Where To Find Vintage Clothing - The Secrets From A Successful Vintage Clothing Seller

You Can Find Vintage At Thrift Stores

I only sought out vintage clothing older than 1960 for my business and yes you can find these items at thrift stores, but not nearly enough to sustain a vintage clothing sales business. Good vintage at thrift stores is very few and far between.

Thrift stores are catching on to this vintage bandwagon and are jacking up their prices and placing it on "Vintage Clothing" racks. This stuff is usually second rate and you will hardly make what you pay for it.

After a couple of years selling vintage clothing, I rarely if ever stepped foot into a thrift store to seek out vintage

*Thrift Stores are still a good source if you sell 70's and 80's Vintage*

Finding Vintage at Antique Stores

Another myth that will save you time by just not going. My experience with antique stores is generally poor quality, damages and prices that are too high to purchase for yourself, much less to re-sell

The million dollar question. Below you will find the methods that work for me that I perfected

I am sure estate sales popped into your mind right away, but here are a few tips to make these sales a success for your business

Go To Estate Sales In Small Towns

If you live in a big city, you may not even want to bother hitting the estate sales in town. Try getting little publications from little towns on the outskirts and being there first

Don't Just Go...Introduce Yourself

This is a biggie. Have business cards in hand and introduce yourself to the company or organization running the estate sale. Let them know what you do and what you are looking for. Tell them you are willing to come before the sale and take the clothing off their hands

Don't Be Too Picky

...especially if you are getting a bargain. For the first few trips to an estate sale company, just take what they have. If they know you are going to buy...they will call you. If they have other buyers coming and being picky, they will call the one who is not picky first. If the prices are too high...don't bother. If they only want $1 a dress...take it all with no questions or hesitation.

Don't Just Go...Be Proactive

I sat down with a phone book for my town and surrounding towns and wrote down the names and addresses for all of the estate sale companies. I made out a nice flyer with photos of what I do and what I was looking for. I sent these letters to every company with a couple of cards. After a couple of weeks I called each one to follow up. After this I had many regular callers for pre-estate sale purchases

A lot of people that try to get rid of vintage clothing will bring them to costume shops. Especially ones that have been around for years.

What Costume Shops

Again, if you live in a big city, go to a smaller one and drop in the local costume shops, especially older ones and ask if they have vintage clothing they want to get rid of. Chances are they do...

50% of my inventory came from costume shops

If you are looking at a shop that is far away, call ahead and see what they have and if they are willing to sell....you may be surprised!

Senior publications can be very lucrative, and they typically have a classified section that is extremely inexpensive.

The nice things about them is that seniors rarely throw these papers away. They hang onto them for a long time.

I placed an ad in my local senior beacon and I was getting calls on the same ad over 6 months later!

A lot of these people don't know that people actually want their old clothing, especially in smaller towns..

...see a theme here?? SMALL TOWNS are KEY!

Go to a local nursing home or grocery store and see if there is a senior publication

The American Classifieds or Thrifty Nickel is a very low cost publication to put "wanted" ads for quality vintage clothing. Keep the ad running for awhile and you will get many worthwhile calls.

Visit American Classifieds In Your City

Flyers are a quick way to advertise that you buy vintage clothing. As I mentioned before, sending them to estate sale companies is a good start.

Post Them Everywhere

Great places to post them include church bulletin boards, bingo halls, YMCA, Grocery Stores and more.

Remember to hit those small towns!

You can find great stuff and deals from people who just don't know how to list properly on eBay.

See the eBay links below to find the search terms used. All of these searches are done for you at a glance..so bookmark this page to find the latest deals!