Howdy, Thrifters
I want to start this week’s issue with a huge thank you to everyone!
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Here’s what I have on theRack for us this week:
Table of Contents
The Reseller’s Burden
Getting into resale is all fun and games — until you keep pushing off the one thing you must do if you want to actually succeed at it. The thing that's painstakingly time-consuming. The thing we always say we'll get to "after this one last haul."
Listing. Listing an item online is the Reseller's Burden we all carry if we want to stay in the game.
And it's the least fun part of the game. Yes, I know — there are tools out there built specifically to make listing easier. But still, somebody's gotta take the pictures.
And pictures need the right lighting. The right cover shot. Front. Back. Measurements.
I'd rather be out sourcing. But it's something that has to get done. Without it, funds dry up, and we can't buy more treasure. So we list to source, and source to list, over and over, when all we really want to be doing is sourcing.
Last issue I talked about Sourcing FOMO and how to manage it — turns out a lot of the same rules apply to listing.
Block out dedicated listing time each week.
Set a real goal: 20 items photographed, 10 items listed.
Bribe yourself. "No sourcing until 10 more are listed" — and actually hold the line.
So, a poll for my fellow online resellers:
What's your least favorite part about the listing process?
Ok, now on to the important stuff…
👴🏻 Style Breakdown: Eclectic Grandpa
Anyone else here remember when Mackelmore was rapping about taking your grandpa’s style back in 2010? Well, he wasn’t talking about this Grandpa style exactly, but he was on to something.
This issue we're zeroing in on the Eclectic Grandpa style — sweaters and outerwear specifically.
What it is:
Eclectic Grandpa is exactly what it sounds like: your grandfather's closet, if your grandfather had incredible, unbothered taste. Chunky knits, loud patterns worn with total confidence, mismatched textures, pieces that look "collected over decades" because they actually were. It's charm over polish.
And to be clear: this is not just menswear trend. "Grandpa" describes the source material, not the customer. Oversized cardigans and boxy knits have been a women's styling staple for years (throw one over a slip dress or bike shorts and it's an outfit), and the appeal cuts across genders and age brackets.
🔎 What to Look For:
Chunky, textured knits — cable knit, fair isle, intarsia patterns, anything with real weight to it. Thin, flat-knit sweaters don't read as "grandpa," they read as "target clearance."
Pattern confidence. Argyle, geometric, novelty (yes, including the genuinely ugly holiday ones — there's a whole market for those separately), color-blocked panels. The uglier-but-charming end of the spectrum is often the better find.
Cardigans over pullovers, when you can find them. Cardigans layer better for styling content and tend to photograph as more "outfit," which helps sell-through.
Outerwear in the same spirit: wool car coats, quilted vests, corduroy jackets, tweed. Same "collected, not curated" energy as the knitwear.
Natural fibers age better and sell better. Check the tag — wool, lambswool, and cotton blends hold shape and color over decades; cheap acrylic from the same era usually looks it.
Condition nuance: minor pilling is fine (even expected — it reads as authentic), but check elbows and cuffs for wear-through, and always check for moth holes before listing.
🍞 Bread and Butter Brands:
LL Bean (vintage knits) — Classic, findable, and underpriced relative to demand. The fair isle and cable knit pieces especially fit the aesthetic. Look for wool and vintage tags. As we get closer to fall, I expect this brand to start selling even more. (💰 Avg. Sale Price of $28.33 on eBay)
Cowichan-style cardigans — The chunky, shawl-collar cardigan with bold geometric knit patterns (yes, the Mr. Rogers cardigan). Instantly recognizable once you know to look for it, and most sourcers walk right past them without knowing the name.
Vintage cardigans, unbranded or department-store label — Don't sleep on the no-name finds. A killer pattern doesn't need a logo to sell; buyers are shopping the look, not always the brand, in this category more than most. Keep an eye out for older department-store labels like Jantzen, McGregor, and Towncraft — not grail names, but consistently well-made and easy to overlook at a quarter each. A great place to source these cheap are Church sales, so definitely be on the lookout.
Vintage Pendleton — The other anchor brand of this aesthetic, wool and built for decades — but genuinely harder to find in the wild than the others on this list, especially in knitwear. Treat any Pendleton sweater or wool jacket you spot as a near-BOLO: grab it, don't deliberate. (📈 up 100+ spots on Poshwatch top selling brands in June)
👀 BOLO Brand: Misoni
A true gem of this aesthetic — Italian heritage knitwear with unmistakable zigzag and chevron patterns, worn by people whose closets look "collected" because they were genuinely curated over decades. Real vintage Missoni surfaces in donation piles more often than you'd expect, because the label means nothing to most sourcers. Check any bold geometric knit twice. (💰 Avg. Sale Price of $78.88 on eBay)
🏷️ Tags & Keywords:
Core tags: eclectic grandpa · grandpa sweater · grandpa core · cottage grandpa · thrifted knit
Descriptive keywords: chunky knit · cable knit · fair isle · cardigan · wool cardigan · quarter zip sweater · patchwork sweater · cowichan cardigan
Crossover tags: cottagecore · dark academia (for the outerwear/tweed crossover) · unisex vintage · coogi sweater (adjacent search traffic, not core aesthetic)
Seller tip: tag every eligible listing "unisex" or list in both men's and women's search categories where the platform allows — this style's buyer base skews mixed, and single-gender tagging quietly caps your audience.
🗞️ Second Hand News:
⬆️ Brands on the Move:
Here are a few brands who took big jumps up Poshwatch’s top selling brands chart between May and June.
Old Navy - yes, that Old Navy. It took a major leap forward, cracking the top 100 in June by moving all the way to #97 on the list from #144 in May. Now, before you go buying up half of Goodwill’s Old Navy inventory, this jump is heavily centered around the vintage stuff.
PeterMillar - Will follow along with this to see how it’s performing outside of golf season. It’s moved from #128 in May to #99 in June.
GAP - again, you want to focus on vintage and Y2K era here, but GAP is seeing a resurgence going from #113 in May to #80 in June.
💫 Finds of the Week:
Want to show off your find to nearly 3,000 people? Submit your best (or favorite) finds to [email protected] with the subject line “Check out this find” and I will select 2-3 to be featured every week.
For this week, check out these finds:
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