DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH
The Good and Bad of Thrifting
BY DISHA HOQUE ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE REESE
With growing issues of inflation, overconsumption, and concerns over climate change, ethically sourced clothing has come to the forefront of debate and criticism in the fashion industry. Many fashion enthusiasts have turned to thrifting and secondhand clothing in hopes of helping the environment and reducing contribution to unethically produced fashion.
Thrift stores have seen a $14.2 billion growth in annual revenue, according to earthday.org. With the global secondhand goods market expected to grow 127% by 2026, the secondhand clothing industry is booming.
With the rise in popularity of thrifting, secondhand online shops have also increased in popularity. Websites such as Depop and ThreadUP help consumers find quality secondhand clothing easily at the click of a button and often at a fraction of the original price.
Thrifting can be a much more sustainable and resourceful shopping option for consumers wanting to minimize their effects on the environment, as it helps to lengthen the lifespan of an article of clothing. Increasing the lifecycle of a piece of clothing by just three months helps to reduce the item’s carbon, water, and waste footprints, according to Scientific American.
Prices are also significantly lowered compared to the original retail price, with thrift shoppers saving $1,760 a year on average, according to a survey done by CouponFellow, making thrifting and secondhand shopping much more accessible for teens and young adults.
Along with the environmental and financial advantages of secondhand shopping, thrifting and resell shops allow consumers to cultivate personal style outside of the microtrends shaping the retail world, said Maeve Galla, a freshman studying business administration at Ohio University.
Galla said the increase in secondhand shopping helps to combat the increasing speed in which styles are falling out of trend as well as limit income for unethically sourced brands.
“We're going through like 12 different phases each year, which is kind of crazy,” she said. “You can look at a clothing item that was just released a month ago, [which] is now popping up in thrift stores. These clothes aren't made to last. [It’s] just super frustrating.”
Along with helping to lessen money wasted on short-lived trends, thrifting offers a way to avoid supporting unethically sourced brands as well, Galla said.
“When you're buying secondhand, even if you're buying from a brand and are [representing] a brand that might be fast fashion, you're not buying it directly and you're saving that piece from going in the landfill,” Galla said.
Taylor Schneider, a junior studying communication studies at Ohio U, said thrifting offers a whole new market of potentially rare and hard-to-find pieces and fabrics. Although the majority of items donated or resold in thrift and consignment shops can often be cast off as out of style, finding high-quality or vintage pieces is possible with the right mindset and some luck.
Schneider is a frequent thrifter and finds some of her favorite pieces by shopping second-hand. She said fitting rooms are essential to her thrifting process.
“I tend to play it safe [rather] than sorry,” she said. “If I think something might be cute, I'll just throw it in my cart, and I just take the time to try it on.”
Knowing what signs to look for in potential thrift finds is also important when shopping, Schneider said. Looking for pieces with durable buttons, thicker denim, stitched detailing, or notable tags can help determine if a piece is long-lasting or vintage. Rare items are everywhere in secondhand businesses, and having the eye to see these pieces among piles of clothes is half the battle, she added.
“Sometimes you can go to five different thrift stores and find absolutely nothing you like,” Schneider said. “On a different day, you could find some of your best pieces.”
