Boston's Best Thrift? $1-A-Pound at the Garment District.

By the time I reached Boston, I’d been on the road for ten months. I’d already worn through a pair of boots, and repacked my entire bag with summer clothes. But one thing that happens when you’re traveling is that clothes just don’t last as long.

Part of it was due to the fact that I was washing things however I could: hot water, cold water, river water, bathtub water, laundry soap, shampoo, Dr. Bronner’s, scrubbing-with-gravel… and yes, that was wearing my poor threads to shreds.

But mostly, the demise of my duds was due to the fact that I wore the same thing every gosh-dang day. New outfit? Ha! Not on the road, not when you’re broke. Now, I’ve never been much of a clothing horse, but still… a girl’s gotta dress up sometimes.

And so there I was in Boston in my worn-out hand-me-downs, pirate pants, threadbare socks and stained shirts—and I said to myself, “Hun, it’s time for a new look.”

Lucky for me, Boston is a college town. In fact, I’ve never seen so many universities—and so many students—in one metropolitan area. Everywhere I looked were adorable hipsters with bookbags and musical instruments. And where there are college hipsters, there are thrift stores!

A little research brought me to The Garment District, a fucshia-spattered paradise just over 150 Smoots from Boston proper (non-Bostonites: that means it’s in Cambridge). I strolled over there and dove straight into the most amazing thing a penny-pincher can imagine:

the Dollar-A-Pound room

Yes, that’s exactly what it looks like: a room filled to a depth of 2-3 feet with clothes, all of which can be purchased for a dollar and a half per pound (or a dollar on Fridays).

It was a hot, muggy day, and wading through piles of cotton wasn’t exactly the most comfortable experience—but I was committed. I stayed maybe ten minutes, sweating through my pirate pants, and in that time managed to grab three or four shirts for less than $2.

The dollar-a-pound clothing pile, a Cambridge institution since the early ’80s, is not high-end fashion. It’s all the off-season stuff, the last-season stuff, the not-trendy-enough stuff—just what I’d expect to find in a small-town thrift store, but not good enough for those city kids. Upstairs were all the costlier goodies: retro, vintage and totally hideous finds for secondhand fashionistas. I managed to grab a few more things from the racks, bringing my total to $12 for a brand-new wardrobe.

Try beating that price, i dare ya.

No really, try it. Thrift shopping is eco-friendly: it reduces consumption and saves landfill space. Next time you hear fashion’s undeniable call, make your first stop the secondhand store. You’ll save money, save the world, and have an outfit worth bragging about.

And if you know of a store that matches up to The Garment District, please, do tell!