I ushered in the week by donating a carload of used clothing to my favorite charity thift. I have also started working on Secondhand Wardrobe Week for next year. Here is what I have in mind–a contest where blog readers post photos of thirift store bargains and vote for which they like the best. The winners will receive gift certificates to local thrift stores. I have started talking to thrift store managers about donating gift certificates and have begun working on both the legalities and the technical issues involved in contests so that I’m ready in 2012. I will keep you posted.

My New Treasure

Most of my wardrobe is secondhand, but I occasionally sew myself a new garment. Since I don’t have a lot of time to sew, I want these items to turn out wonderfully—but life doesn’t always work the way I want it to. I once spent forever altering a jeans pattern, thinking I could make it fit perfectly. Unfortunately, the finished jeans looked like they were sprayed on. I could barely breathe in them, even though the addition of lycra to the fabric blend made them stretchy. I also once made myself a jacket that I painstakingly hand quilted only to find that all those stitches made the material so stiff that it hung on my body like cardboard. I donated those two garments to my local thrift store. That way somebody else could enjoy my work.

But sometimes the tables get turned. Just last week I became the one who gets to enjoy somebody else’s work. I paid two dollars for a hand crocheted sweater that looks like it’s never been worn. Could it have been an unwanted present, or did the person who made it find that it just wasn’t right after they sewed on the last carefully selected button? The sweater isn’t revealing its origin, so I’ll never know. I’ll just have to wear it and enjoy.

The other day a friend of mine asked me what she should do with her daughter’s wedding dress. The marriage was brief and unhappy. The daughter doesn’t want the dress, of course, and the mom, my friend, also doesn’t want it, but it’s been hanging in her closet for years now. She’s been hoping to give it to somebody who could really use it.

I suggested that she donate it to a thrift store, where lots of people can try it on. It’s much more likely that someone who needs the dress, loves it, and just happens to fit into it will discover it there than if it stays in her closet. She can get those bad memories out of her house, get a tax deduction and provide the thrift store of her choice with something that they can sell.

The purpose of Secondhand Wardrobe Day is to celebrate the joys of creating a wardrobe from secondhand finds. I’m going to mark the day is by donating the clothing that my family no longer wears to my favorite thrift store charity. We have bags and bags that need to go.

I try to make only excellent choices when I buy clothing, but sometimes it’s only after I wear an item a few times that I realize that it isn’t the most flattering. I could toss it into the trash, but it’s so much more satisfying to take it someplace where it will be used and appreciated. Sending my clothing off to the thrift store is a fine way, I think, to enjoy Secondhand Wardrobe Day.

I was one of those teenagers who really suffered because my family couldn’t afford to dress me like the other kids at school. I wasn’t picked on because of it, I just felt uncomfortable every single day. I wish I’d known that there was an alternative so inexpensive that even I, a kid with just a teeny bit of my own money, could have afforded it.  

Now I jump at the chance to speak to groups of teenagers about how they can find wonderful clothing at thrift stores. The kids never have much to say. Some of them are grossed out by the whole idea. But I’m sure that some stay quiet because they don’t want the other students to know that they wear used clothing.  

I’ll keep giving these talks because I understand how valuable it is to know that you can dress well even when your finances are tight. I also keep hoping that some of the kids will learn that donating is a much better alternative than tossing still-good clothing into the trash.