Second hand clothes

Are there many second hand/charity shop and vintage clothing stores in the big Indian cities? Any that are recommended?

Cheers
Jon

What have you in mind? Giving your clothes to them?

So far I have not come accross one such shop here.

I'm sure that people who cannot afford anything else know where to buy second-hand clothes (it is amazing how the Indian economy seems to cater to all levels of itself) but I'm sure the proceeds won't be going to charity...

i leave behind lot of the clothing that i wear while traveling in india, just before departing.

Do you want to buy or sell? Clothes? Old furniture & jewelry would be all over the place in shops that specialize in "antiques".

I bring old clothes but in good condition to India then leave them behind as I travel. The people who clean rooms in hotels can find uses for most things you leave behind. (I do this everywhere in the world, including the U.S.A!)

To buy old things, look in market places. You might find something "vintage" and interesting, maybe tribal stuff. In Anjuna market (Goa) there used to be travelers who sold their old things to other travelers. Maybe some still do that.

This is an interesting question. I've never found any kind of thrift store organized along the lines of Goodwill, Value Village or Salvation Army store in the US, with second hand clothes, household items, books, and loads of odds and ends that aren't easily classified. My S.O. in Bombay says no such thing exists there. The closest thing I ever found were the people who were selling clothes along the side of the road. Think a heap of clothes that you can paw through until you find something you want. I got a really cool t-shirt that way a couple years back.

I've tried several times hiding clothes in my hotel room as there was not enough room in my luggage for them anymore. But they always send what seems to be an entire brigade of room rooters in as your settling your bill and .... lo and behold out of the deepest depths of the closet and beneath the floor boards comes the seemingly buried garments ... folded nicely and placed in a plastic bag (and presented to you as though they had found your Gold Rolex) as you step into your taxi

lol - this has not yet happened to me, but it is a funny story and fantastic image!

I place the discards wrapped in paper in the rubbish bin and that avoids the results above which I also had experienced..

I left my old grotty sneakers in my rooms trash buried under tons of paper once and they apparently ran downstairs themselves and were in a bag at the checkout counter when I got there

being so helpful when you least want them to be. this speaks to the way of indians, as what was said on the "aggressive hospitality" thread by navinkurian2002*.

i suppose u want to GIVE clothes as charity.

so i recomend you to go to any temple (famous one) in city where u are heading for and distribute among the poor peoples sitting outside the temples

or


you can go to a slum area, of course with a local person, and distribute it there.

or

go to a village nearby the town u r visiting, with a local person, and distribute among the needy families/poor ones.


do remember tht the clothes should be distributed among kids and old one only , besides handicapped, as these are the people who will be needing them most.


though u r doing a g8 work by bringing these clotes all the way from ur place for the needy peoples. a little more labour on ur part, distributing these clothes to needy one directly, will definatly result in HELPING THE NEEDY

and regarding i will say that you should atleast mention the state u r visiting so tht you can get a good suggestion.

Bit of a thread revival here - but I wanted to ask this question. I think the OP (maybe) was wondering if there were good places to buy vintage clothing and so on... Here I buy lots of 50's 60's 70's 80's vintage clothing, jewellry and sunglasses, bags etc - not to mention other bits and pieces! I was also wondering if, with India's British heritage and connections, there were many Early 20th century colonial type collectables, as well as later 20th century bits and pieces..

If they were - would they be in antique shops? Junk shops?

We'll be in Mumbai. Delhi and Rajasthan..

I think it was Malik Bazaar in Mumbai, where I found (many many years ago) a pile of flapper dresses, and some small and interesting objects. I wonder what you'd find now.

That's the kind of stuff I was thinking of - I guess it just pops up in flea markets and so on.... One would imagine India would be full of expats old stuff that they'd gone off and left - especially the 70s and 80s stuff. I'll just have to browse really well!

Hi, hope it's ok that I revive this thread. Maybe some new places popped up since 2007? I too am a lover of all things preloved, finding a bunch of flapper dresses in a bazaar would be my dream!

So are there any shops or markets with retro/semi-antique clothes and things, like posters för example?

Also interested in second hand books, preferably in Delhi, as we're going home from there.

Any good websites with detailed shopping directories?

Thanks!