Thrifting has become increasingly popular in the last few years. The reasons for thrifting are compelling: thrifting allows you to 1) revoke support for the labor trafficking that is so often involved in clothing production, 2) reduce your environmental footprint, and 3) spark your creativity!
Despite these profound benefits of thrifting, there are undoubtedly some flaws within the practice. As thrifting has become more popular and mainstream, there has been a lot of talk calling into question the ethics behind thrifting. Today I want to address the two main qualms people express regarding thrifting, provide my take on it, and start a discussion in the comments about what you think!
The premise of the first argument against thrifting questions the ethicality of thrifting for people who can afford new clothes and don’t HAVE TO buy used. Charity stores and non-profit thrift stores were largely built as places where people of lower socioeconomic classes could shop, as these stores taut super low prices.
I challenge this idea that people who can afford retail should “save” thrift stores for those who cannot afford retail by presenting information on the surplus of thrift stock that does not get sold. An average thrift store only sells about 20-25% of what they put out on their shelves. Remaining unsold clothing either gets incinerated, sent to textile recycling factors, or sent to countries in Africa for a small price.
Related -> Why You Gotta Ditch Fast Fashion
Clearly, this shows a large gap between what is donated and what is sold. This gap exists for a few reasons: 1) some of the stuff people donate is just fugly… but that’s where thrift flipping comes in handy and is SO resourceful, it often takes pieces that look really undesirable and turns them into beautiful new creations and 2) there is still a huge stigma associated with thrifting that leads people to be more inclined to donating to thrift stores than buying from thrift stores. These two factors contribute to the huge disparity between the supply of second-hand clothes and the demand for second-hand clothes in thrift stores.
The second qualm people bring up regarding thrifting is the growing trend of people thrifting solely for the purpose of reselling clothes at extremely high prices on apps like Depop and Poshmark. I saw a TikTok the other day where a girl was showing an order she received from Depop. The shirt she bought was marked as “vintage” and listed at $24.99. When she received it in the mail, the original Goodwill tag was still on the shirt, showing a $3.99 price.
Although I do believe that reselling clothes is a total valid and awesome way to make money, I think that people should do so in a way that is not misleading or extremely high-priced.
My thoughts are that MORE people should be thrifting… regardless of income level. But it is important that you do so mindfully and intentionally! I’m going to give y’all three ways to ensure you are thrifting mindfully.
3 Tips to Conscious Thrifting
- Don’t buy clothes that are plus-sized, because many people who are plus-sized rely on thrift stores, as thrift store tend to offer a more inclusive range of sizes when other brands and stores fail to do so.
- If you are buying from thrift stores, donate to them!
- PLEASE do not buy clothes from thrift stores just to list them on resale apps with misleading information and for 5x the original price.
What are y’all’s thoughts on the ethical qualms surrounding thrifting? I would love to hear about your experiences! Comment below and feel free to email or DM me if you have any questions/comments/concerns!
