Tag: shops

Kids grow so quickly, don’t they? If your children are outgrowing their clothes faster than you can keep up, thrift shopping can be a smart choice for your family. Not only is thrift shopping more budget-friendly than traditional retail stores, but it’s also more environmentally friendly. Thrifting for your kids is a win-win for you, your family, and the planet!

Ready to start shopping secondhand for your little ones? Here are some tips to make your next thrifting trip a success:

Size up

Buying brand new clothes is expensive, especially when your child is only able to wear an outfit a few times before it no longer fits. Save money (and time!) by sizing up when you go thrift shopping. Even if an outfit is too lare now, it will likely fit in a few months!

Shop early for holidays

It’s smart to plan your kids’ outfits for holidays and special occasions like weddings well in advance. If you wait until the last minute, you may not find what you’re looking for! Get a head start by visiting your local thrift shop in Panama City Beach, FL where you can find a great selection of kids’ clothing for every occasion. If you see something you like, consider getting it early — just be sure to plan ahead for any growth spurts!

Mix and match

The great thing about kids’ clothing is that there are no fashion “rules.” It’s particularly fun when young children start to show a personal style of their own! When you go thrift shopping for kids’ clothes, you can feel free to experiment with different prints and patterns. If you stick to one color palette, it can be a lot easier to mix and match and create multiple outfits from a handful of pieces. Because kids grow so quickly, you’ll often find many kids’ clothes in like-new or even “new with tags” condition at thrift stores!

Stock up on staples

Everyone needs wardrobe staples, including kids. There’s no shortage of amazing deals on essentials like jeans, t-shirts, and jackets at your local store! You can find these items (and more!) at a fraction of the price you’d pay when purchasing new. Plus, secondhand clothes make great play outfits. Instead of worrying about your child getting messy in a brand new outfit, you can let them do what they do best — play!

The beauty of thrift shopping is that when your child outgrows their current wardrobe, you can simply donate those clothes right back to thrift stores. Your donation and shopping support keeps our cycle of success in motion, helping people and our planet!

Online shopping in a small town

That is how I began my unexpected foray into the world of “slow shopping for the modern age”, as fellow writer Lloyd Alter described it when I told him this story. Over the few weeks, I have made a few necessary purchases. One was for my son’s upcoming birthday. I sent a Facebook message to the local toy store to inquire about a specific toy I was looking for.

The owner responded immediately with pictures of various options and suggestions for similar items. After several exchanges, we settled on a stomp rocket and a dinosaur coloring kit. I e-transferred the money and he dropped it off at my back door the following morning.

A day later, I realized I hadn’t yet bought any Easter chocolate for my kids, so I visited the Facebook page of a local chocolate shop. It listed several bunnies and foil-wrapped eggs, which I then ordered over Messenger. I received a call back, my credit card number was taken, and I was given a pickup time slot. When I arrived, an arm reached out the door, set my order on a stool, and I took it home.

Then I realized on Good Friday that I no longer had any bread pans, as my husband had thrown out the old rusty ones, and I was ready to start making Easter bread with my kids.

So I sent a Facebook message to the owners of a boutique kitchenware store. They responded promptly, we chatted on the phone to discuss the various pans they had in stock, and then I drove to the store to pick up my pre-packed order, which they handed out the door. I had two shiny new bread pans within the time it took for the dough to rise.

Why does this matter?

This has been a fascinating lesson for me. First, it underscores the power of the Internet (and social media) for shopping locally, even though we usually think of it as a tool for making purchases further afield. If it weren’t for Facebook, I wouldn’t know how to contact these businesses because they’re not answering phones as usual.

Second, the local supply chain is more reliable than relying on shipping from afar. I received all of these items much faster than if I’d ordered them online. It only took six hours from the time I messaged the chocolate shop till my pickup slot, and the toy store owner came to my door 12 hours after we’d settled on a purchase.

I had the bread pans within two hours. That’s far better than Amazon Prime, which has slowed down these days anyway, completely inundated with orders. (My kids never would’ve gotten Easter chocolate if I’d gone that route.)

Third, because I’m having to chase down individual vendors for specific items, it’s forcing me to think long and hard about what I actually need. There’s no perusing the aisles and picking up random additional products just because they look appealing. Whether I pick up or it’s delivered, my order is packed, paid for, ready to go.

I’ve had to pay more for certain products than if I’d bought them second-hand from the thrift shops in Panama City Beach, FL, but I justify it as a way to help support my community at a difficult time, almost like a donation of sorts.

Finally, I’m realizing that if it’s possible to support local “Main Street” businesses at a time like this, it’s possible to support them anytime. We really need to stop making excuses for why ordering stuff online from faraway monster corporations is a better option than going to nearby business owners.

I challenge readers to try to provide for their needs by sourcing items from within their own communities. Before logging on to Amazon, take a moment to ask yourself which local stores might sell those same products, and then reach out with an inquiry. All it takes is a message or a phone call, a credit card number exchanged, and those items could be on your doorstep in a matter of hours. Give it a try; it’s deeply satisfying.

Hand-me-downs. The very thought brings terror to any new parent who remembers the taunting children suffered for the sin of not having new possessions. We are uncertain already in the face of the daunting task of raising a tiny life to health, wealth and wisdom, without even the benefit of an owner’s manual! How do parents react? Consumerism. Buying new for the baby is a ritual of modern childbirth: new nursery, new carseats, new clothing.

Think again. The German Bundesinstituts für Risikobewertung (BfR, or National Institute for Risk Assessment) has warned that newborns need better consumer protection advocacy. Pediatrician Axel Hahn of the BfR explained: Many parents completely remodel the room for the nursery, without giving thought to the amount of harmful substances newborns face from the new furniture, paint and carpet.

The conclusion? Second hand–even for baby clothing–is often the healthier choice.Second hand articles which are present at the thrift shops in Panama City Beach, FL have had time to naturally lose the dangerous chemicals which are most easily emitted or leached from the articles to which babies are exposed.

New furniture, much of which emits formaldehyde from the glues and particle board constituents or chemicals added as flame retardants, will have rid itself of most of the harmful emissions by the time it comes up for second hand sale.

Baby clothing has been through enough wash cycles to ensure the chemicals added during textile manufacturing and distribution are gone. And who can remember being upset by a few smudges in the paint or carpeting of their nursery?

The discussion was raised in the context of the seventh Forum for Consumer Protection in Berlin. Children are especially sensitive. They have a much larger ratio of skin surface to body size, respirate more quickly and have faster metabolic rates. Attendees of the forum were unified in the opinion that risk assessments done for adults can no longer be applied also for children.

Specialists at the Forum also discussed better labelling of chemical contents. Currently, only toxic product recipes are required to be reported to the BfR, for example from cleaners. But often the risks of chemicals are due to the sum amount of the exposure, of to exposure to a combination of different substances. The BfR proposes a coded system of disclosure of all chemicals in the products.

There are some tricks to the trade.

“Shop second-hand” is a message often touted by eco-minded individuals, myself included. “It’s good for the planet! It’s good for your wallet!” we say, which is all good advice, but usually that’s where it ends.

For someone unaccustomed to thrift shopping, it can be daunting to go from new or fast fashion shopping to vintage. The former offers seasonal trends and curated looks, while the latter seems like a hodgepodge of random pieces, vast and confusing.

Fortunately, some professional guidance for navigating thrift stores is at hand. The latest episode of the ‘Slow Your Home’ podcast features an interview with Emily Stochl, a veteran thrifter and host of the ‘Pre-Loved Podcast,’ a show that’s all about shopping second-hand.

Host Brooke talks to Emily about why she thinks second-hand is so important, and Emily says it comes down to embracing a slower, more ethical form of fashion, one that forces you to be more intentional about what you buy:

“I made this commitment that I only wanted to buy things that were already in our consumer world, rather than have things made new, so that I would be reducing my impact and reducing that harm in any way that I can.”

Emily offers some concrete tips for people who might be new to second-hand shopping, want to refine their approach, or have an urge to slow their rate of consumption.

– Know what you need so that you don’t get swayed by what you want. She keeps a list on her phone of pieces that she needs in her wardrobe and uses it as a guide when shopping.

– Know what you like. Without mannequins and trends to guide you, it’s important to have a sense of personal style. Emily saves pictures she likes to a private collection in Instagram, which helps to keep her on track.

– Know your measurements. Knowing your bust, waist, leg, and hip measurements offhand help you to shop more efficiently.

– Look for high quality pieces. Sift through the heaps of fast fashion clothes to find the treasures. These are identifiable by construction, fabric and materials, brands, fit and feel, etc. Check for holes and stains, and make sure seams are solid.

– Look for natural fabrics. Natural fabrics are easier to repair, age well, and do not release plastic microfibres into the water like synthetics do.

– Get a professional tailor. Forging a relationship with someone in your community who can help to spruce up second-hand treasures is a worthwhile investment.

Emily’s tips are perfect advice for all of us, an antidote to the fast fashion frenzy that has taken over main streets, shopping malls, and social media feeds the world over. We’d all be wise to slow down, consider what our fashion values are, and pursue these in a second-hand setting.

As Emily said, many people feel they lack control over how things go in the world, but one thing they can control is what they buy. Thrifting at a thrift shop in Destin, FL can be your way of saying you care about conserving resources, saving money, and respecting people’s work.

Recently, I went from thrift store to thrift store with my friend Dana . I was looking to see if the stores seemed any different than usual — if the items seemed more abundant or of better quality than normal.

I’ve been reading that thrift stores are seeing an uptick in donations due to the Netflix show “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the program, Kondo uses the method she wrote about in her 2014 book, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” to help people de-clutter their homes. Her main advice is to keep the items that “spark joy” and get rid of most everything else.

I read the book more than a year ago, but I didn’t put what she calls the “KonMarie method” into practice in my home. I may consider it at some point, but today wasn’t about tidying up. Today was about seeing if the thrift stores that Dana and I frequently haunt seemed like they had an abundance of items that someone else found joyless.

Roaming thrift store aisles

My first stop was a thrift store in Destin FL. I frequently visits stores over there. I noticed that the store was fuller than usual with some better-quality items.

We asked one of the employees if she knew if there was an uptick in donations specifically because of the Netflix show, and she said she didn’t know. She had never heard of the show and no one had mentioned Kondo to her.

We headed next to a large thrift store that carries clothing, housewares and toys. The store was very organized. Every shelf was full and every rack had clothing from beginning to end. It’s one I hadn’t been to in a while, but Dana goes there frequently. She said she didn’t notice a difference in the quantity or quality of items we saw today. We moved on to a small thrift store — one with a few racks of clothing and a few shelves of housewares, books and jewelry. It was full, but no more than usual.

I was going to ask the cashier about Marie Kondo but right as we started to make our purchases, the fire alarm went off and everyone was whisked outside. By the time we were let back in and able to finish the transaction, it slipped my mind.

Our conclusion was that the stores were full, but not necessarily full of excellent quality items you’d expect if everyone in the region has started to donate their possessions that didn’t spark joy.

What did seem unusual, however, was the sheer amount of people out shopping midday on a Thursday at these stores. Granted, I tend to thrift on the weekends, but the stores were incredibly busy. I wish I had the nerve to just call out, “Is anyone here because they read that the thrift stores have an abundance of good things because of the Marie Kondo Netflix show?”

Still, I wonder, even if the stores aren’t seeing an increase in donations because of “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,” are they seeing an uptick in customers hoping to find joy in something that did not spark joy in its original owner? If people are choosing to buy used instead of new because of the show, it’s a win either way.

Do you need it?

Before you head to the store or online to buy something new, decide how necessary your purchase is.

If something necessary is broken — like a can opener, hair dryer or computer — then you no doubt need to replace it. But if something is just aging or doesn’t fit your decor anymore, can you live with it?

Some people attempt to take part in a no-buy year where they try to go 12 months without buying certain items like clothing, knickknacks or electronics. Some do this to save money or to pay off debt, but others do it so they won’t accumulate more stuff.

Whether you want to go a year or just want to be more deliberate in your spending, before you go shopping, think about spending intentionally. When you see something you want, ask yourself if it’s truly a necessity or something you’re buying on a whim. Will another cute T-shirt just sit in a drawer or a frame just gather dust on a shelf? Think about it overnight and if your eagerness for the item isn’t quite so strong, save the money for something else.

Is it made to last?

If you decide you truly need to purchase something, then opt for long-lasting quality when you can. Making smart purchases saves money, time and resources.

Shop around and do your research to find products that last a lifetime. Many items come with guarantees while others just have rave reviews from legions of fans.

If you’re tired of replacing things, head to Buy Me Once, a website that’s dedicated to finding items that last forever. There’s everything from clothing and cookware to toys and luggage.

Founder Tara Button started the site after working in advertising and realizing a client, Le Creuset, had a lifetime guarantee on its ceramic cookware. She wondered why more products didn’t follow the same approach and decided to find out what was available.

“It’s frustrating, and I feel it’s immoral to make something that breaks and ends up in a landfill, and it’s really short-sighted,” Button told MNN. “If you’re not a wealthy family, having to replace these items is not cheap … People really do want stuff that’s built to last.”

Can I recycle the old item? What about the new one?

In 2015, Americans generated nearly 262 million tons of trash. Of that, about 34% was recycled or composted, but more than 137 million tons of that trash — a whopping 52.5% — was sent to landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

If you decide to buy something new and it’s replacing something old, what happens to the old item?

If it still works, you can donate it to a thrift store in Destin FL, give it to a friend or a family member, sell it online or offer it through a sharing website like Freecycle.

If it doesn’t work (or no one wants it), don’t be so quick to toss it into the trash. You’d be surprised at the items you can recycle. From bras to eyeglasses, there’s a place for many things other than the landfill.

“Sustainably managing materials requires thinking beyond waste and instead focusing on the life cycle of a product, from the time it is produced, used, reused and ultimately recycled or discarded,” says the EPA.

So when you eye that aging toaster oven or computer, think hard before you replace it, considering where it will end up and whether it has a next life beyond your home.

Purging my wardrobe is always a satisfying feeling, but the real work comes after, when I have to figure out what to do with the remaining bags and boxes of stuff. Clothes that are in good condition can easily be donated to a thrift store, given away in a clothing swap, or sold online, but it’s the clothes in poor condition that always stump me.

Stained, stretched, smelly and torn, they cannot be donated, but throwing them in the trash fills me with guilt. Are there other options besides the landfill?The short answer is yes, but the long answer is considerably more complicated.

While looking into this issue, I’ve discovered that there are some decent options for textile recycling, but the unfortunate reality is that it’s a largely undeveloped industry. Using recycled or upcycled fabric has yet to become standard practice in clothing manufacturing, so there has never been a push for companies to collect it, nor to make old textile recycling easily accessible.

(There are some promising efforts underway, such as this initiative by Evrnu.) In other words, if you want to repurpose or recycle your old clothing, you’ll have to work for it.

This, of course, is unfortunate because the more inaccessible something is, the less inclined people are to pursue it. That’s why so much of what we buy ends up in landfill; it’s too much work to bother recycling it.

1. Can It Be Repaired?

Don’t give up so fast! Play around with different stain removers and washing techniques to see if you can get the stubborn marks out. Contact a seamstress or tailor to repair tears, make adjustments, or add patches. You’ll be surprised at the magic these skilled professionals can work, and how affordable it is. Maybe your city has a Repair Café or a traveling Repairathon (like this one in Toronto). Check these out and learn how to fix your own clothes.

2. Call Your Local Thrift Stores

Find out the policies of your local thrift stores in Destin, FL for clothes in poor condition. They likely have an agreement with a recycling company to hand off non-sellable clothing, and might be willing to take a bag off your hands that does not require sorting.

3. Contact the Manufacturer

Some brands have begun accepting back their own worn clothing. This tends to be more common among outdoor gear retailers, such as Patagonia, REI, and The North Face, although a few other fashion brands offer it as well, including H&M;, Levi’s, Eileen Fisher.

4. Send It Somewhere Useful

The Blue Jeans Go Green program will accept your old denim via mail and turn it into insulation. Alternatively, you can drop it off at J.Crew, Madewell, rag and bone, and FRAME stores, all of which will give you a discount off a new pair of jeans. You can also print off a shipping label from Community Recycling and ship your old clothes in a box right from your doorstep.

Note: Be aware that many donation bins are labeled ‘clothing recycling’ when what they really mean is ‘clothing donation.’ It drives me crazy when organizations call themselves recyclers, when in reality they only want gently-used items in good condition. There’s a big difference.

5. Upcycle the Fabric Yourself

There are countless DIY projects you can do with old clothes. I’ve compiled ideas for what to do with old jeans and old sweaters, but T-shirts are incredibly versatile as well. Turn them into sleeveless workout tops, halter tops, tote bags, quilts, pet bedding, and cleaning rags.

6. Try Composting

If you have all-natural cloth, such as cotton, wool, silk, cashmere, or linen, and have not used it to soak up any toxic liquids, then you can try composting it. Here’s a guide to doing it, via 1 Million Women. Must have patience!

While these steps are all worth pursuing, it would be naive to assume they can solve our planet’s enormous trash problem. What is needed more than wide-scale recycling is less consumption. There needs to be a shift to buying less and buying better, focusing less on ‘good deals’ and more on what will last and what can be repaired. When shopping for future items, support those few companies that are incorporating recycled material into their goods, since this is an effort worthy of support.

Just be aware that this transformation won’t happen overnight.

Transforming your conventional wardrobe to a sustainably sourced one can seem like a daunting task, but it needn’t be. View it instead as a long-term project, something that will happen gradually as you shift your approach toward shopping. An excellent article in Harper’s Bazaar outlines 10 simple steps to dressing more sustainably, and I’d like to share some of the less commonly known ones below, as I think they’re useful.

1. Do the ’30 Wears’ test.

When faced with a potential new outfit, ask yourself if you’d wear it 30 times or more. If the answer is no, walk away. This will eliminate many of those special occasion outfits and shoes that have few opportunities to re-wear, and will push you toward more versatile, practical pieces. The #30Wears campaign was started by Livia Firth, who told Harper’s, “You’d be surprised how many times you say no.”

2. Invest in trans-seasonal clothes.

Clothes that can cross seasonal boundaries are the most useful investment. Often this means simpler pieces, like jeans, tees, blazers, and classic dresses. Consider climate when making decisions. If you live a cool, cloudy climate, don’t splurge on summery dresses that will fail the 30 wears test on an average year; buy what you know you’ll wear and whatever can be layered for more seasonally-appropriate dressing.

3. Have a working list of go-to brands.

This is enormously important, as I think one of the major blocks toward more sustainable shopping is people not knowing where to start. Assemble a list of go-to retailers (online or in store) where you can source key items; add to it as you discover new ones. One downside is that I tend to shop more online than in person, simply because ethical retailers and brands are hard to find in my rural area, but this also results in more deliberate purchasing.

4. Adjust how you spend your money.

Don’t think of shopping as a chance to splurge on something frivolous. Instead, see it as an investment in a staple piece that’s going to be worn and re-worn. From Harper’s: “Stop thinking, ‘I would never spend that much on a pair of jeans.’ Consider that you are only going to buy one pair of jeans this year, or one item this month – and make it this.”

You should also try buying clothes at the thrift shops in Destin, FL. You never know if you find a fantastic deal!

All of this takes time. Don’t feel overwhelmed or daunted. Just build it up slowly, piece by piece. Before long you’ll have a wardrobe that reflects your environmental and ethical concerns, without feeling like you had to fork out extra money to do so.

In generations past, members of a household would have made a family’s clothing. Even in wealthier homes, lace-making and embroidery were common hobbies; even if clothes weren’t sewn at home, seamstresses and tailors were close by. It wasn’t so long ago that this was still the case. I was raised by my grandmother, who made about half my clothes until I was a young teenager.

Besides creating clothing that fit the wearer perfectly, home sewers also knew fabrics well and could tell by eye and feel if a given cloth would last or fray after a few wears. They also could tell if something was sewn well using proper techniques, or if it was thrown together cheaply.

Because my grandmother taught me to sew and what to look for in a well-made garment, I can tell whether something is good quality or not. But very few of my friends can do the same. The sad part is that poor quality plagues all levels of the fashion marketplace.

It’s not just cheap, fast fashion that tends to fall apart after a few wears. But even pricier brands, which used to boast quality materials and workmanship, have a wider variability in quality than you’d expect.

That fast fashion, by the way, refers to clothes that quickly go from the catwalk to the retail stores to capitalize on fashion trends. It is often sewn by people — sometimes children — who are paid poorly, abused and overworked.

But consumers want those low prices, and many don’t think about what paying bottom dollar means for the people who make the clothes or what it means for the planet’s landfills, which are already full of discarded clothing.

Environmental fallout of fast fashion

These clothes aren’t just affecting landfills, they also play a role in greenhouse gas emissions. According to a 2018 report by an environmental consultant group, the global apparel and footwear industry produces 8 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The average world citizen consumes 25 pounds of clothing a year, which produces the same amount of emissions as driving a car 1,500 miles.

It isn’t just cheap fashion that is bad for the environment. The material is also a factor. Synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon don’t biodegrade and are made from petrochemicals. Cotton may seem like the better choice, but many pesticides are used to grow large quantities, and chemicals and dyes are used to color cotton.

Here’s what to look for so you can invest your money in good-quality pieces for yourself of loved ones — and know they will last and have less of a negative impact on the environment.

Avoid trends

Before you consider plunking down your hard-earned cash for a new piece of clothing, make sure it’s something you will love to wear for years to come. That means considering both style and fit. “First and foremost it’s important to choose pieces that flatter your body and suit your style, and are not ‘trendy,'” advises Sass Brown, interim dean at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s School of Art and Design. That goes for gifts as well — if you’re not sure about size and fit, get a gift receipt so the person you’re gifting gets something that will last.

Use your hands

Sometimes it can help to close your eyes when you touch fabric. It should feel substantial and heavy unless it’s meant to be a lightweight material. It shouldn’t feel rough or flimsy — even a lightweight material should have a tightly packed weave to it, and it should be dense even if it’s thin. “The more fiber there is, the more likely it’s going to last longer,” Timo Rissanen, co-author of “Zero Waste Fashion Design” and an assistant professor of fashion design and sustainability at Parsons School of Design in New York told Quartz.

Read labels

Like food, clothing labels can tell you a lot of about what a garment is made from and where it was made. (Though where the fabric was made may be different than where the item was sewn together.)

Look for natural materials and avoid blends of natural and man-made fibers. Technical gear made from advanced polyesters (that could eventually be recycled, as Patagonia does) are better bets than combo natural/synthetics which can never be made into new materials and will never biodegrade, as natural fibers will.

Mixed fabrics also tend to wear poorly over time, as some of the fabric shrinks or fades while other fibers don’t, which can result in odd shapes and colors. Mixes of natural materials can be wonderful though, like cotton-silk blends or combos of wool, cashmere and alpaca. Small amounts of spandex in jeans for stretch can be useful.

Look for items made in the USA, Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia, which all have labor laws that prevent the worst abuses in the fashion industry.

Examine the stitching

No, you don’t have to obsessively look at every seam; looking at just a couple of them will give you a good idea of the garment’s quality. They should be straight, and places where seams meet should be neat. If you see a jumble of threads where, say, a sleeve meets the body of a shirt, that’s a sign that care wasn’t taken, and it’s likely you’ll have a hole there sooner than you’d want.

If a textile has a print (or a knit has a pattern), a really well-made piece of clothing will have those patterns meet neatly at the seam. So a striped shirt will have stripes going all the way around, not off-center at the seam. This is harder to do with more complex patterns, but some attempt should be made to bring together a seam in a way that reflects the sewer was paying attention to the pattern.

Factor in finishing

“Look at the finishing. Usually well-made clothes look as good on the inside as they do on the outside. Look for modest seams and clean finishes,” says fashion designer Tabitha St. Bernard, co-founder of Tabii Just, a zero-waste clothing line made in NYC. Better clothes also come with extra buttons and matching thread or yarn for repairs. And heavier clothing (and skirts) should have a lining to protect the fabric from body oils and moisture.

Skip buying new

Want to find something completely unique and original for yourself or as a gift when you are on a serious budget? “One of my favorite ways to choose more quality clothing that has stood the test of time is to shop at the thrift stores in Destin, FL.

No loose threads on necklines and hems, no disintegrating fast fashion fabrics and less synthetic fibers that we have so much more of than ever before,” says Amy DuFault, Communications Director of the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator.

If you haven’t done a lot of second-hand shopping, here’s how to get started.