How to Source Vintage Clothing

For many of you, vintage may be a way of life. For others, you may be wondering where to find good vintage pieces.

For those who have always worn vintage or studied vintage and know the ins and outs of vintage, you are set. For those who are curious about vintage, this article may be perfect for you. Have you ever wanted to wear or sell vintage, but just don't know where to get the good items? If you are lucky enough to live in a larger metropolitan city, you should have no trouble sourcing vintage clothing and/or accessories.

First: I recommend going to Craigslist and finding your city or the city nearest to you. In the search bar, enter, "estate sale". See what results pop up. Also do a search for, "vintage clothing", "vintage clothes" and "vintage dress(es)". Write all of the information down.

Second: If you city/town has a thrifty paper (all major cities do), either get the hard copy of the paper or search them online. If you search them online, you can just type in "estate sale" and see what comes up.

Third: I would check your local newspaper. Look in the classifieds section. If you look online, repeat step two as stated above.

Fourth: Go to Google and perform a search for, "Estate sale companies in _"city name"__. Find as many companies as you can and contact those companies. Most estate sale companies have email lists and they are more than happy to add your name to the list. The more customers they have, the more money they make. Email lists are great because they come directly to your in box (you don't have to hunt them down) and they typically include a description of items that will be sold at the sale. Address, times and dates are also given. Also, if you have questions about the sale, you can hit reply and ask the seller your question.

Once you have all of your sales written down, go to your sales. See what you can find. The first day is when you will find the best items and the last day is when you will get the best deals. If you do find a sale on the first day and you like the items they are selling, you must go back on the last day because they will most likely have some things left and you will really get a great deal on those items.

If you don't live in a larger city, you can try thrift stores. Thrift stores can be a little more difficult because you have to dig and sift through items. You may find some great things, but it might take a little extra work and effort.

Garage sales are also a great place to source vintage items. Again, this may take a little extra effort and work, but the prices are usually very reasonable.