Friday 22 January 2016

Labels

Every week a bundle of the student newspaper arrives in the library where I work. I like to have a flick through it as it’s refreshing for something to arrive that I have a fighting chance of understanding. I’m usually dealing with physics journals. This week a particular article caught my eye as it was about charity shops – now, that’s something I understand.

I was pleased to see that the tips it gave were similar to ones that Ingrid and I talk about, that is: try things on, be adventurous, shoes are difficult. But there was one I did not agree with at all. Don’t look at the labels. Yes, look at the labels! How else are you going to find out the size? Charity shop volunteers don’t always get it right. You get to know which labels you like and suit you, I never buy Per Una. You also know what size you are in a particular shop because, as we all know, it varies.

But, most importantly, you shop in charity shops to get a bargain and to find clothes you could not normally afford. There’s not really much point in trawling round second hand shops just to buy clothes from Primark. You need to be rewarded with the biggest bargain possible. Which leads me on to tell you about my latest finds (yes, I would have told you anyway). I found a French Connection silk shirt dress for £1.99. Googled it and the exact same one was £110. It made me like it even more. I also bought a Superdry shirt for a pound. Funnily, it turns out it used to belong to Ingrid and she’d got it in a charity shop in the first place. How’s that for recycling!

When I looked back at the article I realised it actually said “don’t look at the labels, look at the piece” which I have to concede is a valid point. I’m sure both Ingrid and I are guilty of buying something just on the value of the label rather than anything else – I’ve still not worn those Jean Paul Gaultier shorts. It doesn’t matter how much of a bargain something is if you’ve got nothing else to go with it or don’t actually like it. And why not buy something with an Atmosphere label if you really like it.

One thing the article did teach me is that Cambridge is a treasure trove of charity shops and I can’t believe that I’ve not visited them before. Fancy a day out, Ingrid?



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