Fast fashion older sister, thrifting

Thrifting has long been associated with those seeking affordable clothing options, often catering to lower-middle class and lower income shoppers. 

However, the landscape of thrift stores has changed dramatically, and not for the better. They are now filled with individuals with stack vintage jewelry from head to toe, and wearing designers items all over their body, often with the intention of purchasing to resell rather than wear. These s0-called vintage sellers scour thrift stores for quality items, only to mark them up significantly for resale. A $3 tank top they pick up can be inflated up to $20. A Calvin Klein neck tag would automatically make that same $3 tank a $50 top, even for more if there are cool designs on it. 

These "vintage sellers" are not sourcing their items from vintage wholesales, or luxury vintage outlets; instead, they are monopolizing thrift stores, hovering above thrift stores aisles like crows waiting for dead meat. They hoard clothes to sell, let's change their name to hoarding sellers. 

While I regconize that this has become a job to some, a source of income, the ethics of this practice are questionable. Thrifting was originally a sustainable practice aimed at reducing waste, yet it has now become that very vehicle that causes waste in the beginning: overconsumption. The very essence of thrifting was to counteract consumerism, but the current trend sees individuals buying secondhand clothing at alarming rates - I saw on TikToker who after scrolling through her page, shops around 4 times a week at the minimum. This undoubtedly raises eyebrows, my eyebrows, about the necessity of such frequent purchasing. 

Thrifting has become a fad, as noted by journalist Jillian Cote, who highlights the ethical dilemma posed by fast fashion's environmental impact. While thrifting appears to be a sustainable alternative at first, many don't think about how it leads to a very real phenomenon called "thrift store gentrification" where rising prices and limited selections alienate less affluent shoppers who rely on these stores for affordable clothing. Ironically, those who can afford to shop at higher-end sustainable stores that do not exploit their worker and uses quality fabric and have factories that emits a carbon free total, circle back to thrift stores, exacerbating the issue at hand. 

We must be clear on the type of consumer that is being referred to in this article. They are thrifting influencers, who has a presence of social media and is making videos about thrifting to promote their personal branding or online fashion shop. On a social media platform like TikTok where theres a general consensus of distaste for "elitists" basically those who flaunt their wealthy through shopping hauls (creators would have to say it advance how grateful and privileged they are to not get flamed down in the comment section), thrifting hauls is a good excuse to get away from this. Frankly thrifting is good and sustainable, and cheap so you must not have money anyways, right? Now tell me what is the difference between shopping hauls if you remove the branding. In the end it's all overconsumption and exploitation. Fast fashion like Shein exploits worker, and for thrifting, there is waste colonialism. 

Only a small percent, 10-20 of donated clothings actually go out for you, the buyer, to view and purchase. That whole 80 percent get shipped to countries like Poland, Pakistan and Kenya. One country's burden get put onto another. Now these countries, often in Africa, have to deal with the waste of western nations. On top of that, countries like Pakistan and Kenya with unstable economies cannot withhold the immense amount of clothings imported to them, and it can lead to several things, one being the collapse of the local textiles, clothing industry. 

So the next time you go to the thrift store, don't let this be your guiltless haven, remember that your consumption habits, no matter where, is harming others. 

Going back to an earlier point of the affluent type of consumers that can afford to shop high end sustainably but don't that may not also be an influencer. Why are they doing it? Why are they willing to spend such tedious time, attention and money on the consumption of vintage products. The answer is in "The psychology of Luxury Consumption", where Davis Dubois et all. write " Consumer's enduring desire for luxury large derives from the need for status". The kind of status that vintage luxury items give you is not just status money wise, but individuality wise. As Malia Simon writes in her article "Buying into the Neoliberal Trap: Vintage Nostalgia and the Shopper's Dilemma", vintage style has made its way into the current American imagination by means of nostalgia for a sense of individuality....the single copy flannels and the faded or strangely cut jeans offer a sense of personalized choice and uniqueness that can appeal to anyone living in today's market". Of course, their individualized jeans and top is enough for them to hoard all gems in thrift shops. No one can have anything. Typical! 

Thrifting has become yet another trend. On the surface, it may seem all for the better, a good trend, but think deeper, and realize that the same overconsumption pattern that was perpetrated with fast fashion, is following you to thrift shops. 

Sources:

https://wp.nyu.edu/mercerstreet/2022-2023/the-ethics-of-thrifting/

https://www.popsci.com/story/environment/thrift-second-hand-shopping-sustainable-ethical/