Generic clothes in/near downtown LA?

October 23, 2008 6:25 PM

CostumeFilter: I'm making my own henchman costume this Halloween, and I'll be driving past downtown LA tomorrow morning. Are there any specific stores I should check out if I'm looking for cheap generic clothes? I'm looking for solid color plain long-sleeve shirts, sweatpants, things of that nature. Bonus points if I can find gloves and cheap generic boots.

I'm trying to avoid actual costume shops because they can be pricey, and I'm not certain it's worth the effort to find e.g. yellow superhero boots (since there aren't any major superheros who wear them). The same applies to the gloves.

posted by spiderskull to clothing, beauty, & fashion (6 comments total)

Uniform companies, for scrubs?
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 7:34 PM on October 23, 2008

Just an FYI on the yellow boots and gloves - my husband tried to find them for his costume this year and couldn't find them in any stores or online. The closest he could find were those latex cleaning gloves and rain boots. Not cool. :( We didn't feel like making boots/gloves so he changed costumes. Not sure if you'll have any luck finding them in LA or not, but if we can't even find one pair on eBay during the weeks leading up to Halloween, I don't know if they exist! If you do find a source online, could you please update this thread?

So, are you going to be Henchman 21 or 24? It's Venture Bros, right?
posted by bristolcat at 7:46 PM on October 23, 2008

I shop in the fashion district in LA fairly frequently, and honestly, for what you are looking for, I think you'd be better off at someplace like Wal-Mart, or K-Mart. The stuff downtown can be cheap but it is typically "high fashion" or at least something that passes for such. Even better, find one of those "10 tee shirts for 10 bucks" kinds of places. They usually have sweats and long sleeved tee shirts, especially this time of year. They are common in suburban strip malls.
posted by jvilter at 10:35 PM on October 23, 2008

bristolcat -- Ha, yes... I guess VB is getting more popular, hence the rise in henchmen. I'm determined, though, and my sister's adept at making clothes.

jvilter -- okay, this is good to know. I wasn't sure if the textile district stores catered to these types of customers; I wanted to try my luck before I tried the t-shirt warehouse places.
posted by spiderskull at 1:05 AM on October 24, 2008

American Apparel has a bunch of LA locations, & their specialty is generic stuff, in many shades. They even have ideas for costumes on the site, as well as a Halloween contest (using their items, of course). They don't seem to have footwear, but they do have gloves.
posted by Laura in Canada at 4:47 AM on October 24, 2008

American Apparel has a bunch of LA locations...

American Apparel can be pretty expensive so I wouldn't make this your first choice.
posted by alitorbati at 5:33 PM on October 24, 2008