REF 001

The thrift glossary.

36 words you meet on racks, labels and listings, each explained in a line or two.

Buying and condition.

Deadstock: Old stock that was never sold or worn, often still with its original tags. A deadstock piece can be decades old and still new.
NWT: New with tags: never worn, and the shop or brand tags are still attached.
Export surplus: Clothing made for export but sold locally instead: factory overruns, cancelled orders and pieces rejected for small faults. Much of what Sarojini Nagar sells. Sarojini Nagar guide →
Flawed Gem: The SZN2 condition grade for a piece with a visible flaw worth living with, such as a small mark or a repaired seam. The flaw is described and photographed in the listing.
One of one: A single piece with no restock. On SZN2 almost every listing is one of one: when it sells, it is gone.
Grail: A rare, long-wanted piece: the one a collector has been hunting for years. Shop grails →
Curator: On SZN2, an independent thrift store that finds, checks, photographs and ships its own pieces. Meet the curators →
Drop: A batch of pieces released together at a set time, often announced in advance. The best pieces go in the first minutes.
First copy: In India, a close copy of a branded item, sold openly as a copy. It is not made or licensed by the brand. Spot a fake jersey →
Upcycled: Made new from old material: a bag cut from worn jeans, a jacket patched from offcuts. Different from vintage, which is worn as it was made. Shop upcycled →

Pit to pit: The width of a top laid flat, measured straight across from one armpit seam to the other. Double it for the full chest. The most useful number in any listing. Sizing guide →
Shoulder (seam to seam): Width across the back from one shoulder seam to the other. The one fit a tailor cannot properly change. What a darzi can alter →
Rise: On trousers and jeans, the distance from the crotch seam to the top of the waistband. Low-rise sits on the hips, high-rise at the waist.
Inseam: The leg length of trousers, measured from the crotch seam down the inside leg to the hem.
Boxy: Cut wide and short, falling straight from the shoulders. Typical of nineties and Y2K tees and many vintage shirts.
Oversized: Cut, or deliberately worn, bigger than the body. Check the shoulder measurement: oversized on purpose still sits right at the shoulder.

Selvedge: Denim woven on shuttle looms, whose edge finishes itself as a clean band, often with a coloured line. Visible on the outseam when the hem is turned up. What is selvedge? →
Raw denim: Denim that has never been washed after dyeing: stiff and dark, and it fades to the wearer over time.
Sanforized: Pre-shrunk fabric. Sanforized denim shrinks little in the wash; unsanforized can shrink a size or more.
Big E: Levi’s made before 1971, whose Red Tab spells LEVI’S with a capital E. Later tabs read Levi’s with a small e. Spot fake Levi’s →
Arcuate: The double arc stitched on the back pockets of Levi’s jeans, one of the oldest trademarks in clothing.
Original hem: A way of shortening jeans that keeps the factory hem: the tailor shortens above it and reattaches it, so the worn edge and the fade stay.
Chain-stitched hem: A hem sewn with a looping chain stitch, which ripples as denim fades. Common on vintage jeans and prized by denim collectors.

Single stitch: One row of stitching on a T-shirt’s sleeve and hem. Typical of tees made before the late 1990s, and one of the quickest ways to date a vintage tee.
Union tag: A label showing a garment was made by union workers, common on older American clothing. Its design helps date the piece.
RN number: Registered Identification Number, issued by the US Federal Trade Commission to companies selling textiles in the US. Searchable, so it can confirm who made a garment. Spot a fake Carhartt →
Care label: The inside label with fibre content, washing symbols and often a style number and country of manufacture. The first place to look when judging a piece. How to wash thrift →
Product code: The style and colour code printed on a garment’s inside tag. Searching it should show that exact item, which makes it a strong check against copies.

Vintage: Generally, clothing at least 20 years old, worn as it was made.
Retro: New clothing made to look like an earlier era. A retro football shirt is a modern remake; a vintage one was made in its season.
Y2K: The style of roughly 1997 to 2004: low-rise jeans, baby tees, mesh, satin and loud logos. Y2K guide →
Workwear: Clothing built for manual work, from brands like Carhartt and Dickies: heavy cotton duck, triple stitching, chore coats and carpenter trousers.
Streetwear: Casual style rooted in skate, hip-hop and sports culture: graphic tees, hoodies, track jackets and sneakers. Shop streetwear →
Gorpcore: Outdoor and hiking gear (fleeces, shell jackets, trail shoes) worn as everyday fashion.
Old money: Quiet, classic pieces that look inherited rather than bought: knitwear, oxford shirts, tailored trousers, no logos. Shop old money →
Darzi: A tailor, in Hindi and Urdu. Every neighbourhood in India has one, which makes slightly-too-big thrift a safe buy. What a darzi can alter →

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