Why We Shop

Three years ago, Mommy gifted me with what would become my fave transitional coat: A Twill Twenty Two tweed zip-up jacket, trimmed in faux fur. The thing was kickass. STELLAR. Two years of continuous wear resulted in an unraveling exterior and a torn interior, but I wasn’t yet ready to give it up: I snipped out the lining altogether and attacked the pilled tweed with a Sweater Stone. The jacket lived on for another year but at this point, it’s on its last legs.

I donned the tweed zip-up last week en route to Mt. Sinai for three reasons:

1. I was suffering from leper-face (i.e. facial ulcers, a symptom of my Crohn’s disease, MEH) and wearing it makes me feel better.

2. I feared its expiration date was nearing and felt it deserved a final outing.

3. I had no effing idea how cold it was that day.

As previously mentioned, the jacket had no lining, i.e. it was about as warm as a synthetic long-sleeve tee, and I was wearing it in 30 degrees-plus-windchill conditions. Awesome. NOT. I was freezing my ass off, my face was scaring small children, the jacket was so not doing its job. After my doctor’s appointment, I took a chilly stroll in spite of it all. Why?

I was blocks away from Upper East Side Thrift Mecca and I needed to reverse the shittiness of the day obvs. (I went to school on a lake outside Chicago; I know how to say Eff Off to cold weather.)

I eventually made it to Arthritis Thrift Shop, where I was initially disgusted by the abundance of worn-out clothes at Upper East Side price points.

Note: Unfamiliar thrifts require 7-10 minutes of reconnaissance to ensure cost/quality control. That means look at the condition of the garment, look at its price, move to next garment, repeat. A $20.00 tag on a heinous, stained GAP sweater is cause for alert; if the pattern repeats itself, it’s cause for leaving the store. A thrift that overcharges is not a thrift that gets your biznass. Doneskies.

I was initially too disheartened by the results of Arthritis Thrift Shop’s cost/quality analysis to give the store an in-depth browse. The day was getting suckier, and I wasn’t about to end it getting myself ripped off. Just then, a 50% Off sign caught my eye. I figured only select items were on sale, what with this being the Upper East and all. I checked with the manager, who giddily informed me that said 50% Off sign applied to the ENTIRE STORE.

Me likey.

Buoyed by this knowledge, I tore through the racks and found some Ralph Lauren and Theory sweaters on sale for under $20. Nice. En route to the dressing room, I checked the coat rack for kicks.

And there it was: A Twill Twenty Two tweed zip-up jacket trimmed in fur, just like the one I had on. Except the barely-worn version had more than its lining in tact; I know rabbit when I feel it, and the trim on this puppy was the real deal.

To quote the dudes from The League when they can’t contain their enthusiasm: SHIVAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

The jacket fit perfectly and it was so warm, I got a little schvitzy trying it on. The real fur trim and toggle detail means its retail value’s on par with Twill Twenty Two’s St. Moritz Wool Jacket.

In a nutshell? $429.00.

Arthritis Thrift initially tagged my mint tweed at $70.00 – a reasonable number based on its brand and condition. What made the score criminally awesome was, of course, the fact that it was 50% Off. Legal theft at its finest.

I took some dressing room shots of my old tweed zip-up, hugged it goodbye, donated it on the spot, and marveled at my good fortune as I strolled the streets, snuggly in its bunny-tastic replacement.

Maybe the sartorial deities smiled on me that day. Maybe that’s just the power of thrift. You can start the day feeling like crap, and freezing your ass off in a jacket loved to the point of losing its lining. You can end it feeling like a shopping goddess, buoyed by unearthing the toasty answer to your coat conundrum – an answer that cost you less than forty bucks.

Viva la gently-worn world.