If there was a video game designed to test one’s thrifting prowess, the Hell’s Kitchen Salvation Army would be the final level. I hit the store yesterday and it was, hands down, the most daunting of my thriftastic challenges to date.
I sifted through racks and racks of heinousness, navigating my way through pit stains, pen marks, and a traumatic amount of Land’s End. I double and triple-checked every item I chose for wear and tear. And – even in spite of being slightly icked out by the atmosphere/merchandise – I forced myself to try everything on everything in my basket.
I emerged an exhaustified, sniffle-y mess (on account of the dust). But man, was it worth it. Why?
Theory Cashmere Sweaters start at around $200 and can cost as much as $395.
Yesterday, I found one for $3.99.
Do I give a shit about the small hole on the elbow? Not a lick, particularly because the rest of the garment’s in stellar condition. It fits perfectly, it’s the warmest, cuddliest thing EVER, and I’m going to wear it 24/7. As soon as it’s clean, that is. I’m heading to the laundromat ASAP to sanitize it in a hot dryer cycle, along with everything else I purchased.
Stay tuned for the lowdown on the rest of my finds.
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Dude, epic indeed! All of my cashmere is thrift from stores on both coasts. Seattle had a ton of gorgeous barely used cashmere sweaters for super cheap and so did Boston. It’s a feeling of triumph to get an amazing deal on something so beautiful that has actual value, as in keeping my skinny ass warm and cute. Thanks for your awesome blog btw, so cool to find good sense and good taste in one place. ( :
No no no don’t put cashmere in the dryer!!!! Especially not with high heat!!!!
you’re right. this thing was so cheap, i can actually afford to have it dry-cleaned! VICTORY!
i got a jones newyork cashmere for 7 at goodwill.. lovely color and soooo warm . cant wait for winter
Ummm yeah, what? I would have guessed that putting cashmere in the dryer on high heat would be a bad thing. Has anyone else done this? Does this work?
i’m not advising anyone to put cashmere in the dryer on high heat – i’m simply saying i’ve done it, because i’m completely anal about sanitizing everything i buy secondhand. household freezers are a decent alternative to dryers for suburbanites; i don’t recommend them for urban thrifters because they’re not cold enough to kill all the grossness attached to dirty cities (i.e. bedbugs, which only die at -25 degrees Fahrenheit). to my knowledge, a hot dryer is the only cost-friendly means of truly sanitizing anything shopped secondhand.
would i put a new $200 cashmere sweater in a hot dryer? no effing way. an old cashmere sweater found on the floor of salvation army’s another story: if one hot dryer cycle makes it look approximately .005% more worn than it already is, it’s a small price to pay for piece of mind. that is all.
FYI> I put my brand new cashmere sweater in a hot (polyester knit/permanent press setting) dryer for 20 minutes…and the sweater was NOT negatively effected by the heat…the sweater was DRY. I heated it because even though it was bought at LL Bean, it made in China, and i didn’t want to take a chance on getting Bedbugs…