The Best Times to Thrift in Reims 👕

Let’s be honest: sometimes, no matter how deep you dig through the baskets in your favorite thrift stores, the best you find is a T-shirt that’s way too small, an old sweater that smells like sweat, or leather jackets falling apart. We’ve all lived that disappointment… and honestly, it’s ridiculously discouraging. So here are our best tips to help you figure out the perfect time windows to grab your binoculars and hunt down the gems hiding in second-hand shops around you.

We’ve all received a Christmas gift we hated, offered by that cousin you haven’t talked to in ages. But that gift — that ferret-skin jacket — might actually make someone else happy! And who knows, maybe you’ll find treasures like that in the bins at your local Emmaüs. Brand-new clothes, sometimes never worn, tags still attached — what more could you ask for?

Then, at the start of the school year, people clean out their closets, their kids’ closets, students move out for uni or move back home… which makes it the perfect moment to have a look around. In second-hand shops, recycling centers and flea markets, you can find almost-new clothes, still trendy, and maybe you’ll get lucky and stumble upon a piece a fashion victim abandoned. The same opportunity comes back at every change of season, when people get rid of barely worn clothes — mid-season stuff like bikinis that didn’t see the beach this summer, or cashmere sweaters that didn’t get their moment of glory in winter.

Last tip: sales season! Yep, you probably didn’t think about it. Some thrift stores run promotions or get a lot of new stock because people clear out their closets of items that aren’t “in fashion” anymore. But let’s be real: fashion is cyclical, and that leopard-print crop top will definitely come back! Anyway, it’s THE perfect time to find gems from last season’s collection which, between us, don’t really look that different from the new one…