the cashmere polo that started a knitwear brand obsession
+ 38 similar pieces under $100 in the secondhand sonar google doc
If you upgrade your subscription today, 20% goes towards the Berkeley Food Pantry!
Over the years, my stamina for a proper thrift crawl has waned.
There was once a time when I lived in LA and my Saturday plans were brunch, followed by 3-4 hours of secondhand store hopping in the Melrose area. I would park on the side streets in the adjacent richy rich neighborhood because I was too scared to parallel park on the main drag, and walk about two blocks to my first stop, Crossroads. This was because the prices were generally cheaper. For example, the exact same ratty Helmut Lang tank with the deepest armpit scoops you’ve ever seen would cost 30% more at Wasteland across the street.
Sometimes I’d go east, making a day out of the Goodwill and Silverlake Crossroads. It was all I wanted to do. I would lose track of time. When I eventually went home, I would immediately launder my trophies of the day so I could wear them ASAP.
Now, I’m a lot pickier about how I spend my leisure time…especially when it comes to shopping. My window of tolerance for things like high-pitched squeaky plastic hangers, eczema-triggering dust, and pupil-searing overhead lighting in the changing room is just very, very low. I get overstimulated.
I hope this doesn’t make me sound like a bitter old bitch. I’ve just come to savor spending my precious time on other things that nurture my well-being! Also, I’m an eBay gremlin and the online finds are hard to beat.
This has been my long-winded way of saying that it’s kinda rare that I actually go out with the intent to secondhand shop IRL. But the other day, I was in the Oakland Lakeshore area and decided to pop into ReLove because (1) it’s well-curated and (2) the owner, Delilah, is really fun to talk to when she’s in.
And then something happened that hasn’t happened in a long time…the FIRST rack I flip through, I find something I IMMEDIATELY like.
It was a green knit polo, in the prettiest shade that looked more chartreuse in the light and more grassy in the dark. The pointed collar was neat and precise, and three covered buttons adorned the neckline. It was sooooo fucking Prada, I thought. The hand feel was undoubtedly cashmere, but I grubbily pawed for the tag to check. Yep—100% cashmere. I tried it on and it fit. It was $50, a very fair price for what it was, I think.
This experience encapsulated the best of what secondhand shopping IRL offers—the spontaneous discovery. I never actively thought “I need a cashmere polo in my wardrobe,” but now I can’t imagine NOT having it.
The more I wore it, the more I loved it. It blended seamlessly into my wardrobe, filling gaps I didn’t realize where there.
The cashmere quality is quite nice, but it’s not mind-blowing. I would say it’s comparable to J.Crew quality. It’s a fine, tight gauge knit that does not itch against my skin. It’s really the specificity of the color and the design that I’m smitten with.
My mounting obsession led me to research other knitwear from the brand, which was random in that I had never heard of it.
(I feel like a department store might have carried it in 2007 or whatever, but it never got big). And at least for now, there hasn’t been any sort of resurgence fueled by the secondhand shopping girlies.
I ended up buying another knit, a green striped v-neck made of a super lightweight cashmere and silk blend for $50. It layered perfectly over the cashmere polo.
Below the fold:
the brand to know :)
38 knitwear pieces in the secondhand sonar google doc, primarily from this brand. I added comparable styles from other brands as well so more sizes are represented.
Everything is under $100
I found two versions of my exact cashmere polo, just in raspberry pink and pumpkin orange!