We went hunting in the charity shop’s ‘rag house’ and were stunned by our discoveries – we found a £80 bag & £600 shirt
IT’S where all the clothes, accessories and sundries go when they aren’t sold at the charity shop.
But one woman was lucky enough to be allowed to search through her local “rag house” – also known as a textile recycling centre – and was stunned by what she found.
Lola Amuah is a thrifting pro, and regularly shares videos of her antics on her social media pages.
And in a recent TikTok, Lola posted a clip of herself and her thrifting pal Pete searching through the huge bins of items.
Things began well as Lola spotted a Fjällräven Kånken backpack, which would usually retail for around £80.
“Needs a bit of a wash but that’s decent isn’t it?!” a clearly delighted Lola said.
Next up, she spotted an “early 2000s” Juicy Couture purse, which even had the monogrammed designer fabric inside.
Bags seemed to be the theme of the day, as they then found a Mickey Mouse bag with “Oh Boy” written on the front.
She then found a Winnie the Pooh plush backpack, and another backpack which was new with tags from TK Maxx to take home for her daughters.
“What, what have you found?” Lola exclaimed, as Pete held up a football shirt with the name of Argentinian footballer Gabriel Batistuta on the back.
“Is that real?” she questioned, to which Pete said it was, and admitted it would cost around £600 new.
“How did he find a £600 shirt??” Lola captioned her video.
“Lots of good finds,” one person commented on the clip.
“Hoarders paradise in there!” Lola replied.
“Omg WHERE is this?! Is it open to the public?” another pleaded.
“This sadly isn’t open to public,” Lola said.
“We have a business relationship for my live streams.”
“This is heaven!” a third gushed.
Top charity shop tips for bagging a bargain
Ross Dutton has been a manager for Crisis's charity shops for four years and currently runs the charity's Finsbury Park shop in London.
Choose your area – As a rule of thumb, the posher the area, the better quality the clothes that are donated.
Don’t hang around – If you see something you like, buy it, as it’ll likely be gone when you come back
Look out for cut-off labels – Some of your favourite high street stores will have deals with local charity shops to donate stock that isn’t sold during their own sales. Often part of the deal is that they need to cut the labels off the clothes.
Stay at home – While some charities have their own site, like Oxfam and Crisis. many also sell from dedicated eBay stores, such as British Heart Foundation and Scope. You won’t get the range of bargains that you would get in a physical store, but if you’re looking for something specific it may be worth checking online too.
“Please tell me you got that juicy purse?” someone else questioned.
“I absolutely did! Had to!” Lola said in response.
“I love your excitement at everything your find,” another praised.
“Please THE first bag,” someone else gushed.
As another added: “OMG I’d love that Batistuta, what a player!”