Tag: thrifting

As thrift shopping and reselling started trending among the fashion savvy and environmentally conscious, many low-income communities have struggled to shop secondhand in the face of rising prices.

Increase in Popularity

According to the 2019 ThredUp resale report, more than one in three Gen Zers will buy secondhand and 51% of all consumers plan to spend more on secondhand clothing in the next five years.

The report also predicted that the secondhand market will double, with an increase from $24 billion in 2018 to $51 billion in 2023.

Many attribute the sudden uptick in secondhand shopping to social media. Multiple platforms reveal the mainstream staying power of thrift shopping.

Secondhand shopping also satisfies a social media-induced craving. Repeating outfits on Instagram is often considered to be an unspoken cardinal sin. Because secondhand shopping offers new styles for cheap, it fills the niche for constant new clothes.

Difference in Perspective

Thrifting’s popularity continues to climb, but as those from upper-middle to high incomes increasingly shop secondhand, many note a difference in perspective.

According to a 2010 Pennsylvania State University study by Spencer James, a researcher at Brigham Young University, lower-income families see secondhand shopping as a necessity, whereas higher-income shoppers view it as a commodity.

“The upper class essentially sees it as a toy store. Something to find stuff that’s fun, like a kind of playground,” James said. “Yet they have a lower class that sees that as one of the last few places where they can afford to buy the goods that they need to maintain their standard of living.”

James and his colleagues conducted the study after a major employer in their county shut down, leaving many families in financial distress. The study measured families’ participation in thrift economies and found that both thrift stores and yard sales provided many of the necessities families needed to survive.

Lower- and middle-income households typically participated in thrift economies at a higher rate than higher-income households. The results also noted that those in the lower-and middle-income brackets shopped for furniture and clothing while higher-income families typically bought antiques or trinkets.

Though James conducted the study a decade ago, he feels the results have only become more relevant, especially as thrift stores become a more prominent shopping alternative.

“This can have the deleterious effect of rising prices and thereby pricing the poor out of yet another place where they could potentially access the commodities that they need to maintain their standard of living,” James said.

Thrift Prices Rising

Several discussion boards across the internet also share price increases in their local thrift stores and speculate the cause.

In one instance, Reddit user u/Megan_nicole_93 found a pair of jeans at her local thrift store that were originally from Kohl’s, with the tags still on, on clearance for $12. Her local thrift store priced them at $15.“What is this thrift store smoking?… At least scratch the clearance tag off!” she said in a Reddit post.

Many believe the high volume of new “thrifters” drives prices up in chain thrift stores such as Goodwill. In a 2010 donation valuation guide, Goodwill Industries estimated flat prices based on the item. But, in 2020, the valuation guide includes a range of prices.

The difference in the two reveals that prices are increasingly focused on the maximum a customer would pay for a good, or how it’s priced in retail or other resale markets.

Resale

Ethan Tan, a Depop seller and ASU alumnus, has been thrifting to resell since 2016. He’s amassed about 30,000 followers on his account, Fun/Cool Vintage, and now uses the app as a full-time job.

Sitting in a retro-style robot graphic tee and vintage Levi’s, Tan described his process of picking out the best finds at the thrift store. Sometimes, he just knows.

Tan resells vintage T-shirts, jackets, jeans and the occasional pair of shoes. His prices range from $15 to $1,250. The highest priced item on his page is a signed vintage Suicidal Tendencies band tee.

He frequents Goodwill, Savers and other local thrift stores for his finds. In his expeditions, Tan also noticed an increase in thrift prices. Though many argue that shopping to resell could be a contributor to the inflation of secondhand prices, Tan believes it is not the fault of resellers, but the fault of the corporations implementing price increases.

“The thrift store wants to make more money, but they’re nonprofit. Their goal shouldn’t be to make more money. It should be to make a better impact on the community and the environment,” Tan said.

Tan also weighs the environmental benefits when he is thrift shopping from thrift stores in Panama City Beach, FL and reselling. Because of this, he finds a significant portion of his inventory at the Goodwill Outlet store, known to resellers as “the bins.” Goodwill Outlets sell retail rejects by the pound.

There’s something wonderful about heading to a thrift store and finding a unique piece of clothing that fits your style perfectly. The “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” saying is quite truthful.

Now more than ever, people are donating clothing, home goods, electronics, and other objects that are in terrific condition.

Whether they’re clearing out clutter or making room for more stuff, this propensity to buy and buy has made thrifting an even more rewarding habit for your wallet.

But apart from the personal advantages of shopping secondhand, thrifting is a great benefit for the environment. Put the “reduce, reuse, recycle” slogan into even better practice—donate more and thrift often! Learn more about how thrifting is good for the planet below.

Keeps Clothes Out of Landfills

Think back to that reduce, reuse, recycle slogan they have all been taught since elementary school. When they were first taught this, it typically had to deal with plastics and paper. Many people don’t realize that recycling incorporates more than the typical plastics and includes textile recycling as well.

Just because you’re not putting your clothes in the blue bin and leaving them at the edge of the road doesn’t mean thrifting is not an important form of recycling. One of thrifting’s biggest advantages for the planet is that it keeps clothes out of landfills.

Contributes to Charities

Shopping secondhand also plays a role in boosting community development. Your money is typically used to help local charities and businesses, rather than multinational corporations that take advantage of the planet. Better yet, these charities that the stores benefit will often help out community members in need or strive to help the planet.

Think about it this way—when you shop secondhand, you’re supporting a business that strives to help others. When they are helping others, they are helping the environment in some way as well.

This contribution to charities can take the form of assisting those in need in the community and can help an organization that’s planting more trees or supporting third-world countries and their water sources.

Lowers Your Carbon Footprint

Another significant way thrifting is good for the planet is that it lowers your carbon footprint. This is another one of those phrases they were taught young—carbon footprint. They often think that the only way they can do this is by biking to work instead of driving or by reducing shower time.

Though these are wonderful ways, thrifting is one of those steps to reducing carbon footprint that doesn’t take much effort. All it asks is that you head to a thrift stores in Panama City Beach, FL rather than engage in online or fast-fashion shopping!

The fashion industry is moving faster than ever, creating millions of clothing items every day to fill up the stores every week. When you buy secondhand, you’re preventing that massive waste of energy and resources on the production of new clothes.

Helps Preserve Water

In a similar sense, thrifting helps preserve water. Like they have mentioned, clothing production is a process that takes up a lot of time and energy; it also uses a lot of water—water that they need dearly and are slowly running low on.

Water consumption is extremely high in every single stage of clothing production. Take a cotton T-shirt, for example. When made unsustainably, even simply growing one kilogram of cotton requires at least 10,000 liters of water. That’s just the beginning of the production process.

There’s wet processing and printing, packaging and transportation processes—all these steps add to the overall water consumption. When you shop secondhand, you’re playing a part in preserving water. green, and shutting off the faucet while you brush your teeth.

Reduces Chemical Pollution

Another great way that thrifting helps the planet is that it reduces the chemical pollution induced by creating and buying new clothes. Let’s think back to cotton—the production of cotton not only uses tons of water, but it’s also highly pesticide intensive.

This means that when cotton is produced and manufactured, it causes soil acidification and water contamination. And this is from material that many people consider sustainable. In general, textile-manufacturing processes involve the use of harmful dyes and crude oil by-products.

The process of creating and shipping new clothes contaminates surface and groundwater, pollutes the air, and so much more. Shopping secondhand begins to eliminate the constant chemical pollution that results from clothing production.

Over the last couple of years, fashion influencers like Emma Chamberlain have rebranded thrifting to be the new aesthetic, yet sustainable way to buy affordable statements for your wardrobe. The overall decreasing stigma of thrifting, as covered previously in the blog, has only further propelled thrifting’s popularity.

While lower-income individuals have long been represented as the face of thrifting, this seems to be no longer fully applicable. When taking a closer look at who represents the average thrift store shopper, research has shown a massive shift in the socio-economic demographics of thrifters in the past decade.

More specifically, while second-hand clothing continues to be largely utilized by lower class shoppers, this has actually shifted towards individuals of a higher socioeconomic status—especially the middle class.

Not surprisingly, a study shows that there has been a significant increase of the middle class shopping at thrift stores for clothing.

In line with the thrifting habits of lower-income families, there has also been a shift of middle class shoppers buying second-hand furniture, electronics, and household items more than ever before.

However, while more middle class shoppers are turning to thrifting, statistics show that higher-income individuals continue to be less likely to purchase thrifted items.

In fact, James’ study states that “the odds of shopping for furniture, clothing, and housewares at thrift stores were four times higher for those from the lower income category than those from the higher income categories.”

On top of socioeconomic status, age has also played a large role in identifying major groups contributing to the rise of thrifting. As thrifting was introduced into mainstream pop culture, young people started flocking to thrift stores for cheaper, fashionable finds.

Ultimately, this has led to the rise of Gen Z and Millennials being the forefront of the thrifting fashion movement; this can largely be due to 70% of millennial and Gen Z consumers stating that sustainability is an important factor while making buying decisions.

For many individuals of this generation, many choose to shop for a second hand or resale item over eco-friendly products from sustainable brands.

Thrifting becoming a more popular trend means great news for increasing sustainability in the fashion industry. However, it also raises the question of whether this takes away more quality items for lower income individuals.

While more wealthy consumers have turned to thrifting as a cheaper alternative, this in turn can reduce the already limited clothing options available to low-income communities.

“This means there are less quality items left on the thrift store shelves for those who truly have no other affordable options,” a Berkeley based study states.

This could mean lower-income individuals lacking cheaper options for “professional attire that could mean the difference between impressing or crashing at a job interview.”

While the creation of thrift shops in Panama City Beach, FL have originally been for lower-income individuals, the steadily rising popularity and appeal of thrifting has brought individuals of various ages and social-economic backgrounds to thrift stores.

Though this entails increased sustainability practices and purchases in the fashion industry, it has also led to undesired consequences impacting the demographic who need thrift stores the most: lower-income consumers. 

However, this shouldn’t discourage current or potential thrifters; while thrifting is still a great way to practice sustainable fashion, it’s important to remember that sustainability isn’t limited to just purchasing secondhand clothing, but also entails decreasing unnecessary clothing purchases that perpetuate fast fashion culture.