Gothic Clothing for People on a Budget

Can someone please tell me why Goth clothing is so bloddy expensive?! Don't they know we all don't have trust funds to fall back on?

If you know of any websites or walk-in stores that sell Gothic clothing at resonable price let me know. Or if there's anyone out there who is pretty crafty with a needle and thread or a sewing machine please leave behind some tips and tricks. I think we all might be able to benefit from this one.

Thanx!!!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Felicia on May 14, 2011 at 12:03am

* correction: bloody

Permalink Reply by Jasmine on May 14, 2011 at 7:58pm

Its expensive cause of the materials and smaller market. In fact most of my clothes are hand wash cause of the materials. A reasonable place to find clothes would be ebay. Ebay tends to have an abundance of more j-rock Japanese lolita stuff but accasionally you come across a good find for less. but if you if you are looking for a more specific shop. Velvetgarden.com is a good place to look. Its a thrift shop so anyone can post used and/or pre owned clothes and items. Lately they have mostly had clothes from A Little Touch of Magick on their site. A little touch of magick also has some good clothes for less. It is a Wiccan site but has a decent collection of clothes. Lipservice has sells but there shipping is expensive. There are a couple of sites that have decent prices but there shipping is murder. such as http://www.the-gothic-shop.co.uk/ there are so many sites but off the top of my head very few are cheap. DIY is the cheapest option. I myself, can make corsets which, if made in multiples, ends up being cheaper than buying them. whatthecraft has great tutorials on how to make clothes really easy and quick.

Permalink Reply by Felicia on May 14, 2011 at 11:03pm

Oohhh. You make corsets? That's f-ing awesome! Would you mind sending me a how to guide? I'm not that great with a sewing machine but i bought one way back in the day that was crazy expensive, so i guess i should put some use to it. Not to mention the fact that this economy sux so homespuns are probably back in style.

Thank you so much for the info and if you're able to come up with that guide for me i would greatly appreciate it!

Permalink Reply by Jasmine on May 15, 2011 at 6:13pm

If you are not the best with a sewing machine i wouldn't suggest attempting to make a corset. it is one of the harder clothing garments to sew. I will try to post a tutorial though

Permalink Reply by Ms. Dahl on May 16, 2011 at 7:59pm

The Lady of Manners from Gothic Charm School posted on this very subject, I think. I hope it is of help to you. :)

http://gothic-charm-school.com/charm/?p=430

Permalink Reply by Felicia on May 19, 2011 at 2:31pm

Thanks so much for the advice! I've checked out everything that you guys suggested and I'm even going to get some sewing classes. I'm so excited! Maybe after I've taken a coulple of classes I can post pics of what I've made!

Permalink Reply by AfroCuban on May 19, 2011 at 3:42pm

Sweet.

Felicia said:

Thanks so much for the advice! I've checked out everything that you guys suggested and I'm even going to get some sewing classes. I'm so excited! Maybe after I've taken a coulple of classes I can post pics of what I've made!

Permalink Reply by Kurojira Uzumaki on May 22, 2011 at 5:30pm

I used to be a moderator on a DIY site which is still up for reference, but no longer active, called, "Antimony & Lace": http://gothfashion.info/

That's the site for you if you are so bold and innovative as to DIY (IMHO that's precisely what every Punk, Goth, Skin, Rasta, should be doing!)

Most of my personal posts related to rubberism, specifically neoprene, but I haven't made anything rubber since 2006, I think. It was a rubber dress for a scenewhore, who shafted me on the deal. Last Laugh is that it didn't fit right (I measured her in the nightclub storage room with an impromptu tape measure made out of ductape, drunk) and she didn't have the brains to follow up for alterations.

Permalink Reply by Jasmine on May 23, 2011 at 1:33pm

I used to love Antimony and Lace! why is it that it is not active?

Kurojira Uzumaki said:

I used to be a moderator on a DIY site which is still up for reference, but no longer active, called, "Antimony & Lace": http://gothfashion.info/

That's the site for you if you are so bold and innovative as to DIY (IMHO that's precisely what every Punk, Goth, Skin, Rasta, should be doing!)

Most of my personal posts related to rubberism, specifically neoprene, but I haven't made anything rubber since 2006, I think. It was a rubber dress for a scenewhore, who shafted me on the deal. Last Laugh is that it didn't fit right (I measured her in the nightclub storage room with an impromptu tape measure made out of ductape, drunk) and she didn't have the brains to follow up for alterations.

Permalink Reply by Kurojira Uzumaki on May 24, 2011 at 6:44pm

To those that are bold enough to sew:

When I was trying to learn how to make patterns I found that JoAnn fabrics sometimes host an intro to the European method, Lutterloh, which generates patterns from taking one measurement according to the golden sector (golden ratio, fibonacci sequence, biometrics, etc.) which fascinated me... Only thing is, Yeah, they were charging for it. It's worth the research and the fits are uncanny. Search Engine: "lutterloh patterns free" might lead to some gold if you're creative enough.

Permalink Reply by MissE on May 28, 2011 at 3:08pm

I second and third a lot of what has already been suggested (DIY, thrift/vintage store, ebay, Antimony & Lace, Velvet Garden, though I find them to be only useful if you are on the smaller side).

As far as some other suggestions:

*If there is a particular brand or store or whatever that you like, try finding out if they have a mailing list, twitter, etsy or some other means of following updates. A lot of shops have sales throughout the year but you only find out about them if you are following them in some way. Also, old stock/odd stock/over stock is often placed on discount on etsy or ebay stores so check them out too.

*Sales communities. If you are on livejournal there are tons of them. Another great place to find second hand and discounted items.

*Try looking on the sales rack of non-gothy stores. It seems like every couple of seasons or so, different subsets of the subculture get mainstream attention and you can find stuff in your neighborhood big box that you can almost use right off the rack. I tend to snap this stuff up when it goes on clearance or searching off season stores like Marshalls, Ross and TJMaxx. Also, expand your mind for where you can find items especially when it comes to accessories. I don't have a local spooky store any more so I buy all my hosiery and stuff like bondage belts at my local sex shop and I have friends who are more on the industrial side of things and frequently make jewelery out of stuff from Home Depot.

Also, I'm a tutorial/DIY junkie and I have books, magazine tear outs, links and even some print outs from now gone sites (it's funny how I didn't realize until recently just how many early goth sites, especially those with DIY stuff were on Geocities...) so if there's anything you or anyone else wants in particular, I can look through my collection and see what I've got.

Permalink Reply by Trip Saibot on June 2, 2011 at 7:22pm

You can find a deal on something you like on ebay. It might not cost as much as the stuff you find in......hot topic <_< But some of the clothing will be between the price of 50 - 60 dollars. and accessories and most t-shirts will be between 2 - 35 dollars.