Put a Little Goodwill Into Your Fall Fashion Wardrobe
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Goodwill of North Georgia. All opinions are 100% mine.
I love this time of year in North Georgia. Fall is here and that means that you can actually enjoy going outside. For me that means corn mazes, pumpkin flavored coffee and fun evenings with friends around the firepit. It also means it’s time to change up my wardrobe. When I’m ready to kick my closet options up a notch, I generally start by heading to my local Goodwill of North Georgia store and going on the hunt for complete outfits that I love. You can get an entire head to toe outfit at a Goodwill of North Georgia store for about the price of one blouse at a regular retail store. In this post I’ll show you how I did it and tips that you can use for your upcoming fall shopping trip too!
My Shopping Challenge:
I don’t know if you’ve heard about it, but Goodwill of North Georgia and The2econdFloor are working together to host a fashion event called RE2URRECTION.
RE2URRECTION will feature a group of talented, up-and-coming fashion designers and artists who will breathe new life into a variety of clothing found hanging on racks at Goodwill’s stores. These transformed pieces will be showcased on the runway on October 15th from 7pm-10pm ETat Mason Fine Art gallery and will be auctioned off to benefit Goodwill of North Georgia’s mission to put people to work.
The Fashion designers participating in the show are given $50 to shop at any Goodwill of North Georgia store and produce 2 pieces crafted from Goodwill clothing. The theme of the overall fashion show is Rock Star Glam and will be Fall/Winter seasoned.
I thrilled that I have the opportunity to go and be inspired by talented fashion designers on Thurday night! I believe that you can dress well and buy second hand. I shop at Goodwill stores because I know that I can get great fashion at really affordable prices. So, I took on the challenge as an everyday kind of gal, to shop at a Goodwill of North Georgia near my house and create 2 outfits that I loved from their fashion options for under $50. I wanted something that I could wear this fall in my everyday life and one that I could wear to all my upcoming winter parties. Here are the outfits that I crafted, followed by how much I paid for each part.
If you want to build your own fashionable fall and winter wardrobe without breaking the bank, here are my 4 tips for success!
Tip 1- Find Your Central Fashion Piece
When you head into a Goodwill of North Georgia store, start by looking around for your central piece of clothing inspiration. Find that one thing you love and then build the rest of the outfit around it! That could be a dress, a blouse, a piece of jewelry, pair of shoes or a handbag. Let your eye guide you. When you see it, grab it up and start building your outfit around it. In my case, I found the purple blouse that was my favorite color and had a flattering fit to my shape. Once I had that I was able to grab a pair of black skinny jeans, some perfect black suede boots and then I spotted the purse. So even though the outfit has a lot of slimming black to it, the purse has texture and pops. The jewelry I found was fun and very much my style. The store keeps everything very well organized so you should be able to explore the shoes, bags and jewelry counter easily as you search for your accessories.
In the second outfit, I was looking for a dress that fit my shape, was fun and one that was versatile. In this case, I can wear this dress with tights and cowgirl boots as the weather gets chillier or flats like I did in the picture. When I spotted the gold owl necklace in the jewelry display, it was love at first sight. And I knew that for holiday parties I wanted a dramatic pop of color so I went with this red clutch! The hat and red shrug were things that I already had at home that I knew would complete the outfit and make it me!
The beauty of shopping at a Goodwill of North Georgia is that you can literally create an entire outfit from scratch or add new life to something with accessories and pieces that you already own at home while staying right on budget!
Tip 2- Seek Out Your Favorite Brands
When you head into the store, keep your eyes out for your own favorite brands sitting on the racks. You love these brands because you know that they already fit you well, you know what size works and they typically align with your particular fashion sense. With as much variety as the store offers, you are sure to find what you are looking for and some things you didn’t even know you were looking for!
Tip 3- Check Out the Tag Color
In my case, I got my black dress for half price because of the color of the plastic tag attached. If you want to save big on your fashion, you can look for the weekly sale color and get your fall & winter fashion at even better prices!
Tip 4- Know Your Money Is Doing More Than Just Buying Clothing
One aspect of shopping that I appreciated was that every 15 minutes or so, the store would make an announcement about new merchandise coming out and would add a statement about the number of people who had received jobs that year from the shopping we were doing in store. Did you know that this year Goodwill will help 20,000 people in North Georgia find jobs? Every time you shop at or donate to a Goodwill of North Georgia store, you support the mission to put people in our community to work. You are helping create jobs simply by creating your own families wardrobe. That’s a big deal! Goodwill is celebrating its 90th birthday of putting people to work in North Georgia ! So the next time you decide to go shopping for some new wardrobe pieces, consider starting your shopping journey at Goodwill stores!
I hope that you have found these tips helpful as you begin building your fall and winter fashion pieces. I’m excited to get the opportunity this week to head to the RE2URRECTION fashion event and I hope you’ll come back on Friday to read all about the show and get a sneak peak at some of the amazing fashion that talented designers built on only $50. It might just inspire you to take the challenge yourself!
Kim Anderson is the organized chaos loving author behind the Thrifty Little Mom Blog. She helps other people who thrive in organized chaos to stress less, remember more and feel in control of their time, money, and home. Kim is the author of: Live, Save, Spend, Repeat: The Life You Want with the Money You Have. She’s been featured on Time.com, Money.com, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day, and more!