Ready to refresh your winter wardrobe? Everyone needs a little style inspiration from time to time, whether it’s for the holidays, a New Year’s party, or practical winter wear that will keep you warm and dry despite the weather.
For Canadians, winter fashion is a necessity. It’s what they wear for months on end. But if you’re like most Canadians, it’s getting harder and harder to find room in your budget, even for essentials. Inflation has put pressure on everyone’s budget.
Now is the perfect time to put your deal-seeking skills to the test. Fortunately, you can still find fashionable, high-quality clothes at a reasonable price if you know where to look.
Shop Used Online
This should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been clothes shopping in the last several years. Online shopping is often consumers’ first option, but with the abundance of retailers, apps, and marketplaces, you have plenty of options to pare down.
If you’re looking for used clothing in Canada online, Kijiji is a great marketplace for finding quality used clothing, vintage, and designer brands. While there are a lot of used clothing apps and marketplaces out there, Kijiji remains among the most commonly used marketplaces in Canada, and it’s a great place to find the most comprehensive selection online.
Thrift Stores
Thrifting isn’t just a way to find high-quality clothes for cheap. It can also become an obsession. Getting into thrifting will open your eyes to all the high-quality designer brands and vintage items you can get at a discount by going straight to second-hand stores.
Before thrifting, it helps to do your research on signs of quality and durability. This includes things like:
- Tight and frequent stitching
- Details about the materials
- How patterns match at the seams
- Finished hems
- Extra panels on collared shirts
There’s more to learn, too, but this is a good place to start when it comes to quality clothing.
Consignment stores usually cost more than charity shops, but that’s because you’re getting a much more curated inventory. They can still be great places to find cool, unique clothes, and you usually spend less than you would for new designer brands.
Clothing Swaps
When you want to refresh your wardrobe, and you really don’t have much to spend, try a clothing swap instead. Clothing swaps are also eco-friendly alternatives to putting old clothes in the trash. Go online to see if any clothing swaps are coming up in your neighborhood.
Off-Price Retailers
If you’re adamant that you want your clothes new, but you’re still on a tight budget, your best option will probably be off-price retailers. Off-price retailers exist in a space between true discount retailers and full-service stores, usually carrying well-known brands in a scaled-back, no-frills environment. They can be good places to find new merchandise at reasonable prices.
Off-price retailers often sell overstock, production overruns, end-of-season inventory, and inventory bought from bankruptcies. They may not have the very newest and most popular items, but anyone with a bit of creativity can squeeze more out of their budget shopping here.
You don’t have to spend your whole paycheck to update your winter wardrobe. Look for great deals online, go thrifting, and check out clothing swaps or off-price retailers for the best bargains.
