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Plato's Closet Employee Aneize Crowder
If students are looking to spend less and save more for the school year, fashion merchandising instructor Aubrey Robbins recommends shopping at thrift stores to find classic-looking pieces and accessories.
"Take a basic pair of jeans and a tee and you can dress it up with accessories. Really, that's what's in right now," Robbins said. "Accessories maybe more so because people aren't spending as much money."
With approximately 90,000 pieces of merchandise, Goodwill Inc. offers a wide variety of apparel for men and women including shirts, pants, skirts, outerwear, scrubs, swimwear and dresses.
The Goodwill store is being relocated to a larger facility at 5035 W. Hessler Road, which is located immediately behind its current store, according to a press release. The store will open at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
"It's a lot cheaper than going to the mall and they [shoppers] can find really good deals for a lot less money," Maranda Burton, team leader for Goodwill, said.
The clothes at the local store mostly are donated by residents of Muncie, Yorktown and other surrounding cities.
"We do get a lot of stuff that is still up to date and a lot of stuff is not, but you never know what you are going to find here," Burton said.
With the start of a new season comes new fashion trends and styles. According to style.com, the biker look with "zipped and shrunken tops" is a new trend for women, along with the '80s inspired clothing of metallic leather, acid-washed jeans and big shoulders. Drape-like dresses and mini skirts are also here for the season along with pinstripes and tweed suits.
Robbins said fitted T-shirts continue to be in fashion for men. The trend for jeans changed to more of a dark-wash look rather than distressed. When looking at accessories, she said fedoras and news caps are trademarks for fall. Scarves also continue to be a popular trend this year.
"They've really kind of taken over every look," Robbins said. "They can be really simple. They can go from season to season. So it's a nice inexpensive investment to maybe revamp an entire outfit, because you don't have money to get a whole new outfit, but you might have money for a piece which would be the scarf."
Junior fashion design major Julie Montag is a frequent thrift store shopper. She said she shops at thrift stores because they are so affordable.
"I usually find really good deals on brand name clothing. I also like to go to find clothing that isn't mainstream," she said.
But not many fashion students shop at secondhand stores, she said.
"For the most part, I don't tell my fashion design peers that I shop at thrift stores," she said. "I did tell one of my professors, though, that my overalls came from the thrift store and she was quite ecstatic about my style."
Robbins said not only do thrift stores offer a cheaper alternative for clothing, but they also are an environmentally friendly alternative to buying new.
"Fashion has become so fast and so throwaway," she said. "[Thrift store fashion] is inexpensive. You can wear it once or twice and then it doesn't really matter if you wear it again, because it was so inexpensive. But, we're also getting rid of a lot of things that are still really good, which actually just contributes to more bad recycling habits."
Plato's Closet in Muncie is another thrift store with more selectivity in what it sells.
According to its Web site, the store buys gently used, top-brand clothing and accessories that have been in the retail stores within the past 12 to 18 months.
Once Upon A Child is another consignment shop, similar to Plato's Closet.
Freshman Miranda King, an employee at Once Upon A Child, said while she occasionally shops at Plato's Closet, she also is willing to pay more for new clothes at retail stores.
"Honestly, I go both ways with it. When you are on a tight budget, [thrift stores] would probably be the way to go because you can find a lot of good stuff in there," she said. "It's no different than what you would buy in the store for 10 bucks as opposed to 50."
"Take a basic pair of jeans and a tee and you can dress it up with accessories. Really, that's what's in right now," Robbins said. "Accessories maybe more so because people aren't spending as much money."
With approximately 90,000 pieces of merchandise, Goodwill Inc. offers a wide variety of apparel for men and women including shirts, pants, skirts, outerwear, scrubs, swimwear and dresses.
The Goodwill store is being relocated to a larger facility at 5035 W. Hessler Road, which is located immediately behind its current store, according to a press release. The store will open at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
"It's a lot cheaper than going to the mall and they [shoppers] can find really good deals for a lot less money," Maranda Burton, team leader for Goodwill, said.
The clothes at the local store mostly are donated by residents of Muncie, Yorktown and other surrounding cities.
"We do get a lot of stuff that is still up to date and a lot of stuff is not, but you never know what you are going to find here," Burton said.
With the start of a new season comes new fashion trends and styles. According to style.com, the biker look with "zipped and shrunken tops" is a new trend for women, along with the '80s inspired clothing of metallic leather, acid-washed jeans and big shoulders. Drape-like dresses and mini skirts are also here for the season along with pinstripes and tweed suits.
Robbins said fitted T-shirts continue to be in fashion for men. The trend for jeans changed to more of a dark-wash look rather than distressed. When looking at accessories, she said fedoras and news caps are trademarks for fall. Scarves also continue to be a popular trend this year.
"They've really kind of taken over every look," Robbins said. "They can be really simple. They can go from season to season. So it's a nice inexpensive investment to maybe revamp an entire outfit, because you don't have money to get a whole new outfit, but you might have money for a piece which would be the scarf."
Junior fashion design major Julie Montag is a frequent thrift store shopper. She said she shops at thrift stores because they are so affordable.
"I usually find really good deals on brand name clothing. I also like to go to find clothing that isn't mainstream," she said.
But not many fashion students shop at secondhand stores, she said.
"For the most part, I don't tell my fashion design peers that I shop at thrift stores," she said. "I did tell one of my professors, though, that my overalls came from the thrift store and she was quite ecstatic about my style."
Robbins said not only do thrift stores offer a cheaper alternative for clothing, but they also are an environmentally friendly alternative to buying new.
"Fashion has become so fast and so throwaway," she said. "[Thrift store fashion] is inexpensive. You can wear it once or twice and then it doesn't really matter if you wear it again, because it was so inexpensive. But, we're also getting rid of a lot of things that are still really good, which actually just contributes to more bad recycling habits."
Plato's Closet in Muncie is another thrift store with more selectivity in what it sells.
According to its Web site, the store buys gently used, top-brand clothing and accessories that have been in the retail stores within the past 12 to 18 months.
Once Upon A Child is another consignment shop, similar to Plato's Closet.
Freshman Miranda King, an employee at Once Upon A Child, said while she occasionally shops at Plato's Closet, she also is willing to pay more for new clothes at retail stores.
"Honestly, I go both ways with it. When you are on a tight budget, [thrift stores] would probably be the way to go because you can find a lot of good stuff in there," she said. "It's no different than what you would buy in the store for 10 bucks as opposed to 50."
