What have you been finding at thrift stores?

[Rusty Beaver]

Perhaps my best find came the other day: Goretex Marmot bibs for $4. Couldn't tell they had been used. $550 new!

Other memorable mentions:

-Lightly used Goretex Marmot one-piece alpine suit, $25. $750 new.
-Lightly used Goretex Marmot ski pants, $10. ~$200 new.
-Lightly used Goretex Marmot jacket, $9. ~$200 new.
-Nearly new Goretex Marmot jacket, $4. ~$200 new.
-New Quiksilver ski pants, $4. ~$150 new.
-Barely used Patagonia R1 fleece, $8. $130 new.
-New Kawasaki cloth motorcycle panniers, $4. $185 new.
-New Trek bike pannier, $4. ~$50 new.
-New Soft Star shoes, $4. $75 new.
-New Royal Robbins hooded shell, $9. ~$85+ new.

And that's just off the top of my head. I have found too many other nice pieces of performance fleece, wicking layers, and casual wear to mention. Alf, Columbia, Patagonia, Royal Robbins, Mountain Khakis, The North Face, Prana, and more. Most of it has been lightly used. Some has been new. On occasion, I'll get otherwise nice and quality pieces with little holes for $1-2 after I show a store worker.

That's just for me. My wife has had great success too…though she goes less often than I.

I enjoy thrift storing. There's always the element of surprise. Never know what you're going to find.

EDIT: It was brought to my attention in another thread that I was bragging. I'm very embarrassed this post came across that way. I apologize. It was not my intent. It was solely to inspire others to start thrift storing themselves. The many benefits are worthy of another thread. Also, the morality of paying so little for this gear was mentioned too. I would encourage that the prospective thrifter donate back to these stores. I do, freely and often…things that are in most demand such as regular clothes (adult and kids) and housewares.

[BlackHatGuy]

If anyone lives anywhere near Ft. Belvoir, I dump a lot of pretty nice things in the thrift store on post. Go have a look!

[Justin Baker]

Yesterday I found 2 pairs of merrel trail gloves for $5 each! (in my size) They were a little worn on the tread, but whatever.

I haven't had much luck finding good, high dollar outdoor gear. I've bought plenty of athletic shorts and polycotton button ups that I wear in hot weather, also some cheap windshirts that I don't mind thrashing through brush, but that's it. Lots of cheap fleeces and wool sweaters. I've never found anything goretex or any high quality fleeces or softshells. Did find a nice ibex pullover but it wasn't my size so I gave it to a friend.
I don't see too many people walking around town in name brand outdoor clothing. It's not like the pacific northwest. Those that do own outdoor clothing know the value of it and keep it. Maybe it's different south of me in the bay area with all the yuppies.

I go in every week and browse around. It takes persistence to find anything good.

[David Thomas]

They love me because I take aluminum crutches off their hands (so many donations, so few sales). Last time, I think I got 3 pair for $5. Then I use it as a source of cheap Al tubing for camp chairs, dip netting handle extensions, MYOG pack frames, Halloween costume structural frameworks, etc.

The Venn digram of thrift stores and yuppie neighborhoods has a small overlap, but places like Marin County have some real scores.

[Link .]

brand new Mountain Hardwear Stretch Typhoon reg. $200 for $20
new Salomon xt wings reg $140 for $10

[Jerry Adams]

My wife got an REI fleece vest that I'm wearing this moment. She bought some shirts for me.

I can't stand going through thrift stores. It takes so much time to find one thing that's good. I hate buying stuff that's already worn out.

[Valerie E]

I want to go shopping in the OP's neighborhood! :~)

Very little high-end athletic stuff (unless it's totally trashed); I find an occasional cashmere or other nice wool sweater (life outside hiking exists, too).

[Rusty Beaver]

I go to one particular store twice weekly. It's mostly famine but persistence pays off big on occasion. It is in one of the most unlikely of locales to find this stuff. The demographics are completely off…so I can only guess as to how this stuff gets there.

The other thrift store I frequent, though not often enough, is in my home town, 14 miles from the other. Here, there are a few more people who enjoy the outdoors and as such, I find more good stuff. New $550 bibs for $4 for instance.

In a swanky ski resort town 1.5 hrs away, where no one would be caught on the slopes or at the latte shop without some big name brand piece, the thrift stores are loaded with with this stuff. However, it is priced accordingly….because the thrift store people recognize the brands. Still, $30 for a pair of Goretex bibs for example, that still have some life left in them, is not a bad deal.

[jrentas8137]

I had a great experience this past month looking for items to use on my cross country trip next spring:

Northface Ventilator Tent: $55

Zeal Optics sunglasses: $20

The tent alone was an awesome find for me. I heard great things about it.

[Edward Jursek]

Total thrift store junky. Mostly score cloths. Recently picked up my second brand new looking pair of ArcTerxy Rampart pants and last week a matching pair of ArcTeryx Rampart shorts. Also have a lot of luck on Craigslist, but it helps to live in Seattle.

[Dale Wambaugh]

I went in the Goodwill in Hood River, Oregon and it was totally boutique'd. They had some nice Patagonia, but not a give-away prices.

Garage sales can be amazing too, but not in November. You have to spend some time to get the good stuff.

I went to a gear swap at the Seattle Mountaineers and got a like new current model GG Mariposa for $30! The seller said he just couldn't get his stuff light enough to use it. I can :)

I got this in a thrift store for my wife (minus the china):

[Rusty Beaver]

I think it's cool hearing what other thrifters are finding. Good on all of you! Thanks for the replies!

[Redacted k]

Once saw a patagonia fleece (older), still kicking myself for skipping it. I was in an anti-synthetics phase.

Recently picked up a good condition Arc'teryx Theta AR, with goretex XCR. Great find for $13.

A made in USA L.L. Bean wool duffle coat. Not ultralight, but nice for winter wandering without a pack.

Countless silk camp shirts, and merino wool lightweight sweaters.

First Ascent light fleece top.

Patagonia nylon grid long sleeve button up, fisherman style. First time I heard of Patagonia's pricy reputation was when my brother in law commented on my "expensive gear".

My best quality suit for dressing up. Luckily someone who liked italian wool suits was built like me.

Almost nothing in the way of good quality outdoor pants. Seems like only cotton outdoor pants get donated. Plenty of synthetic and wool if you want to wear dress pants.

REI garage sale… thats a topic for another thread; but it can be amazingly good too. Same with internet classifieds.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Canon s2200 basic point and shoot 14mp camera with 720i HD video. $14 at Goodwill last week :)

[rmeurant]

Khaki MontBell parka in Polkatex, which I presume (but don't know for sure), is very similar to Ventile. New, folds into its middle pocket, very light weight, and very comfortable to wear. From the great Seoul flea market, which runs for many, many blocks (by DongMeo Station), which we haunt each Sunday.

From the same market, a GoLite mid-size pack in near-new condition, $10.

A variety of down jackets by name brands, mainly new.

An extensive range of Chouinard Dragon packs, which I have been collecting, both Korean made (by Jackal), and Japanese made (by Croster). I need to sell these soon to finance other purchases and adventures…

Two Echoroba Fitzroy tents (on different occasions), design attributed to Messner, 1-man and 2-man with snow entry, ideal for car camping. The 2-man for $7 without poles, which exact set of poles I later realized I had already bought a year or two before for $10.

Etc. etc.

[Eugene Smith]

Pendleton wool long sleeve button up.

[Elliott Wolin]

I'm getting very jealous reading these posts!

I drop in on thrift stores with some regularity and almost never find anything of value for the outdoors. Maybe living in southern Virginia has something to do with it. All I recall ever finding was a Lands End nylon jacket with fleece liner (small hole in the waist band) for about $4, but this was a over a decade ago. I drop in less and less often because it seems to be a waste of time.

Maybe if I lived in Seattle…

On the other hand, I see lots of very good deals on Sierra Trading Post if you have their extra 35% off coupon. Maybe not the lightest stuff on the market, but new lightweight base layers for around $5, near 100% Merino mid-to-heavy base layers for $25, etc.

[Max Dilthey]

Nothing. I've found nothing.

[D S]

My best haul has been a pair of Exofficio Pants and a TNF TKA100. Besides that, not much, except a Car Camping air matress.

[Kattt]

I have found many good items at the Flea Market, but I used to go every weekend, almost.
Among my finds:

Evernew Teapot .9 liters for five dollars.
Several Patagonia shirts, R1, hoodies, R2 etc. from 1 dollar for the R1 to 5 dollars for some others
Arcteryx Alpha LT, 15 dollars
Two Ridgerests for a dollar each
Montbell Alpine Light for 10 dollars
Montbell SS 4 for 15 dollars

I will think of more.

[Dale Wambaugh]

The size of the town is a big deal, as well as region and the health of the local economy. Seattle is very thrift store centric, it has the population density, plus all the outdoor stuff going on. We have hiking, climbing, water and snow sports all going on at the same time. Biking is huge too.

I've been through thrift stores in small towns and other regions and the quality and quantity is not as good.

Goodwill has a lot of stores in the area and a well established donation system. They have stores that are 40,000 square feet and have recently started more botique-like stores with merchandise that is hand picked for the store. There is one close to the University of Washington that has youth-oriented fashions and lots of sports clothing. One near the Amazon offices is very hipster oriented. They also gave a huge online auction operation.

Value Village (aka Savers) is the other 800 pound gorilla. They have a partnership with local charities that solicit the donations and pick them up and deliver them to the stores where they are weighed and the charity is paid by the pound. The items are sorted and priced and put into equally large retail stores, almost all in remodeled chins grocery stores. They also accept drive up donations and credit the charities as well. They are a "for profit" company at the bottom line.

It is a huge business and nothing like little storefront operations supporting the local humane society or the like.

Craigslist can be good. Hooking up with people is notoriously flakey and there have been some home invasions tied to sales of jewelry.

I love garage sales in the season. You will see tons of junk but the eye-popping deals are there. They are a bid tradition here.

The bargains are a delight, but the environmental gain is good too. This is recycling in its best form, going directly to the consumer in its original form.

[Rusty Beaver]

Today's finds: Saw some $600 Rossignol skis in super shape for $5. Purchased a new knife for .50 cents, a very nice pair of Royal Robbins cords for $6 and a set of stainless steel USA made platters for $8.95. Saw many nice casual shirts and pants…Patagonia, Quiksilver, and Columbia…from $4-$8.

[Anonymous]

Don't tend to find the really nice, high end stuff. However, have found a lot of diamonds in the ruff so to speak, since i don't conform to what is necessarily popular, mainstream, or fashionable.

For example, found plenty of poly-wool and wool-poly dress pants that work great in winter as an over pant. Often i soak the bottom half in Nikwax to improve water repellency. Somewhat warm, somewhat light, breathable, durable enough, and have good to decent odor prevention properties (depending on the ratio of wool to polyester).

Often find plenty of lighter weight, thinner Merino sweaters. I particularly like the 50 or so percent Merino or wool to 50 or so percent acrylic ones–work awesome as midlayers in winter–handle moisture and stink fairly well, dry times are acceptable, and fairly warm for the weight.

Carbon Fiber Golf shafts that i have converted into hiking poles. (Bamboo is also nice for fixed hiking poles)

Somewhat light and quite breathable nylon wind jackets (cut out any liners)–particularly like these for a winter shell since i don't take them off and they are more breathable than a Houdini, Brooks LSD wind jacket, etc. This is important as i'm wearing more and thicker layers in the winter and i really need that extra breathability.

Found lot's of Linen shirts, shorts, and pants which are awesome in the Summer, late spring and early fall time. Extremely breathable, great odor control, innately cooling, dries fast enough in all but the most humid weather (if you ever see a Linen-synthetic blend, jump on it, because it will be the bomb), and is pretty rugged and durable for a natural fiber.

Plenty of fleeces (classic and micro) to be found, but haven't found the nicer stuff like the aircore, grid fleeces, etc.

Occasionally see some down jackets (lower end and heavier ones), but don't take these because i figure someone poorer than myself could use it.

[Dale Wambaugh]

I found this fry pan today at Goodwill for $1.99. It is all plain aluminum, 7" diameter with a 6.5" handle and weighs 3.0oz on my scale. A little olive oil, a few spices and herbs and a fat trout….

[Dale Wambaugh]

Found this jewel today for $2.99. As shown compared to the IMUS 10cm mug, it is the same diameter and 105mm tall and holds 800ml brimming full. As you can see, the Zelph lid for the IMUSA 10cm fits perfectly. It is a bit of a stone at 136g (4.8oz), but it was only $3! No markings as to brand or country of origin, but much like smaller ones I've found in Daiso stores. A case of these things would make a Scoutmaster faint :)

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