Diggers for Deals

My dad recently sent me an article from the New York Times about cheap affordable fashion. The article mentioned stores like American Apparel (already in the U-District) and H&M (coming soon to the U-Village!), stores that I know some (most. many. well, it's hard to qualify) students shop at. But I was appalled that these were categorized as places to get cheap clothes. It was obvious that the article did not pertain to Seattle fashion, and that the writer did not consult with me.

I buy by the pound. Yes, my friends, I am a digger. For the past year and a half I have been scavenging the bins at the Good Will Outlet in the SODO district. The place has many nicknames, such as “the bins,” or “diggers” as my friend Becca (the one who first took me there) calls it. Diggers is a giant warehouse organized by rows of bins. One on side there is a furniture and home appliances section, and along the back wall there are bikes and books and random housewares.

Here is how it works: Give your self plenty of time, and don’t arrive too close to closing time. Some people wear medical gloves and SARS masks. I usually try to remember to bring hand sanitizer. The first thing to do is to find a shopping cart. It is polite to wait by the cash register until a customer has paid and then take their empty cart. Then, pick a row of bins and begin digging!

The only rules are: don’t go shopping in other peoples carts; don’t steal carts; and when the new bins are rolled out don’t touch anything until the employee’s give you the OK.

Once your cart is overflowing and your arms are sore from moving piles of winter coats and bedspreads, wheel on over to the try-on station where everyone fights to get a peek of themselves in the one mirror available. 

Once you start you can’t go back. I only buy the necessities from “real” stores, because it is difficult to legitimate spending $25 on one shirt when I know I could spend that same amount and walk away with approximately 18 pounds of clothing, shoes and/or unique decorative items for my apartment.

But you pay a price for being an exclusive digger. My roommate made a joke once that if you get a present from me, chances are, it’s used. I see no shame in this. I disinfect. I wash. I mend.

Once I found a $175 pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans, and guess how much I paid? $2. But I am not a label-whore, and good thing, because most of the items are one of a kind, vintage, home-sewn items that do no have any sort of tag.

For me, Diggers defines everything that student shopping should be: cheap, plentiful and filthy!!!

 
Topics: UW , fashion , diggers , goodwill outlet