Where do you buy your basic clothing? - Page 3

[grethel]

Originally Posted by nia82 

I would try consignment stores and GoodWill in good areas. Back in SFO we got so much stuff cheap, new with a tag there! Now I live in a remote area, our Good Will or Once UPon a child has only washed out old crappy stuff that still costs 4-5 a piece or more! We do not have Old Navy in town. I do buy at Walmart - Garanimals has solid colors and decent quality for 3-4 a piece new. Target has some basics too and I buy it when they clearance it out (end of season) in the next size up for $1 a piece (e.g. solid colors turtleneck shirts). The Childrens Place just opened and so far no good deals, Gymboree is always expensive, Kohls/sears/jspenney never mark stuff down in our town... SO yeah it's Target or Walmart for us! Or the consigment stores back in San Francisco when we visit with family.

Gotta agree with the consignment and thrift stores in good areas. We live just north of SF and this week at Goodwill I scored a pair of Mini Boden cords, new with tags, for $3 ($38 on their website). I was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

[SunRise]

H&M for me too.

We just bought three shirts,a dress and two pair of sweater leggings. And a pair of shoes. The shirts are a soft pink and white stripe, a brown shirt and a slate gray w/ white polka dots. Neutral but fun. I am sure she will where these things for most of the fall/winter. Gifts, the odd other purchase and her brothers hand me downs will round out the wardrobe.

You know, I used to love shopping in thrift stores but where I live now, I find the stores over priced and not a very good selection and for the amount of time I spent looking through all the stuff, I may find one decent piece. One can get Old Navy and H&M on clearance for less then the thrift stores. BUT I know that is completely geographical; there are other towns with much better and more fun thrifting! I wish we had a better thrift store selection.

[darlawoods]

We do mostly yard sales, consignment sales, and Target.  We also do ebay.  I am just not convinced that at 22 months, our DD needs to be wearing a $108 coat!  Oh! We also love flash sales, and I am usually able to get nice large items such as shoes, winter coat, holiday dresses for reasonable prices. I agree with posters who say H&M, if we lived by one that sold kid clothing, I would shop there too.  

My cousin just told me about a company called Next Direct, there are stationed in the UK, but everything is CHEAP, and cute, also shipping is $5.  They have packs of tees for $15, dresses for $18, etc...

[Imakcerka]

Ugh, I can't do consignment shops.  I think it's where were at.  Either things are priced too high or the conditions of the clothes are laughable.  There was a shop around us that was semi decent, however I went in recently and the jeans for girls were 5 to 15 bucks.  So I drove to khols and used my coupons and 4 10$off coupons, got 8 pairs of jeans for 17... brand new.  Nice deal!

[SeattleRain]

I'm really, really picky about my son's clothes. I hate words or sayings on the shirts, or characters, or flashy prints or colors. Generally we like plain, classic clothing that an adult could wear... but smaller. I also have a tiny kid, so I totally understand the struggle to find good quality simple clothes that don't break the bank. I actually think this can be HARDER with girls clothes because there's an assumption that you really want everything in pink with kitties all over it.

I don't really find anything at Carters. Yes, their stuff can be a good value, but I don't find they fit skinny kids well and I find their stuff really over the top. I buy a lot of my son's clothes at Osh Kosh, but their girls stuff is definitely a little more frou-frou with little heart details, etc. I'd suggest buying boys jeans for that reason. I mean, she's 2, how different could a straight fit pair of denim jeans be other than that the boys don't have silly pink stitching all over it.

The Gap definitely has the best girls selection, I believe, because it doesn't seem to have stuff all over it and the jeans are pretty normal, but it isn't cheap. If you can wait a little bit, you can usually find good stuff on sale.

[newmamalizzy]

So, I think we're finally set for the winter, mostly with OshKosh stuff, some from the local consignment shop, and our last bit of hand-me-downs. I think nearly all the tops we ended up with have a print of some sort, but nothing obnoxious, at any rate. We didn't have an H&M near us, so no luck there. I DO wish we could do all second-hand clothing, as others said they do, but I just don't have a lot of patience for yard sales and trolling through racks of clothes at thrift stores. The way I see it, thrift stores are a microcosm of the same selection of 95% obnoxious clothing available at the regular stores in my area. I like the idea, though, of heading into Boston to poke around the thrift stores in snootier and/or hipper areas.

[azzeps]

Now you all have made me want to go shopping!!!  We have a new H&M at the mall that I've been wanting to check out, for the kids, mostly. 

I do pretty well shopping at resale shops.  I have three that are pretty good as far as the stuff they get in there, and fairly good prices, still I'm pretty picky about it.  But it is nice to score a pretty holiday dress and what not for super cheap, compared to what you'd pay new.  Especially if you're brand-conscious.  One of the shops I go to tends to be more "name-brandy" and the others are not as much.  It's just fun to see what you can find sometimes.

I also like the Hanna Andersson outlet.  We are lucky to have one not too far away.  You can't beat their quality, which is good if you intend to pass along the clothes to another child, or a cousin, or even if you want to take them to the resale shop!  That's what I'm doing with all my kids' clothes now.  The Hanna Andersson outlet will take phone calls and will mail you your stuff, so if you are a fan of it, you can call the outlets during sales and they will tell you what they have and ship it to you.

I got a bunch of dresses for DD, who decided recently that she only wants to wear dresses, at Old Navy just before school started.  I shopped online and found that the online prices were better than the store prices, and they had the stuff in stock that I wanted.  Sure beats going out to the store!! If you order enough, the shipping is free too.

[happy*mama]

All this shopping talk is making me want to go out to the stores.  I do want to give the resale shop another chance this week as I need to get a few cold weather items for ds and if they don't have anything I need to go to the outlets.  It is definitely about location.  Our resale shop doesn't have a lot of quality clothes over 24 mos, especially for boys.  And like newmamalizzy said they are a microcosim of the rest of the stores out there so the chances of me finding plain clothes that are in good used condition is slim.  But, I plan to give them a chance this week before resorting to my usual suspects.

Seattle Rain, I hear you about being picky with ds clothes.  I used to love Carter's baby clothes when ds was an infant and until he was a little over 1 yo, but then he outgrew the cute stuff like and I started looking elsewhere for comfy basics and clothes that looked like something my husband would wear.  We don't do sayings or wild graphics either.

Originally Posted by SeattleRain 

I'm really, really picky about my son's clothes. I hate words or sayings on the shirts, or characters, or flashy prints or colors. Generally we like plain, classic clothing that an adult could wear... but smaller. I also have a tiny kid, so I totally understand the struggle to find good quality simple clothes that don't break the bank. I actually think this can be HARDER with girls clothes because there's an assumption that you really want everything in pink with kitties all over it.

I don't really find anything at Carters. Yes, their stuff can be a good value, but I don't find they fit skinny kids well and I find their stuff really over the top. I buy a lot of my son's clothes at Osh Kosh, but their girls stuff is definitely a little more frou-frou with little heart details, etc. I'd suggest buying boys jeans for that reason. I mean, she's 2, how different could a straight fit pair of denim jeans be other than that the boys don't have silly pink stitching all over it.

The Gap definitely has the best girls selection, I believe, because it doesn't seem to have stuff all over it and the jeans are pretty normal, but it isn't cheap. If you can wait a little bit, you can usually find good stuff on sale.

Imakcerka,  your post reflects my feelings exactly!  Sometimes we can find better deals for new clothes than pay the resale or consignment prices for used.
 

Originally Posted by Imakcerka 

Ugh, I can't do consignment shops.  I think it's where were at.  Either things are priced too high or the conditions of the clothes are laughable.  There was a shop around us that was semi decent, however I went in recently and the jeans for girls were 5 to 15 bucks.  So I drove to khols and used my coupons and 4 10$off coupons, got 8 pairs of jeans for 17... brand new.  Nice deal!

[lunabin]

We do mostly consignment sales - There is one HUGE sale here in NJ that is not too well known, and I can usually buy an entire season for DD for well under $100 (and walk out with a garbage bag stash of clothes) - including all major brands - Gymboree, Osh Kosh, Gap, Carters, etc.  It's great because I stock up on staples, plain leggings, fleece pants, jeans, pj's, various t's, sweaters/sweatshirts, as well as cute stuff, snow pants ($4), shoes, hats, toys.  Then if I need something else, I'll usually do Target, Children's Place, or Old Navy.  The store prices are not altogether cheap (not after $1-$2 shirts), but I can then justify adding another $40+ to her wardrobe.  

The thing I've also noticed is that the selection for bigger clothes (we're now in 3T) is not a big as the selection for younger sizes, so I'm going to more sales this year to make up for it (I've never gone to more than 1).  But, I'm also now discovering they are great places to do Xmas and birthday shopping for staple toys and already got DD a dollhouse w/ tons of accessories, books, memory game, sit & spin, snow sled, puzzles - all for under $30 and just waiting for Santa to wrap!  

I feel like being "cheap" on some things helps me justify the splurge on what I think are overpriced toys and clothes.  

[happy*mama]

I agree lunabin, I have found a smaller selection at consignment and resale shops for ds now that he is in 3T.  There are always more girls clothes than boys too (I'd be in trouble if I had a girl!).  I have also noticed the condition of the clothes is not as good as it is for the smaller sizes and for the prices these places are asking around here it is not worth it for me to shop at these stores when I buy from clearance racks and big outlet sales.  I just made it out to one of the resale shops here yesterday and came up empty handed.  There was only one round rack of 3T, boys and girls mixed together.  Only two items were deemed possibilities, a LL Bean fleece pullover for $7 (fine price, but I deemed it to be much to worn, lots of pilling and snagged cuffs), and a wool knit fisherman's sweater from wales for $16 (I really did not want to spend $16 on a sweater and it was not practical).

Originally Posted by lunabin 

The thing I've also noticed is that the selection for bigger clothes (we're now in 3T) is not a big as the selection for younger sizes, so I'm going to more sales this year to make up for it (I've never gone to more than 1).  But, I'm also now discovering they are great places to do Xmas and birthday shopping for staple toys and already got DD a dollhouse w/ tons of accessories, books, memory game, sit & spin, snow sled, puzzles - all for under $30 and just waiting for Santa to wrap!  

I feel like being "cheap" on some things helps me justify the splurge on what I think are overpriced toys and clothes.  

[Amylcd]

Kohls, JC Penny