America’s Best Thrift Shops

Thrifters, start your engines! The 2014 Shop Drop Challenge is underway, and we’re second-hand shopping our way through a month-long ban on buying new.

Right now, there are more than 500 of us committed to a mall shopping pause this month, representing a savings of $30,000 and 3,000 pounds of textile waste diverted from the landfill. Incredible! Will you please share this post with your friends, so we can double those numbers? Thank you!

So where are the best places to pop some tags? Here are a few, IMHO.

BEST ONLINE THRIFT SHOP: I-ELLA

Unlike eBay, which can be hard to navigate, I-Ella makes it easy to buy, borrow or swap clothes. Sort by designer, trends, size or real women’s closets—my closet was featured a few years back—then click on an item you like and a popup tells you the retail price and what the owner wants in exchange. Plus, a percentage of proceeds benefits the charity of your choice.

BEST NATIONAL CHAIN: CROSSROADS TRADING CO

With 32 locations across the country—nine in the Bay Area alone—Crossroads dominates the national upscale thrift store market. Crossroads stores are clean and well-merchandised, and you can score designer goods at a fraction of what you’d pay at retail—many still bearing their original tags. One caveat: Crossroads also sells new clothes, so make sure you’re in the pre-worn section.

Where are the best places to pop some tags? Here are a few, IMHO. From online to national to totally unique—if you’re thrift shopping, I’ve got you covered. And I scored you 15% off at the best of the best! BEST (AND ONLY?) SWAP SHOP: GIVE + TAKE

Nestled in an up-and-coming Santa Monica neighborhood, swapping at this store is like sharing a closet with 400 other women who have far better taste than me. You pay a nominal membership fee, bring in your clothes to swap and get their value in the store—all you have to pay is tax! I don’t know of another swap shop like this, do you? Let me know in comments if you’ve found one!

Give + Take now features a consignment section so you can also shop without being a member. But regulars take their membership seriously—you can’t visit the shop for long before someone shopping next to you points out that you’re wearing her old necklace. And because everything is completely returnable—as well as constantly being returned—you can take fashion risks that would never be possible in a regular store. Like the pleather pants I rocked at last year’s Mommy Greenest holiday party, which we held at—you guessed it—Give + Take.

BEST THRIFT STORE IN LOS ANGELES: THE CLOSET TRADING COMPANY

Yes, the Wasteland on Melrose looks like an Anthropologie flagship, but then you have to deal with the cooler-than-thou sales staff, too. At The Closet Trading Company in Santa Monica, you can score everything from Isabel Marant to Missoni, and they specialize in great deals on high end exclusives—think a Helmut Lang sweater for $50—but there are plenty of mid-range labels like Kate Spade and Rebecca Taylor, too. My favorite thing about the store is how they cull the new arrivals into a separate section, especially for us regulars who tend to drop by a few times a month (read: week). And the salespeople are beyond friendly—they’re more like personal shoppers, suggesting styles and accessories, letting you dig through boxes of clothes that haven’t yet hit the shelves and occasionally cranking up tunes for an impromptu dance party.

This is how nice they are: When I told The Closet peeps about this month’s Shop Drop Challenge, they offered a sweet 15% off now through 2.28.14. Just use LABEST15 at checkout when shopping online at TheClosetSB.net or if you’re a walk in, tell them you read about The Closet because of the Mommy Greenest Shop Drop Challenge, and they’ll hook you up!

Why the Shop Drop Challenge? The average American woman spends $60 per month on clothes and dumps six pounds of textile waste into the trash. If we all got together for a shopping pause, we could save nearly $10 billion and one billion pounds of landfill waste. Yes, that’s billion with a b. We’re creating a community of women who have pledged to buy no new clothes or accessories for the 30 days of January and are inspired to thrift and swap their style this month!

Throughout the month, I’ll be posting pictures of my recycled fashion finds here and on our Facebook page, and I’d LOVE to see what you’re wearing, too! Add your photos and descriptions there, Insta them or tweet them to me @RachelLSarnoff and I’ll post ‘em for you. You can also email me at info(at)mommygreenest.com. Remember to hash tag #ShopDropChallenge!