Just a few years ago, the mention of a consignment shop would immediately bring to our minds memories of musty-smelling, old-woman perusing, uber-unstylish clothing stores. The word consignment alone summoned notions of hand-me-downs, castoffs and used goods. Well friends, how mistaken we were!

Chicago’s consignment store arsenal boasts shops that - if you take the time to look - have barely-worn, fabulous high-end clothing and unique accessories. We love the ability to spend a portion of what you would at a regular retail store and walk out with bags of clothing…and a piece of mind that no other girl at the party you’re going to that evening will be wearing the same thing. We’ve found everything from Jimmy Choo heels to Calvin Klein suits to chunky cocktail rings.

Now don’t get us wrong, it takes commitment and energy to tackle the dozens of large and oft-unorganized racks of clothing, or trying on your finds in shower-sized fitting rooms. And there will be days when the selection is totally picked over and the only thing you can seem to find in your size are matching hot pink sweat suits. But…find a vintage Chanel purse for under $100 and all of a sudden your day-long search was the best time you’ve spent all week!

What’s more? It’s Green! According to the Council for Textile Recycling, consignment or secondhand clothing stores helped to prevent almost half of the 2.5 billion pounds of postconsumer textile waste from entering the solid waste stream.

This week PLRG chatted with Aimee Pallozzi, Store Manager at Buffalo Exchange (BE) in Lincoln Park. In her store, buyers are trained to hand-pick items that are in style and in good condition. Clothing at Buffalo Exchange are only on the racks for 1 month before they are marked down and then donated to local charities if not sold. Pallozzi said that she and her team do the pre-work so that shopping at BE is not overwhelming, but she does admit that it’s not the same at all consignment shops. We asked her to share some tricks of her trade with PLRG.

Here are 4 tips that she says are words to live by when shopping resale:

Hold wool fabrics up to your ear before purchasing - if it has a crunching sound when it moves that means it’s been shrunk, and might not best purchase.

Look at the labels- typically, if the label is well constructed it means that the entire garment is made well.

Check zippers, buttons and seams before buying.

One person’s trash is another one’s treasure - so while shopping, think of anything you have in your closet that you might be able to sell!

Reduce…Reuse…Re-wear!

Intrigued? Check one out for yourself and let us know what you find. Here are 10 resale shops around the Chi:

Buffalo Exchange (Lakeview & Wicker Park)

Crossroads Trading Company (Lincoln Park, Wicker Park & Evanston)

Cynthia’s Consignments

Lenny & Me

Recycle It

The Daisy Shop

McShane’s Exchange

Leahey & Laudue Consignment

ShearWear Consignment

Elliott Consignment

(Story by Noelle Provencial)