Thrifting For Saving

For about 5 years now I have been thrifting most of my clothes in various thrift stores all around Greater Montreal. On another hand, a lot of people buy their clothes at popular fast fashion companies like Zara, H&M and Forever 21, and are pushed to constantly buy new garments because of the mass production they offer. Also, Zara for example, is known for copying famous designer clothing and slightly changing them. This gives the company an advantage in attracting an additional target market that seeks high end looks at cheap prices/quality. Furthermore, the overconsumption and inevitable waste of these products leave a huge ecological impact on our environment, for instance, the average American throws away about 81 pounds of clothing every years.

My solution to this is to support second hand and used clothing like the popular quote says « One man’s trash is another man’s treasure ». If I give myself as an example, I collect coats and various vests, jackets and windbreakers. I’m actually known for always having cool looking vintage coats and when asked where I purchased them, the reaction is always surprise. People need to change their perception about second hand clothing because usually, they associate thrift stores with being poor or dirty whereas it is so much more than that.

Although, as a consumer you also need to be conscious of which thrift stores are good and which are bad. For instance, the chain Value Village just recently got bought by Walmart. Consequently, when sorting through the given garments, they have a new pile that is attributed to the « curated » articles that they believe they can sell at a higher price because of it’s possibility of being a sought after piece of clothing. This ultimately creates an unethical character for the company that was originally made for people that don’t have a lot of money to begin with. The worst part is that Value Village makes 100% profit on clothes that are donated for free since they do not give back to any community organizations. To fight this greediness coming from unexpected sources, I suggest to shop at local thrift stores or like the Salvation Army for example, that gives back to the community.

Moreover, what people also need to understand is that second hand clothing can be stylish and it all depends on the way you want it to look. Of course not everyone has the eye for styling but the more you go in the thrift stores and see what they offer, the more you can get inspiration. I know how frustrating it is when you pass three stores and don’t find anything but the trick is to go frequently and not fall in the previous fast fashion buying patterns. For me it took a couple of years before making the difference between buying garments for their individual properties and thrifting for styles as well as aesthetics. It took a couple of months before knowing what I liked the most in some stores and how I want to use second hand garments. As much as some people think it doesn’t correspond with their style I always urge to try anyway because I know there is something for literally everyone.

Finally, another high point of thrift shopping is the originality. Having worked at Zara for 9 months, it is absolutely mind blowing seeing the sheer amount of people buying from there and most of the time the same things. In my opinion this loses individuality in the consumer’s styles and most of the time makes them feel unoriginal. In contrast, buying from thrift stores almost assures you by 100% that you will never see a person with the same shirt as you. The up side to thrifting is that you will get asked more frequently where you got the shirt and by saying it’s from a thrift store, it will rise the amount of exclusivity and make you feel a lot more original in your personal style. Shopping in thrift stores has been very positive for me when it comes to feeling different because I know no one can copy my exact look.

At the end of the day anything is better than buying clothing from the big fast fashion companies and my alternative that I preach the most is thrift shopping. Wether it is buying vintage Adidas windbreakers or a nice pair of black trousers in the men’s section I think I will never stop thrift shopping because it makes my style original, make me a conscious consumer and it also helps my wallet feel good too.