Teenager Goes Thrifting for Back-to-School Clothes

Maryn in her thrifted outfits Credit: Daria Bishop

Since I was 10, I’ve aspired to be a pro thrifter. I spent weeks researching how to properly scavenge through clothes and imagine the possibilities for what I found. An item may look plain or ugly hanging on the rack until you try it on and style it. When I discover something unexpected and get to express myself with the unique goodies I dig up, I get a natural high.

This summer, I learned from my mom how much she spends on back-to-school clothes for me and my sister: about $600. That’s not unusual. American families are expected to spend an average of $249.36 on back-to-school clothes and accessories for K-12 students. That jumps to $858 on average when including electronics and other school supplies, according to National Retail Federation surveys. Continuing inflation has made it tougher for families to stick to a budget.

We typically go back-to-school shopping at Kohl’s, Old Navy and Urban Outfitters. I challenged myself to spend a fraction of our typical budget by thrifting.

I headed to local thrift shops with $100 in my wallet to see how much I could cross off my back-to-school list.

My first stop: Dirt Chic on Main Street in downtown Burlington. Inside, the shop smells a little like an old farmhouse in rural Vermont, despite its urban location.

The store’s name is fitting: You can find chic, vintage selections from various decades — the 1960s, ’70s and 2000s — as well as contemporary brands, for a reasonable price. Jeans, sweaters and shirts range from $7 apiece to more than $40 for items from higher-end designers.

“Chic! Chic!” I heard an older woman say as she rifled through women’s tank tops near the front of the store.

I shopped in the company of Toby, a cocker spaniel sporting a worn bandana, who belongs to a former Dirt Chic employee. Another canine consultant, Ember — the official store dog — wandered through the aisles.

The first item on my list was a pair of jeans. In the denim section, which extends along an entire front wall, I came across a pair of Lucky Brand jeans — my all-time favorite — for only $15.50. Then I found a gorgeous, black-and-white-striped maxi skirt for $9.50 and another flowy knee-length brown skirt with flowers for $8.50.

Among the cardigans, I pulled out a basic thick white sweater perfect for fall. On a nearby rack, I couldn’t resist an adorable, oversize button-up shirt with baby blue and white stripes for $14.50.

It was a good haul, particularly because when you’re thrifting, you can’t predict the selection or whether the things you like will be in your size.

“You can find 20 items for $100 or under, and it would cover your basic needs but, that said, it’s hit or miss,” Anya Huneke, owner of Dirt Chic, told me on a previous visit to the store. “If you don’t find the right item that day, you can come back a week or two later, and you will probably find the right fit.”

At Shalom Shuk, in a small shack behind Ohavi Zedek synagogue on North Prospect Street in Burlington, I figured I could not only get some deals but also help support the community. The congregation donates some of the proceeds from its thrift store to local nonprofits, including COTS, Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity and Howard Center.

In the Shalom Shuk women’s section, I scored a $5 blue cami that matches the brown skirt from Dirt Chic.

Shalom Shuk’s selection varies based on the items people donate. Sometimes, the store gets sports equipment, such as soccer cleats, which can help families who need gear for kids’ extracurricular activities.

I still had more tops on my shopping list. In the Shalom Shuk women’s section, I scored a blue cami for $5 that matches the brown skirt from Dirt Chic and a plush gray $8 crew-neck sweatshirt that read “Primrose Hill, London” with a crested lion on the front. I also grabbed a pale gray shirt with a meadow scene and a simple gray-and-white striped T-shirt for $5 each.

Shalom Shuk provides a few hundred vouchers — worth $20 or $50 — each year to customers in need who request assistance. Others shoppers can donate money toward the vouchers, which work like gift cards.

“I would absolutely love to see people come in to do their back-to-school shopping. They’d be able to get so much more for their kids,” Kira Plosila, one of Shalom Shuk’s managers, told me one July afternoon. “I was doing the math last night, and even if we don’t do a voucher for them, they could get 20 to 30 outfits for 100 bucks or less, versus, like, three or four at Kohl’s.”

My final stop was ReSOURCE, on Pine Street in the South End of Burlington. I first heard about the store from my mom’s boyfriend and a close friend of mine. I wouldn’t have known it was a thrift store from the outside.

The location looks like a warehouse, with men in neon construction uniforms with yellow hard hats scouring for materials outside. Inside, it has everything you can imagine: jewelry, fine china, antique books, tools and electronics of all kinds.

Amid all that is the clothing section, a thrifter’s dream, with rack upon rack of items. Signs taped to the racks and mirrors read, “ALL CLOTHES AND SHOES ARE $2 UNLESS MARKED OTHERWISE.”

“We get so many clothes that we can bulk price it like that,” ReSOURCE manager Chris Dusablon said. “We do tag some higher-end things if we find it necessary, like a $5 jacket here and there, but it’s mostly always under 10 or 20 bucks.” Belts, ties and hats are $1 each.

ReSOURCE also has a back-to-school section near the front register that includes backpacks, paper, pens and pencils for a dollar or two — unheard of in other stores.

I beelined it to a pair of shorts that will go with almost any top in my wardrobe. Then, I found a perfect pair of dark denim, boot-cut jeans that I’ve always coveted. I expected both might be a little big on me, and there were no fitting rooms to try them, but I had a belt at home that I had thrifted earlier in the summer that would solve that problem.

In the spur of the moment, I grabbed an adorable pair of black Keds sneakers off the shoe rack. I also picked up three sweaters to wear with the jeans and a simple brown ribbed top to fill the gaps in my T-shirt drawer. Each item was just $2.

With visits to those three stores, I took care of most of my needs and spent just $94.50. I was blown away by the bang I got for my bucks — which, of course, is the beauty of thrifting.

Total spent: $94.50

Where Maryn Shopped

Dirt Chic, 67 Main St., Burlington, dirtchicvt.com
Shalom Shuk, 188 No. Prospect St., Burlington, ohavizedek.org
ReSOURCE, 339 Pine St., Burlington, resourcevt.org

This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.

The original print version of this article was headlined “Art of the Thrift | A teenage back-to-school shopper gets more bang for her bucks at secondhand stores”