I was late to the thrift shopping game – didn’t have any interest in it until about 2010, when I discovered the unfortunately named Once Upon a Child and had fun shopping for gently-used baby clothes.
More recently, Z got into thrifting in her tween years and we’ve spent some very fun afternoons browsing together at Goodwill and local flea markets. It’s like a treasure hunt – some days you may find nothing, other days you may strike gold.
Online thrifting is an even more recent discovery and I adore it. It’s a more solitary experience, though, which is why I’ve decided to share it with all of you. Everything’s more fun when it’s shared, right?!
Online thrifting for me involves using common Internet search tools to relentlessly seek out a specific second-hand garment in my size. It’s like a game of hide and seek – and when you find and capture your “prey,” talk about a rush!
I’ll give you three examples of this classic game of “online clothes hunting” – one successful mission and two that are still in progress.
This past spring, during the epic total solar eclipse of 2024, an old friend came to visit. She happened to be wearing a top I really liked. I didn’t realize how much I liked it until later when I was looking at photos we took together. Her top really pops in the photos, and I instantly knew I had to find one like it for myself.
I could have contacted her and asked where she got her cute top, but instead, I uploaded one of my photos to Google Lens to do an image search.
If you’ve never used Google Lens, simply go to Google.com and look at the right side of the search bar. Hover your cursor over the little icon that looks like a camera – that’s the “search by image” button. Click that button, upload your photo (make sure it is already cropped in closely to show JUST the item you want to search for) and then hit search. Google Lens can usually find whatever it is that you’re looking for.
Turns out, my friend’s cute top came from an upscale British clothier called White Stuff (named after snow). They no longer sold it in my size in that color, but they had a different color variation on sale, which I quickly snapped up (I’m wearing it in the Empire State Building photo above).
Then, I began searching online for a gently-used version of my dream top. Wouldn’t you know, it didn’t take long for one to turn up on eBay?! I purchased it and I’ve since worn the top on multiple occasions where I knew I’d be photographed. It’s one of my favorite purchases of 2024!
My second example is actually a current search I have in progress. I saw this photo of Whitney Way Thore, an online influencer and celebrity of sorts, on Instagram. I fell in love with her dress – I mean, just look at it! I love the gorgeous green color, the stripes and how soft and comfortable it looks. I knew it had to be mine.
I uploaded a screenshot of Ms. WTT’s green dress to Google Lens and it brought back search results containing a plethora of green dresses, but none quite right. That is, until I read the comments on WTT’s photo and saw that the dress was from Anthropologie. Another search, this time for “Anthropologie green striped dress,” turned up the dress of my dreams… only it was sold out.
That’s when I entered the dress description into eBay and found two of them: one in the perfect kelly green of my dreams but the wrong size, and one in my size but in a much lighter green that I don’t think would look good with my coloring. I’ll keep hitting refresh on this search until I find this deep green Anthro dress in my size. The heart wants what it wants!
My third instance of this type of online thrifting and hunting is another in-progress search. At an event in NYC earlier this year, I saw a woman wearing shoes unlike anything I’d ever seen. I stealthily snuck a photo in her direction, zoomed in on her wild kicks and searched with Google Lens.
Instantly, they came back as the Converse Run Star Motion Pride Platforms. So far, I haven’t been able to find them second-hand in my size at a price point I’m willing to pay – but that’s another search I keep refreshing and who knows, maybe one I’ll get lucky.
Have you tried this type of online thrifting using Google Lens? I will warn you, it’s super fun and highly addictive!
