A look inside thredUP IRL - Design by Brianna

If you didn’t know, I love thrift shopping. So it’s great that now in 2019, thrift shopping is becoming more mainstream. By shopping second-hand, we are reducing our carbon footprint. While thrift shopping can usually be expensive, I have found that places like thredUP are making it easier than ever to second-hand shop.

What is thredUP?

thredUP is the largest online second-hand store carrying a range of high-end to fast fashion brands at more affordable prices than your average consignment stores. Some of the name and store brands include Micheal Kors, Kate Spade, Nordstroms, Forever 21 and Target. You can easily ship your lightly used clothes with one of their pre-paid bags (aka Clean Out Kits) to their distribution center and from there thredUP will select the pieces they want to keep and in return give you online store credit.

thredUP now offers a new shopping experience called ‘thredUP IRL‘ (the IRL means ‘in real life’). These are pop-up offline shops that allow you to visit and experience thredUP in person. I had the pleasure of checking out the Los Gatos location to choose a summer outfit. Click here to see thredUP IRL pop-up shops in the Bay Area near you.

Inside of the thredUP shop

From someone that comes from a Visual Merchandising background, I really appreciate how their shops are set up. They display every section beautifully and create trendy looks. I looked around the store and chose a few (and by “a few” I mean a lot!) of their pieces to try on #iregretnothing lol.

thredUP is great at carrying a variety of sizes that range from petite to plus size. Every brand or store size run differently so I made sure I tried on items from small to large to see if they run true to size. After a few rounds of trying on clothes, I ended up finding this cute cullote jumpsuit from TopShop in the Petite section. I love the small daisy pattern and the cullote style works great since most jumpsuits are too long for me. I also ended up buying some small daisy earrings and a woven bag that I could not pass up.

New Feature: Payout Days

thredUP now offers Payout Days! You can bring your clothing into select store locations on Tuesdays or Thursdays and whatever they accept they will pay you out in the form of a store credit which is similar to what most consignment shops do. The store credit is applied to your online account for you to use online or in-store. The day I went to the store I brought a huge box of clothes for them and the whole process was so simple! It was nice to donate my lightly used clothes and get credit to shop for new outfits for the upcoming seasons.