THIRTEEN REASONS TO THRIFT
2022 JULY ISSUE
Written by : CAROLINE KOPAS
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From the Desk of the Publisher | Andrew Sia
I would like to outline the thirteen points as written by Caroline Kopas, who would become an activist for the sustainability eventually.
The outlines are:
- It’s a Reliable & Growing Industry
- It’s Affordable
- You Can Find Treasures
- There’s A Wide Variety of Goods
- You Can Limit Waste
- You Can Support Small Businesses
- You Can Shop With Less Guilt Part 1 (Concerning Sustainability and Human Rights)
- You Can Shop With Less Guilt Part 2 (Concerning Goods with Limited-Use and Children)
- Better Fit & Feel
- It Can Be A Sign to Corporations That Sustainable Practice Is the Way to Go
- It Can Be a Way to Create A Unique and One-of-A-Kind Wardrobe
- You Purchase Can Serve a Charitable Purpose
- It Can Be Fun!
THIRTEEN REASONS TO THRIFT
WHY RESALE APPAREL IS THE FUTURE OF RETAIL AND SUSTAINABILITY ?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines thrift as “the quality of using money and other resources carefully and not wastefully,” which is a definition that in and of itself embodies sustainability. And also, it happens to be a solution to one of sustainability’s biggest opponents: clothing.
As scientists forewarn an increasingly uninhabitable planet, the importance of sustainable living, or rather living in a way that doesn’t inhibit future generations from similar standards of living to what we are currently experiencing, is becoming incredibly significant and urgent in nature. It is clear that proactivity must occur in order to maintain our precious planet and its invaluable population.
The biggest offenders of sustainability are large corporations who operate with only profit on the top of their minds. To these corporations, their self-perceived consequence on the environment is negligible, or rather far enough away from influencing their profits to be ignorable. In this corporate world, it can be hard to find a way to impactfully fight against climate change as an individual. Although every effort is influential, especially in terms of collective action, there are more significant actions one can take besides settling for paper straws. And the answer is resale.
For decades, buying clothing at thrift stores and factory outlets been not only an affordable way to stock your wardrobe, but also a way to fill your closet with cool, retro, and unique clothing. Thrifting, and greater resale, is an amazing way to combat the unsustainable horrors of fast fashion and clothing waste that has been continuously utilized and beloved. It doesn’t require privilege, a stark change in practice, or anything of the sort. It only requires a willingness to brave the shop.
If you need more convincing, here is a list of thirteen reasons to thrift:
- It’s A Reliable & Growing Industry
The thrift industry not only is growing at an exponential rate, especially in comparison to the normal retail sector, but it is also a business model that, unlike department stores, is seemingly here to stay.
As thrifting becomes not only a popular alternative to both shopping at small boutiques and labyrinthine department stores, it is also emerging as a popular pastime. This has ensured the longevity of many resale and thrift stores. Goodwill has even outlasted former retail giants, like Sears-Roebuck and Lord and Taylor.
When I say the future of sustainability is in thrifting, I mean it more than in an environmental sense, although that sense is both worldly and comparatively significant. I also mean it in a sense that a sustainable option for shopping might actually outlast and outperform unsustainable ways of shopping.
When the malls around you become increasingly abandoned, look to your local thrift store.
2. It’s Affordable
There is no doubt that the price tags found at thrift stores are a lot more palatable than those found at other outlets and online alternatives. Because the products sold at resale stores are not new, (although the products very well could have never been used), the store’s prices are almost guaranteed to be lower than retail value. Sometimes, these drastic markdowns might even be hundreds of dollars less than what they are going for in non-resale.
All in all, thrifting is undoubtedly better for your wallet than most other retail options.
3. You Can Find Treasures
Thrifting can test your luck. You just might walk through the doors with twenty USD and walk out with hundreds of dollars-worth of goods. That is, if you have the right eye for value and are a bonafide treasure hunter.
Stories circulate all the time: So-and-so finds antique artwork worth millions at {insert resale outlet here}! And trust me, these snags are not just limited to Picassos.
If Lady Luck is on your side, thrifting just might result in clothing and shoes from top-notch designer brands that are in good enough condition to be worn on a runway.
4. There’s A Wide Variety of Goods
You just might find anything at resale shops. With an explorer’s ambition, you can hunt for and discover everything from wedding dresses to vintage band t-shirts, from vanities to board games. The variety at thrift stores is unmatched. Try finding an outlet with a stock as eclectic and diverse as a thrift store. It’s likely you can’t.
5. You Can Limit Waste
As the old adage says, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. You can keep the circular model of resale shops in motion by donating old clothing and other products instead of sending them to a landfill. In turn, you can buy someone else’s donated goods and give them new life. This breaks the use-to-landfill track most things seem to disastrously take.
Also, thrifting serves as an alternative to waste-inducing fast fashion (the brand Shein comes to mind). Even if the product bought is quickly out of style, unable to fit, does not match what you were looking for, or fits the criteria of any other “throw-out-able” issue, you can just continue the cycle and re-donate the goods. This not only limits landfill expansion but also limits the profit and/or use of fast fashion and unsustainable goods.
6. You Can Support Small Businesses
Excluding resale giants like Goodwill, many thrift stores are independently owned and operate on local scales. This not only allows for an enviable intimacy and attachment which big commercial bodies can only strive to achieve, but also an opportunity for consumers to support small businesses in an industry where small businesses are often not appreciated to the degree they should.
Remember: large corporations are generally the most guilty entities when it comes to pollutants and climate change. By supporting small businesses, you are also making a sustainable choice to spend money in an establishment and/or business that is not actively harming the environment to a frightening degree.
7. You Can Shop With Less Guilt Part 1 (Concerning Sustainability and Human Rights)
Ignorance really can be bliss. When aware of all the pitfalls of the world and humanity, being an ethical consumer can be a daunting and seemingly impossible task. Buying a t-shirt could weigh on the conscious—the t-shirt could have been made through slave and/or child labor in a sweatshop, the t-shirt could be made of non-recyclable materials, the t-shirt could have been made in dangerous working conditions.
While the same is applicable with a t-shirt bought from a resale store, the nature of resale means you are giving money to the store itself, and not the manufacturing corporations who are actually responsible for these crimes. Thrifting can even work as part of a boycott.
At a thrift store, you can rest assured that you are not abetting the misdeeds of these corporations and are limiting your involvement in matters of unethical behavior.
8. You Can Shop With Less Guilt Part 2 (Concerning Goods with Limited-Use and Children)
Doesn’t it feel at least a little bit wrong to spend a considerable amount of money on something that will only serve a purpose for a very short amount of time before it is headed to the landfill, or rather, to the land of the forgotten?
So when your office announces “Ugly Sweater Day!” a few days in advance, and you don’t own one of the holiday abominations, you don’t need to spend a needless amount of money for an itchy ugly sweater you will only wear once a year if you pick it up at a thrift store. Thrift stores are great for limited-use products because they are cheap and can always be re-donated once their use is done.
The same goes for children’s clothing. When they grow so quickly, and when they are so prone to accidents, there can be guilt in buying a piece of clothing that will either be too small or too ruined to wear after only a handful of uses. With thrift stores, the guilt can be subtracted from both your conscious and your wallet.
9. Better Fit & Feel
All clothing at thrift stores are pre-laundered, therefore what fits in the store will generally fit at home. Thrifting gets rid of the possibility of pesky shrinkage and other laundering mishaps that can warp the product into something different than seen on the rack.
Also, concerning goods such as shoes, you can also count on many being broken-in. You will most likely not have to worry whether the shoe is too tight or just stiff when you are wearing a thrifted shoe that has been worn and broken-in before.
Thrifting can facilitate the fit-and-feel shopping experience.
10. It Can Be A Sign to Corporations That Sustainable Practice is the Way to Go
Let us revisit the driving force behind the corporate world: profit. Shopping at resale outlets, and therefore decreasing foot traffic and purchases at other types of stores, can send a clear and important message to corporations: Sustain your practices, or your consumer-based profit will plummet.
As aforementioned, thrifting, when done with a purpose, can serve as a boycott. When done on a large enough scale, corporations will take notice and hopefully change their practices for the better in hopes of luring consumers back to their stores and products.
11. It Can Be a Way to Create A Unique and One-of-A-Kind Wardrobe
At a thrift store, it is very well possible that you can snag a product that you can’t find anywhere else, and certainly not at trend-centered stores. You can use a resale store to craft a wardrobe that is entirely unique to you and full of cool clothing.
Vintage can mix with modern, preppy can mix with athleisure. All genres of clothing can possibly be acquired all in one place. Thrift stores are an amazing diversifier for your closet.
12. Your Purchase Can Serve a Charitable Purpose
13. It Can be fun !
Last but not least, it can be fun! If you don’t want to thrift for any of the previous thirteen reasons, you can always go to have a good time. It can be a great way to spend an hour or two, even with friends!
Of course, the reasons behind decisions to utilize resale apparel are inconsequential in the long run. But the impact of your decision, especially combined with everyone else’s, can help save the planet. So no matter the reason, thrift. You won’t regret it.