What started as me just dropping off some old clothes to donate ended with me not leaving as empty-handed as I'd hoped. Oh well, these are pretty sweet.

Since getting back from my senior trip to France & Italy, I've been pretty partial to buying post-trip souvenirs. (Like this Dolomite Expedition-inspired coat!) Well... here's another late souvenir from the most beautiful country I've been to. Saw these on the rack and thought they were a pair of Adidas at first, because of the three stripes. Took a closer look and noticed the pretty blatant Italian written all over it. I knew "d'Oro" meant gold, cause high school Spanish. Picked them up and they felt pretty nice. The tread was barely worn, the leather felt real, and I loved the stars and classic/vintage feel of them. Tried them on, they fit perfectly. It seemed kinda weird to have Italian shoes in an Idaho Goodwill, so I figured these were probably pretty cool.

Got home and discovered two things. First, the middle star on the left shoe is missing. Oops. (Still would have gotten them if I'd noticed that to begin with.) Secondly, that these are really Italian made, and by a company that is one of my new favorites! (Pantofola d'Oro--look at their other shoes! SO gorgeous!! If I had hundreds of euros to splourge on a single pair, I'd do it!) They only recently started to distribute in the states, and only in a handful of boutiques in bigger cities. These have the US size printed on the bottom of the tongue, so that tells me these probably weren't originally purchased in Italy, but from one of these boutiques. Amazon has a similar pair of these shoes for something like 80 euros, but the company's online store only has a couple shoes priced under 200 euros. So this is definitely a pretty high-quality footwear find!

It was looking like another day of "nada" in my thrift shopping adventures. I decided to double back and see if I missed anything in the shoe racks. Whether I missed these, or they put these out while I was looking around elsewhere, I don't know. But as far as thrift-shopping gold goes, I hit the jackpot with these.

These go for $260-$270 new. This pair is in great condition, already broken in a little bit. They're sturdy, hefty, lifetime boots.

The problem for me is that they're a size 8. I can barely get my foot in there with thin socks. Though I can repeatedly succeed, it's not quite worth my discomfort to wear these guys around. My half-size-small Doc Martens are one thing. These hurt to put on. So I figured somebody else would like them more than I do.

​These have plenty of adventures and years left to live in them. I'm currently selling them on Grailed right here - https://www.grailed.com/listings/1114812 if you're interested!

This coat caught my eye due to the mention of the Dolomites, an area of mountains in Northern Italy above Venice that I was able to visit in June of this year. I pulled it off the rack and admired all the cool patches, pockets, and the "Karakorum Dolomite" lettering on the back. I tried it on, and... it fit like it was made for me. (Probably helps that it's supposed to make you look like a marshmallow.)

In another size further down the rack was an Abercrombie and Fitch down coat, much like this one, even with an "A&F" patch on the shoulder. (It didn't look quite as cool, IMO.) It was priced at $39.99! This is another example of hitting the best deals when consignment stores don't know the brand. This coat of an unidentifiable brand (new with tags!) was priced at $19.99. So I got this one, super excited about it.

Took it home, looked it over, and did some research. One of the tags had a price tag in yen, which converted to over $600USD! Now, I'm fairly certain that was one of those fake price tags that make you feel like you're saving money when you buy a coat for $200 instead of the $600 on the tag, but I really don't know. It's got a lot of pockets, supposedly used real down, and an extra sew-on patch featuring the Dolomite Mountains that I sewed onto a denim jacket of mine.

Oh! And when I tried it on at home, I noticed it had a balaclava mask attached in the hood! I feel like I could go hike Mount Everest (or the Dolomites themselves) when I wear this thing. It actually made me excited for snow and cold.

I'm a big fan of Doc Martens. A frequent daydream of mine was finding a pair of docs when I'm thrift shopping. Well... that daydream was realized. I want to say they're "vintage" Docs from the 90s, just cause they don't have the same modern cut, but I'm really not sure.

They're a very large size 9, and I'm usually a size 10-10.5 so they're pretty snug. But with a pair of thin socks, you won't hear me complaining thanks to the $3.99 price tag! What?!? WHAT? Thanks, Goodwill!

I love chelsea boots. They're slick, they're stylish, they're versatile, they're easy to put on and take off, and they make me feel like Harry Styles. What more could you want? I'd been wanting a nice pair of black chelsea boots for a while and totally scored these. They're marked as a size 9, but as a size 10-10.5, they fit me perfectly. My guess is someone ordered a size 9 and they were too big, so they just donated them. Works for me! This pair of boots is definitely one of the best finds I've ever had.

When thrifting, you make the most money when stores make mistakes, or don't know the brands. This is one of my best finds. It was $12.99, the same price as some dress shirts in this store. I'd bought a Forever 21 denim jacket at the same place for $14.99. This one is actual Levi's brand, and from what I can tell comes from the Netherlands / somewhere in Europe? It's packed with little details that I love, and while a bit big on me, and with some weird creases that can be ironed out, it's probably the coolest jacket I own.

I've always liked the look of PF Flyers, and I like that they're different enough from Converse to stand out. Found this pair for $5.99 at Goodwill.  They had a few stains but those came out pretty easily, seeing as the outer isn't canvas, but some kind of plastic/rubber. I wear these guys a lot and LOVE them!