they look like and maybe even how to style them. Also worth mentioning is that the pieces can be browsed through their respective categories, sizes, stores and even countries. Some of the stores I strongly recommend you check out are Bloc Vintage, Gullygarms, The East End Thrift Store and Adewears.
F As In Frank Vintage
Yes, that is literally the name of this store. If you’re anywhere near as petty as me, you would be very quick to write this store off because of the name. My advice to you would be, don’t. This is a really dope thrifting destination for streetwear and you can cop some really dope pieces. I honestly love everything about this store. You can browse the items through categories but they don’t have as many brands on their list. It seems they have more brands in their archive than on the list. I really like the site’s design and their aesthetic. I like the way they style their models and how they use a lot of oversized grungy pieces which really adds to the streetwear element. Also worth checking out is their blog where they put out amazing content like videos and photoshoots and things of that nature.
Beyond Retro (UK)
Beyond Retro is a UK store that I stumbled upon while doing some research. From reading their about page, I can see that they began in 2002 in East London. From also reading about them and looking at their pieces, you can see that they’re very serious about finding trendy and good clothes to add to their archive.
We scour fashion runways, global street style, edgy editorial and (most importantly) our own team and customers to determine what’s next in fashion, which informs what we pick from yesterday’s closets. – Beyond Retro’s Website
You can browse the pieces in their respective categories as the other stores in this post. However, one thing that’s really cool about this store is that they let you browse pieces through the styles like “90’s grunge,” “skate classics,” and “Hawaii shirts.” They also carry a lot of affordable pieces by brands like Adidas, Nike, Champion, Dr. Marten and some others. One downside is that they don’t carry designer pieces. But don’t be disappointed as yet, they carry a lot of cool ties, T-shirts, Baja hoodies, Jerseys and some other vintage pieces you’ll probably be interested in.
Ebay
Ebay is also a place to buy second-handed goods. Please notice I didn’t say it was a ‘Great’ place to buy. I have yet to buy a piece of clothing from eBay but it’s important to keep in mind that Ebay is a very popular site and everyone and their mother has heard of it. Therefore, Ebay has a lot of people with different intentions. So be careful when purchasing items on that site. You might come across rip-off deals, fake items, and even misleading ads. Also, I cannot stress how important it is to PRICE CHECK! Before you buy anything on Ebay, be sure to google the item and make sure that competitors aren’t selling it at a lower price and that you won’t be overpaying for it. Also, If you purchase an item from a user on Ebay and it comes in a package from a legit company or e-commerce site, go check they site to make sure that the user didn’t “Dropshit” “Dropship” the product to you. In other words, the person took your personal info, put it into a site (that you could’ve visited) and paid the company less for the product, while they charge you double or even triple the original amount. As you can see, there is a lot you need to watch out for when thrifting on Ebay. But on the bright side, there are honest and innocent people who use this site just like there are people who use Poshmark or Grailed to resell their pieces. Another advantage of Ebay is that, because it’s so popular, it probably has the widest array of brands you can shop from compared to any other retailer on the web. For this reason, Ebay is definitely worth checking out, be very cautious though.
Best of luck with thrifting streetwear online and if I missed anywhere, please tell me in the comments below.