Dressing cool when you don't have a lot of CA$H

By Amanda Shaw
The Scene Editor

Linck and Bauer model clothing from Target. Photo by Dan Ramirez

Every morning, college students across the nation struggle with the same dilemma: what to wear.

More importantly, they have to decide not only what to wear, but how to do it relatively cheap, while still looking pretty darn sharp.

A lot of pressure? You bet. But don’t worry, we’ve got the scoop on nice, but cheap clothes.

Last week, The Scene staff took two courageous individuals for a day of comparison shopping.

We helped Arts & Sciences senior Melanie Bauer and Arts & Sciences junior Adam Linck shop at Banana Republic, Goodwill, Old Navy, Plato’s Closet and Target.

But which of those stores offered the cheapest price for clothes that are nice enough to wear to school? You might be surprised.

It turns out that a college student can find a nice outfit while still under budget constraints.

At Goodwill, the total for both outfits was $16. Pants and shirts for both Bauer and Linck cost $3.99 a piece. Goodwill has several locations in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area, including a new location at the Madison Avenue exit off I-80 in Council Bluffs.

The clothing

was cheap and looked like it. Goodwill only had one pair of pants in Linck’s size, and Bauer’s pants, which were in the pants section, ended up being capris.

If nothing else, Goodwill is a great place to pick up clothes for a costume party or dirty work around the house.

Plato’s Closet, located at 3406 S. 144th St., offers used clothes with a higher quality than Goodwill.

Plato’s Closet buys and sells clothes, shoes, outerwear, accessories, books, CDs and DVDs, videos, lamps, black lights and picture frames.

They only accept name-brand, junior-oriented clothes like J. Crew, Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger and others.

Bauer’s shirt from Abercrombie & Fitch was $14 and her Calvin Klein pants were $12 for a total of $26.

Linck’s shirt from American Eagle Outfitters was $10 and his pants from Abercrombie & Fitch were $16.

The grand total at Plato’s Closet was $52.

If you bring in washed, unstained items with no tears or cuts that were not part of the clothes originally, Plato’s Closet will give you an immediate bid.

They buy clothes for 30-40 percent off the price the clothes will sell at in their store. This comes to about $3-$5 per clothing item.

Target’s clothing lines are increasingly being directed toward younger teens who want to look hip without spending a lot of money.

At Target, both Bauer and Linck found cargo pants for under $25. Bauer’s were $19.99 and Linck’s were $24.99.

Their shirts, without the designer label, still looked comparable to anything at Old Navy or Banana Republic.

Bauer’s shirt was on clearance for a very reasonable $6.48 and Linck’s shirt was $12.99.

Old Navy was established in 1994 and has grown steadily every year since.

Bauer’s button-down oxford shirt was $19.50 and her pants were on sale for $12.99.

Linck’s zip cargos were on sale for $25 and his cabin plaid shirt was $19.50.

Banana Republic sells men’s and women’s clothing. They target high school-aged consumers to people in their 40s.

The general manager at Banana Republic believes their clothes appeal to a wide range of clothing tastes.

“ I even have a customer in her 60s who shops here all the time,” said Gayle Kuhlman, general manager.

The clothes, accessories and shoes at Banana Republic are the most expensive of the stores we visited. The atmosphere of the store and the helpfulness of employees, as well as the quality of the clothing helps to justify the higher costs.

The details in Banana Repubic’s clothing include silkier fabrics, clothes with liners and tailored cuts.
Banana Republic will tailor pants that are too long or do not quite fit.

The store tends to be very up to date and cosmopolitan. Other stores like Old Navy, a part of the same GAP corporation, and Target follow its trends.

Banana Republic also can telephone stores in other cities to find a certain item and ship it to Omaha’s store.

The outfit that Linck tried on at Banana Republic cost a total of $146. With a belt and a hat to complete the look, the cost tops out at $209.

Clothes picked out by Bauer were priced similarly to the men’s clothing. Her button down casual-dress shirt was priced at $48. Her khaki pants, with unique details on the seams waistline, were $49. With a purse added, the total cost of the outfit was $125.

Finding outfits at reasonable prices takes a lot of time and a considerable amount of effort, but even if you can save $10 or $12 on an outfit, that’s $10 or $12 you can use for something else.



Adam Linck, Arsts & Sciences junior, and Melanie Bauer, Arts & Sciences senior, pose some of their clothing finds.

Photo by Dan Ramirez