Second Hand: Second Best?

Some people say second hand is second best; but I know that this isn’t true. The majority of my wardrobe is made up of vintage, charity shop, jumble sale and hand me down clothes, and these are some of the best made clothes I have and wear most often. And it’s not just me. Here are a few of the items that are second hand in my wardrobe:

My mum found this blouse when we were sorting through the Scout jumble (my brother’s a scout). The shirt itself is very old but absolutely adorable. Jumble Sales are brilliant as they are full of surprises (there are very odd items sometimes) and any profit usually goes to a funding for a local group or charity.

These chinos were also bought at the same jumble sale; the label is Mulberry– they produce really expensive bags and other items- so I dread to know how much the trousers originally cost (crazy money probably).

This gorgeous dress was given to me by my grandmother and used to be my aunts. I wore it last christmas and it felt absolutely lovely- I doubt I would have found something this perfect in the shops.

The Next denim jacket and the Topshop harem pants were both charity shop finds. The two benefits of Charity shop purchases are: the money goes to charity and the prices are relatively low. Also, the good thing now is that some charities are recognising designer labels and charging more for them- some have even launched special vintage/designer charity shops; find more information here.

The checkered shirt (originally topman), leather bag and Winnie the Pooh jumper all belonged to my mum; she’s not really the sort of person to wear these things anymore but I wear/use them all the time. They fill their purpose and its unlikely that anyone else will have the same.

So overall, buying or finding second hand items are:

Easier on the pocket
More likely to fund good causes
Be more unusual

Ellie xx