We feel it's important to point out that this video was filmed in early December of 2019, long before the current public health situation began to develop. While we certainly don't recommend going out to shop at this time, we're confident that this advice will come in handy in the future. Stay healthy, viewers! - Preston
@Matt B licking the buttons seems a little primal to me; the lips themselves are already as sensitive to heat as the tongue. You could also try the inside of your wrist like with baby bottles.
Thank you fellas for showing the perks of thrifting. I frequent our local Goodwill stores and consider myself a brand buyer. Just a week ago one such store produced two grey, mint Ermenegildo Zegna Multiseason suits for $15 each and an unworn tuxedo suit by Tom Ford for $25. They had been hanging there for 5 days, obviously tailored for someone of my build as they fit great. Not bad for $55 total!
I usually scope out Good Will according to the area; if there are million dollar homes in the vicinity then the Good Will usually handle higher quality garments. For example, I pickup 7 BB pinpoint cotton shirts, 3 made in USA and French cuffed and 2 BB silk ties for 16.00; all have been freshly cleaned and starched, quite a haul.
I really like thrift store vintage clothes. The problem I have is that I'm 6'3" and about 250lbs so it's really hard to find something that will fit me. One good find I had was that one time I found five shirts in my size, completely unworn.
I mostly buy vintage too! So glad that you recommend it and spend hours to shoot and edit one of your longest videos to date. A gentleman who invests time into buying vintage will learn more about clothing, will save money and be kinder to the environment. Depending on which shops you frequent, you might also be funding organizations that helps the most unfortunate people. Awesome video! I mostly try to buy vintage online, but that’s so much harder. Any tips ypu can think of right off the bat?
Online buying often involves paying a Middle Man for the time they spent trolling through Thrift Shops. I have found that by trolling through the suburbs, where men dress in the same style as I like to wear results in the staff not only getting to know your taste and pointing out items you may have missed, they will often advise you of newly arrived items that are not on view. Put some fun back into your shopping and brighten up the people who often work in Thrift/Charity Shops without taking a wage. Phil.
I like vintage stuff due to the styles. Well worth extra expense to rescue. Sure some classic new items can be very nice, but still my best find is older than I can count: A wool overcoat tailored in Hong Kong was $20 at the local thrift 30 years ago. $60 to let the sleeves out and it's my favourite and longest lasting coat.
I used to shop at vintage stores. but now I shop vintage (or new/unused) on EBAY. Right now, I'm wearing vintage Bill's Khakis, vintage Clark's Wallabees, and a vintage Seiko dive watch. All of it purchased from the comfort of my home. It does cost more than going to a vintage store, but I'm buying exactly what I want for major savings. I can find $100+ Brook's Brothers shirts for $30-40.
I love this video and I've gotten all of my suits, ties, and dress shirts from thrift shops, flea markets and yard sales. Thanks for the tips! I also have a great idea for a video. I would like to see a video of vintage/retro fashion style based on each state of the United States. Thanks and hopefully you see this.
I am a woman. I find your information interesting to help me find things for my husband. I also enjoy listening to your voice and your precise pronunciation of words.
Around 17:07 ... I don't care how gaudy it is, or how tasteless, or how showy ... this jacket makes me really want a metallic jacket that looks exactly like metallic copper. Maybe I could only wear it once in my life, it'd be worth it. lol Thanks for the video, guys. I've gone shopping in thrift stores with a friend, several times, but never really thought about making purchases for myself. edit: My Dad used to go dancing with my Mom, and she made really flashy, showy jackets for him to wear; iridescent, multi-colored jackets of metallic appearance - guess that's where I get it from.
Always wanted a blazer by Ralph Lauren, I'm not sure about the exact name, but the main color brownish, plaid/tweed I've also heard Ivy Style. Anyway, I've seen them in say Dillard's at Mall's of course I'm talking 20-years ago when they first came out going for $325 to $450 However, walked in a Goodwill about 6-months ago, found one in nearly perfect condition and it fit perfectly, grabbed it and went to the dry cleaners after I paid for it and to have it cleaned it cost me $20:)
This is gold! Thank you gentlemen. Many of your tips help one identify quality of whether vintage or new clothes. I'm getting soon your ebook gentlemen of the golden age for me to be able to sort build and replace my wardrobe.
just found 3 pairs of quality vintage pants, a really neat tailored light green blazer, and a couple shirts and a silk tie following your advice! ive never felt so dapper for 55dollars!!!
@Albert L. There is another way, but first you need to see a real mother of pearl button to fully understand that the artificial button will be different on the back. Usually when the button is cut from the pearl shell a small amount of the rough outer shell remains. From memory it is particularly noticeable on the very thin mother of pearl buttons that you can still find on the 1950s white shirts that somehow still end up amongst donations. The well made artificial button often has an obvious rear layer, to replicate that appearance. People like my grandmother used to save all of the m.o.p. buttons in a glass jar. I have seen such jars of buttons for sale in old style Charity shops.Phil.
If you look on the back of a mother of pearl button, you will see a rough surface, some buttons are glass, plastic ones look the same on both sides, also, not to do this in the store but you can put a hot needle to the back of one and smell a plastic smoke scent. I have alot of antique buttons
I've had good luck getting a lot of fabric in the form of oversized overcoats. Try getting one that's larger at the shoulders. They can be refashioned for a fraction of the price of the raw fabric.
Love this video! I hope you bought that windowpane coat, it is gorgeous! There are a lot of Harris Tweed jackets in vintage shops/charity shops here in the UK so that's always a good bet. There are still usually more expensive than most other garments in the store but when you consider the cost of a new one, they are often half the price or even less. When I was a student I used to do more vintage shopping than I do now, mainly because of budget and the fact that I was in a city and quite close to other large cities so it was easy to find good vintage shops. I still have one or two items in my wardrobe. I mainly used to buy Levis from there as you could pick up a pair fro about £20, which even 12-15 years ago was very cheap for 501s. Most of my tie collection at the moment are vintage, My favourite one is probably a burgundy/maroon silk tie which was originally from Tie Rack (a well-known UK tie retailer; not sure if they are still in business or not) with a micro pattern on. Ties are always a good bet too because you can usually find silk ties at dirt cheap prices and in good condition. Some shops sell ties in bulk, so you have to buy, say, 10 misc ties but even if you spend £20 and you get 3 decent ties out of it then that's money well spent. Scarves are something else I have picked up and, again, most of my current collection are vintage ones in some kind of Paisley or similar pattern. I have had Tootal ones in the past as well. I'm not a huge fan of most modern scarves as the designs are sometimes a bit plain but vintage is definitely a good shout. I could literally go on all day! I need to visit a few more vintage shops once all this CV stuff is over!
This amazingly helpful! I am just getting into menswear as an enby person and I have never shopped for menswear specifically. I had no idea men's garments we're so complicated and have been eyeballing a lot in thrift stores.
A coast effective way I have deployed is to purchase the vintage quality clothing in the country I happen to reside and then take those cloth to India for alterations and at the same time enjoy a whole new tradition of classic attire.
I have never gone thrift shopping before. Watch d your video and decided to have some fun. Third trip out a pair of Allen Edmonds black captoe oxfords for $8! I am now truly a fan of thrifting!
a funny thing since the mid to late 80's and very early 90's they have up scale trif and vintage stores and many of prices are not only high but they rival the regular non thrift stores
imo vintage/thrift stores are almost a cheat code for buying ties. I have countless quality ties from these stores, including 2 saville rows ties for $5 each
I buy white dress shirts 👔 from thrift stores a lot of the shirts are the same size and sent dry cleaned and pressed before it hits the thrift store rack.
I have the same problem as Preston. 30 inch waist, 38 inch chest but with a twist since my thighs are big from working out (heavy squat and so on) so finding a vintage suit that fits good enough is hard. Normally I wear spezzato so I can find pants and jackets seperatly.
I have a thrift store in the neighboring town that sells 3 ties for a dollar. Most of my knit and interesting ties come from there because they have such a great selection. Plus with that price you can't really go wrong even if you only wear it once.
Dead Gentleman’s Gazzette friends, Today, Preston and Raphael both had their buddy system test they took together Monday finally come back.... The results are not good,. The results trace down (using white blood cell count), to trace back the time frame, and it turns out Raphael was actually exposed to COVID-19 during this taping. COVID-19 has been in ICU for weeks... Raphael has been fine but they are saying it doesn’t look good for COVID... LOL. LOVE YOUR VIDEOS, GUYS!
You should go to Bulgaria at some point, cause the second hand clothing stores there are almost all by weight. I found a nice vintage leather waistcoat for the equivalent of 7$ in one.
this isn't from a thrift store, but it is an important note. *try on the item* I was an idiot teen who bought a good looking shirt without trying it on in the dressing room and then out it didn't fit (go figure). just save yourself the hassle always and try the item on
Doubt you even knew what measurements the shirt should have for a proper fit. You could have saved yourself without trying it if that was the case. It’s like you did not even watch the video for tips.
@@toonsoffun5733yeah I know this is 2 years old, but youtube doesn't give me reply notifications anymore. "it's like I didn't even watch the video for tips" please note that I said "I was a dumb teen" as in something in the past... you know like from many years ago. obviously since I didn't specify you wouldn't have known, it was a shirt from one of those shops that do small medium and large sizes for shirts, so even if I had known what measurements were the shirt wouldn't have that information
As much as I want to start thrifting, unfortunately I live in a city of people with no idea about fashion aside from their polyester work clothes and parkas. And the thrift shop reflects that. Also it doesn't help being short and stout. Online thrifting, I'm hesitant with because you can't inspect the item's condition and the country I'm at has a history of losing packages in the customs, or having it held up for months. Also the courier is unreliable.
@@phillipmoodie9071 It's my dream to travel the world to buy lux right at their source. Vicuna and alpaca straight from Peru, camel hair and cashmere straight from Mongolia or Northern China, selvedge from Japan. Too bad there's the virus, and I'm financially, you know... But a dream is a dream.
@@dwargonedragon794 When I was a child I was told that their was nothing wrong with dreaming because then all you have to do is to put the foundations in place. I did that and now one of my favourite memories is from 1972, when I achieved my dream of becoming a new business Salesman for Control Data Corporation, the inventor of the world's first Supercomputer and a pioneer of the first Internet. That favourite memory is the Australian Director, in a fit of pique, angrily telling me "Your problem is that you don't think anything is impossible". I became their top earning Salesman, when your annual income on quota performance was equal to the price of a house in Sydney, which is higher than in New York. Don't stop dreaming. Phil.
@Dwargon Endragon. An addendum to my advice about dreaming. I was very tired when I wrote my response and having just read it I realised that I only partially explained the original advice I was kindly given about my childhood dreaming. What I was actually told was not to stop "Building Castles in the air" because all you have to do now, is to put the foundations in place. Phil.
@Dwargon Edragon. The page with your letter to me just popped up and it made me think that it is very easy when making comments on RU-vid to forget that all you really know about a person is what you interpret from a single written response. In your letter I felt that I was listening to some with strong self esteem who lacked the experience required to get to the next step. It made me think of the guidance I was given by our local Grocer, who home delivered. He took me to a Dale Carnegie presentation at the time they first came to Australia. While I could not attend the training, because my new job took me to live in Bendigo, I bought all of his books, which may be in your capital city library, where you can read it for free. But the most useful book that I have ever read was Think and Grow Rich. Ignorant people ridicule the book because the title implies instant financial wealth, when it is about the enriching of the mind. It's not protected by copyright so there's pdf download copies for free. Look past the century old style and simply read for content only. But it will only work if you believe in your own abilities and always ignore unqualified advice. You could be living your dreams within a year because the limits are in your mind. Open it up. Phil.
My best find at a thrift store: a tailored jacket, made for someone who probably was my lost twin brother (fits me like a glove), for €2 (two). Having it laundered costed me more!
@@stefanox8908 genuine european euros. Recently, I found a black suit for €1.70 - I had to pay cash, the shop did not accept a card for so small a sum.
@@lucafwnlucky you, that's really something, going to the cheapest menswear store i know a syntehtic suit starts at €90 and the alteration are too expensive compared to the price
I bought a random grey suit for my traditional gaucho garment and it costed me like, 8 US$ Turned out to of perfect craft and fits me almost perfectly (sleeves a little bit short)
This was an excellent video. It's right up my alley. I'm a keen thrifter (charity shops /vintage shops, as we call them in the UK). Great to see you guys actually out there in a real shop scenario. Loved the coat from the Austrian maker. I get many compliments on my clothes since I've been carefully choosing vintage and second hand quality. I have recently bought a bespoke suit from Austin Reed (made before the changes and re-start/re-brand). I had it altered as it was too long in the body. I take your point, Sven, about the proportions being off if too much material is altered. My suit looks a little off as the pockets sit a little low. That said, I bought the suit for £8.00 and spent £55 in alterations and I'm generally pleased with it as it's quality cloth with working cuff buttons :-) I'd like to see more videos like this in the future. Thanks Tony
I think vintage clothing is far superior than anything made today. Just a nice bonus that you can also save money. I also like the adventure of shopping second hand. You never know when you'll stumble upon something absolutely amazing.
"anything" is heavily pushing it. Fabric technology has evolved rapidly over the past 30 years alone. Of course you are cheaper off getting quality materials when buying used decades old items compared to new ones. But to say vintage is superior to anything made today is plain wrong.
@Bojan Pejović I would beg to differ but I have no proof that my argument would even manage to form due to me not really owning any vintage clothing items
Sure. But the majority of the advancements are just made to make the fabric cheaper. Polyester suiting sucks, and has the added benefits of hormone disruption and spewing micro plastics into the environment.
I wonder how many people ran down to the comments to shout “social distancing” lol. Glad a video like this was made. I bought a vintage sport coat for $0.83 and spent about $25 on alterations, now it fits amazingly and looks great.
Now this is what we need. To many men's fashion channels are to based on money and how much money they spent { a bit show of} and most people can't afford thousands of dollars outfit. Like you guys I too barely spend more than €100 on an item.
You know, I LOVE this kind of dressing. I love it ALL!!!! But there's issues as to why I can't wear/dress like this.. My Father hates it, absolutely hates it and I'm not entirely sure why.. Also, I'm 15, soooo finding clothes that fit is a pure challenge. However I can still rock a white button up, suspenders, vest, bow tie (or a normal tie) with a short brimmed fedora and SOMETIMES the only pair of black slacks I have >.< hopefully when I move out and have the money, Ill still love this clothing and be able to dress how I truly wish to dress!
It's two years since I first watched this very interesting presentation. It has matured well with time, because "Vintage" is still "In Fashion" and provides the full shopping experience. Phil.
Mr. Raphael, I do believe I see the diamond that you are making out of Preston. He is becoming a great asset to these videos. I truly appreciate, all that you have done.
I found a perfectly fitting vintage grosgrain lapel white tie tailcoat in a store once here in Scotland. The only alteration I had to get done was to the waistcoat to ensure it was cut inside the tailcoats front. I’d love a video on the process of getting a garment custom made though.
Great video! Thrift/vintage/charity shops can be amazing sources, although you do have to be willing to give a lot of time to searching. Just a shame a lot of areas don't have very good ones. I took a friend from Manchester around the charity shops just in my local area of Londin and she was shocked by how much good stuff she could find here compared to her home area.
That was Geoffrey Rush playing King George VI's speech therapist Lionel Logue; the 1930's and 40's were a golden-era of men's fashion. Superb video as always by the way!
Tokyo has some of the best second hand clothing shops selling prestige brands. My best find was a NOS olive cotton gabardine Burberrys in a classic "A" silhouette. However, it was actually made by Sanyo Sakai who was a Japanese licensee up until recently. Typical of anything Japanese made, the make and quality are better than the original and it only cost me USD400.
Sven, very nice. Hope you will do more "field trip" videos with the two of you interacting and sharing points of view about clothing. But please turn off that annoying snare drum in the background...no background music is necessary in this type of video...your engaging conversations are enough. Thanks...
This just may be my favorite of all your videos gentlemen! I adore thrift and vintage store shopping and, I am a mid century modern lover from way back. I have a vintage set of 7 Prestige glassware light blue cocktail glasses designed by industrial designer Eva Zeisel for Federal Glass in the 1960's. They're in near mint condition, and I just haven't been able to make myself try to sell them. I have a bit of a mid century modern glassware fetish. I don't imbibe these days, but I just can't part with some of the glassware I have found in thrift shops for pennies on the dollar and in near mint condition. I do shop mostly for clothes, but when I find a deal on mid century modern decor items or glassware, well... Raphael, your eyes do twinkle a little more than usual when you find a great item at a thrift/vintage store! Believe me, I know the feeling! Thanks so much again guys! Lisa
Raphael & Preston, you guys are great, very knowledgeable, with wonderful and kindly personalities that make watching your videos so interesting, comforting and reassuring when making purchases.
Wouldn't a simpler test for mother-of-pearl buttons be checking the back of the buttons for irregularities? Since MOP is made from shell, the back of the buttons often have streaks and pits of different color.
I love shopping vintage! You find some amazing bargains. Recently (before the lockdown) I managed to buy a new wool made in Italy cardigan for £4, and a pure new wool blazer made in England for £4 as well. Got a handmade in Amsterdam fur coat for £40
Thanks for the vintage shopping tips! This was a nice changeup from your usual format. I enjoy vintage shops but I do wonder how to judge an item sometimes. Preston seems more confident in his camera presence and to be coming into his own. While his presentation is always clear and direct, here he comes across as more relaxed and relatable. Great job to you both!
As many of us will have online classes and conferences, and many are working from home, I request you to upload a video on video conferencing etiquette. Thanks in advance
Great video, I love finding vintage jackets, suits etc in the charity shops in the UK and building up a nice collection at a modest price. I always learn a great deal from you guys and this will better inform my shopping trips.
vintage clothing , IS NOT nessarily cheaper than their contemporary counterparts , they are better made and more unique . seems as though , you are sending a silent message to the sellers to , keep it on the cheaper side..........most 1st string vintage is pricey , and for good reason . YOU CAN'T EXPECT VINTAGE STORES , TO HAVE THE SAME PRICING AS 2nd HAND STORES...just saying ........... great tips though thank you , for sharing........
