The key is to find pieces made of all natural materials (pure silk, wool, cashmere, etc etc). I don't really care whether I know the label, as long as its all 100% natural, high quality material. And if you end up with a vintage label piece, then bonus!
Keep in mind thrifting does take time and patience but can make for a fun girlfriend/sis/mom/partner date! Another caveat is the potential added costs for dry-cleaning and tailoring/altering a fancy find, but you still end up saving! Yes, I'm obsessed with thrifting, and another bonus is that its consumption-conscious: reduce, reuse, recycle kids!
Here is an outfit that I put together for a day at the internship, using a thrifted 100% pure silk blazer I got for $7! I did have to get it tailored for $20, but its still worth it I think...
Next on my thrifting hunt is a denim vest (member those?) and silk blouses, stay tuned...
So there you have it, my thrifting secrets revealed, now go forth and thrift!
ps: Blogger doesn't recognize thrifting as a word =O, "clicks add to dictionary"