Why Thrifting Sucks Now
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- Today, thrifting and second-hand shopping are so normalized, popular even, but they weren’t always. So, what made us swap our Hollister cargo shorts for vintage Levi’s and what does it mean for our consumer habits as a whole?
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Script: Emma Powell
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we cannot keep overconsuming fast fashion and being surprised when thrift stores are full of fast fashion. the reason thrift stores are full of crap is because we buy crap in the first place and donate it. the first hand market is what feeds the second hand market after all.
Or we ended up with high end but odd because companies have cheaped out on quality, even rugged brands once able to last a long time are crap. What is sad is brands like Carhart are not nearly as good, Wrangler has gone downhill now the 5 star for brand is gone, brands like ASICS or Brooks are only okay and models people loved for years now cause injuries in mid level models for some people.
Another reason is the stores are putting up the good items for auction or selling on websites.
This is so true. Screw you guys. I been donating heat
@@MichelleB022 i gave my lightning mcqueen crocs to a goodwill
My husband bought some premium price wrangler socks the other day that were absolute garbage. @@caseysmith544
The real issue is that Grandpas clothes were made in a different time. Everything is made to break now. Planned obsolescence has creeped into almost every industry. As people buy up the old but gold, all that will be left is undesirable polyester shit made in chinese sweat shop. The issue is that people are fine with buying dogshit that never should have been made.
yes i think part of this conversation that ppl ignore is how much more expensive clothing used to be!! if you adjust for inflation, ppl in the 50s-70s were paying a lot more for basic clothing like t-shirts, jeans, coats etc but they were quality items and ppl knew they would last a long time- also, most ppl back then had the skills to mend minor wear and tear issues and the seams were sewn in a way that could be repaired. poor ppl made their own clothing a lot of the time which was pretty good quality as well, at least compared to now. if an item was in rough shape the fabric could usually still be repurposed and most ppl knew someone who could do that so it wouldn't go to the garbage. a lot of this stuff ended up in thrift shops in relatively good condition so the next generation could enjoy them too. now that we have walmart and h&m and shein mass producing very cheap clothing, we sacrifice quality and longevity. seams in these clothes are sewn with a serger to save pennies in fabric and are unrepairable - the material is also terrible quality. so we save in the short term but lose in the long term. the h&m jeans might be only $20 but won't last longer than a year and you can forget about mending them when the shitty seams inevitably rip
It's not "planned" obsolescence. That would imply some kind of strategy or a predetermined breaking point. It just has the base material and quality control of a yoghurt cup and is made by workers who earn three fifty a month.
If their customers wear it 3x on average, what's the point in improving the product from the pov of the manufacturer?
Planned obsolescence indeed!! If the goal are cheap "goods" made w/borderline s la v e wages, then this is what you end up with. If that goal is not a quality product then the plan *IS* obsolescence.
"polyester shit made in chinese sweat shop" - Not cool, man. Those slave laborers can only work with the materials provided to them.
I swear people are so weird. Like how can you even WEAR clothes made of 100% polyester, they are so disgusting on the skin? Not to mention the pilling that often happens after the first wash already.
I have a few cotton shirts that I bought 2 years ago and that I wear all the time. They are still looking good.
Thrift shops have been raising their prices. I'm almost back to buying new
Very true it sucks when things go mainstream
I feel like market will correct itself eventually. Too much demand right now even with enough supply.
But this is driving prices up and there will only be so many customer willing to pay that price.
When firms understand that they’ve lost many price sensitive customers they’ll begging to reduce prices
Because at the end of the day they’re in the volume game even though making more on less items is great there is to many thrift stores for this to be possible without being an upscale resale store that’s positioned really well within that image
The prices is what made me stop going.
I still shop second-hand just to undermine the mainstream retailers.
It's often more affordable to buy new, especially from a sale. Just heard how someone saw a Shein dress at a local donations thrift store for 25€. Should be roughly the same in USD.
However I've been buying from Sellpy, which is the H&M greenwashing thrift store (online). It takes time, but they lower the prices for unsold items untill they cost 3€. So you can find reasonably priced ones.
Related tip: if your clothes are too worn to donate, drop them off or mail them to a fabric recycling center if the option is available.
I would imagine most fabrics can't even be recycled now due to the plastic fibers
If I had the time, I'd make rag rugs or quilts out of them.
@@cs8712I've understood the impossible ones are the mixed fabrics. So if you have the classic 40% cotton, 55% polyester, 5% elasthane type of stretch fabric, that's just going to trash, because it can't be recycled. But could be of course, that they can sort it out.
I've learned to cut clothes into rags, which we use for cleaning. The problematic clothes, especially socks and panties, which the recycling doesn't accept regardless of material, still make fine disposable rags. I'll use them for cleaning stuff like the balcony or the toilet, because I can just throw them away. Our city also has a trash power plant, so they'll burn my rags into energy.
Recycling clothing requires an excessive use of water, so there is another issue to consider. Wear everything until it wears out, fix it, and when it is not fit to wear, use it for rags, make rugs out of it, etc. When it is thread bare it is less in the landfill.
@@MaryC-ug4pf Sadly, if you use mixed fabrics until they are threadbare, the material just lands as microplastics in the water.
This is something I think of all the time. One day, all the vintage quality clothes will be gone and be replaced on the racks of thrift store with basic, 60%-40% polyester, screen printed tags shirts and going to the thrift will be completely useless for finding anything with decent quality.
I think another thing we don't talk about is the amount of "one off" printed event t-shirts that fill up thrifts and they more than likely will go to the landfill once they sit on the racks for months. The amount of shirts I see from some elementary school field day, local sports teams from a single county in rural south carolina, or the most hideous print on demand shirts is staggering and not helping anyone.
i respect the people who buy those one time shirts as irony lol
That day is already here. Thrifting is basically useless now for clothing and electronics.
Oof add all the horrible company/product logo crap that is churned out constantly...
Polyester is the bane of my existence.
I get printed on demand shirts. But it's a design I drew on a shirt I intend to wear for years to come.
Yeah the ones made for single events are wasteful though.
Something a former coworker of mine introduced me to was having swap parties. Invite everyone from work and ask them to bring everything they’ve been meaning to clear out. You can ‘shop’ off each others stuff and donate everything else. It’s so much fun and I’ve gotten some of my very favourite things from these little get togethers. It’s a nice way to get to know each other a little better outside work and because it’s a group of folks who aren’t your chosen friend group and you probably don’t all have similar styles, you’ll get more surprising and varied pieces.
That's my favorite way to thrift. Most of the thrifted clothes I actually wear are from swap parties. Both small ones from my sports team or big ones organized by the student body!
this is such a great idea! I'll try to implement it in the future
This is great!
The town next to me has swap parties every half year. I was interested and went to one: Most people gave pieces that were not good (or even washed) since then I haven't gone again. (I bring washed nice things which were taken at once but won't even find a piece...) Was kinda depressed, people don't care about their cloths. Well at last it wasn't full of shein...
omg i need to do that!! that is such a cool idea, and much, much better than shopping at goodwill :D
What most people don't know: Many corporate or privately owned thrift stores do is take the rare finds and put them online to sell now: the rare electronics, jewelry, clothes, household items. So you won't even find them in thrift stores anymore.
Some local small independent shops might still have them...but you're gonna pay more than the thrifty prices you were used to decades ago.
I have seen charities have accounts on eBay
I sincerely miss the days I use to be able to find actually good videogames in thrift stores. Now all the good games are auctioned off online and all the bad shovelware goes into the physical stores
@@chrisk5985 It's such false economy because it takes away the reason to visit their stores in the first place - the chance of finding a bargain
Nah, the staff takes the really good stuff, hides it from management and either just take it or put a tag on them and buy them come end of day.
Source; My friend who has worked in several thrift stores around town.
People love to pretend only the chains do this but local thrift shops do to.
This is all a symptom of capitalism.
I hit a point several years ago where I realized I don't even wear most of the clothing I have. As a result, I stopped buying clothes, even thrifted ones, and started treating my closet like a collection. I am slowly condensing and replacing my closet with a curated high-end, handmade slow fashion pieces built with quality materials by small designers. Not only does it feel really good to support small businesses, but I really like the idea of having a wardrobe I can wear for another 10 years as opposed to another 2...
that is such a great idea. you made me think about how many of my clothes i actually wear, and it's only a handful of what i own. do you have an idea what i should do with the clothes i don't wear? none of my family members want them or fit them so that's crossed off, and idk where i should donate them to actually help other people. goodwill is crazyyyy these days :((
I have done the same. I almost never buy clothes these days because I have no money. I handwash undergarments and have stuff from 20-30 years ago that are in great shape, because they weren't garbage made by slave labor. My brands weren't even fancy: Mervyn's, J.C. Penney, Capezio jeans, etc. Basic stuff that never goes far out of style.
Save the style for jewelry.
@@autumnelizabeth4973try a humane society/church based/charity style thrift. They tend to have better stuff at lower prices.
Is there a list or website that names these "small designers"?
@@autumnelizabeth4973 I stopped buying new clothes. I wear the same 5 outfits since I work from home. I recently gathered my Covid boredom purchases and other items. I contacted a local re-entry organization that put on job fairs, etc. They needed business attire for people trying to go back to work.
So I grew up on the poverty line. Secondhand clothes- from donation drives, community giveaways, estate/yard/garage/rummage sales, hand-me-downs, & thrift stores- were the bulk of my wardrobe as a kid. In spite of my earning a very decent salary, thrifting is still the best option for my income level until my student loans are paid off. But now I'm much more picky about what I thrift- looking for natural fabrics (cotton, wool, linen), hunting for pieces that are actual Art and Unique (embroidered, painted, patched), and primarily something that will hopefully last me for at least 10-15 years. In a way, it's been a blessing that thrifting has shifted from something that 20 years ago got me bullied relentlessly to something that Everyone just does. Also the popularity has given me a lot more options when it comes to selecting nicer pieces. But on the flip side, I've seen so much more CRAP in these stores lately, and (while it hasn't happened in my stores (yet)) it's grown so popular that it's almost impossible for the actual Poor People to actually buy the basic clothes we need anymore due to many chains hiking up the prices. Yeah, we live in a Society, but maybe we all should take a month or three to buy only what we NEED to survive instead of what we Think we need.
Thank you - You just saved me 5 minutes of not needing to write that exact thing - 😁
Well said! There's definitely pros to the rise in popularity but if that rise comes at the expense of others its definitely worth some critique. Thanks for sharing your experience here!
Same here, we had a bit more money and were above the poverty line but it was obvious that we didn't have a lot of money. I'd say we were lower middle class, my dad was a landscaper who didn't have a stable income throughout the year and my mom worked remotely from home full-time.
Growing up most of my clothes were hand-me-downs and secondhand. I remember a family member bringing over bags of old clothes for my mom and I to go through. It didn't help that I grew up in a town where some people lived like me in small homes and apartments scattered throughout, but just down the road there were million dollar homes. The kids I went to school with had name brand clothes and brand new things.
Looking back now of course it seems shallow and stupid, but at the time it was my world. That meant everything to me and I felt so bad that I didn't have those things.
I remember, finding a name brand item at the thrift that looked new was the best feeling in the world. I knew that I would fit in when I wore it. Eventually my mom saw how much the bullying was affecting me and she ended up using credit cards to take me shopping at the mall. I remember making labels for my dresser drawers out of notebook paper with the brand names "Hollister," "Aeropostale," "American Eagle,".
I'm so appreciative that she did those things for me, but I'm also really sad that we were in that situation to begin with. Where we didn't really have the money to afford those things, but my mom felt like she had to find a way to afford them. Part of it was because my grandparents came to the U.S. when she was 3 and so they were poor, she also had to wear hand-me-downs and would tell me stories of how she was bullied for wearing those clothes. She obviously wanted me to have a different experience. Part of it was also that as an impressionable child, society made me believe that I needed those things for my social survival. That my social survival was the most important.
Nowadays I thrift, buy some things new from slow fashion brands, but mostly use what I have and thrifted fabrics to recreate my favorite clothing in new fabrics.
Same! Very well said.
I remember being I middleschool and having my peers tell me to be ashamed for shopping at goodwill for all the vintage tshirts I loved, now they all sell secondhand on depop. Love what you love and the sheep will catchup eventually
I'll never forget years ago good will had ALL shirts for $1. I remember at the time I saw a shirt at savers for $3 and said what a scam. Now the cheapest shirt at goodwill is $8
Wow I haven’t been in an illwill in years. Are the T shirts $8 now?!!!
My favorite response to any “why” question: “Because they can.”
Thrifting sucks now because they can thrift?
@@Aymen_Lahdhiri
Well... Kinda. 😅
Prices, "turnover", quality of products being sold, etc. It's all in the video. So just because you can shop at thrift stores even more doesn't mean that you should (this applies to every other purchase as well).
@@teroalitalo3469 The same thing has happened to open air vegetable and meat markets around the western world. The cashed-up folks shopped at grocery stores and the poorer folks haggled at wet markets, and then there is this sudden shift of middle and upper-middle-class folks heading to wet markets and now they are no cheaper than the fucken grocery stores with their price gouging.
It's like ticket touting for an actual need. It relies on Greater Fool Theory, the idea you can Flip to a bigger idiot, making it a bubble.
That or money
I have thrifted for years. Recently I have felt that its sometimes not worth it. Stores like Goodwill etc. get items for free and they charge a ridiculous amount for "used" items.
Thrifting in my community is going to your cousin house and asking if you still wear/use this and trade for something of yours. Money is rarely involved.
either that or hand-me-downs. one of my favourite vests is my mum's old one that happened to be uncovered after being tucked away for a while
@@alysiannnn8274 Yup. I got loads of hand-me-downs from my mom and from her best friend's daughter, and I've been wearing them for years. Nice stuff that doesn't go out of style.
I sort of get the sense that hand-me-downs are not very common, at least right now. I remember that when me and my cousins were younger, the younger of us would always get the clothes of our older cousins as they grew out of them. And my mom and I are always passing things along to each other or our friends (or each others' friends) when weight changes etc happen. But talking to some of my other friends, not everyone's family did this when they were younger/does it now.
I don't know if it's maybe because clothes are cheaper/more available than they were? But some of my absolute best clothes are hand-me-downs! It's funny how some of the things my mother gave me when I was 19/20 seemed so boring or outdated, but are now things I reach for all the time and really appreciate now.
This. I gave away a bunch of my mom's hand-me-downs as a kid because I didn't understand that they were better quality than the stuff you'd find in thrift stores. Now her wardrobe is filled with fast fashion and we've lost a bunch of her pieces from the 80's and 90's 😢 but she's breaking into my grandma's old wardrobe now, so we're unearthing nicer pieces from the 70's. And with tailor-made clothes getting more popular in our region, I'm hoping to get nicely made clothes to hand down to my own future kids 😊
I wish I could do that, I feel like there’s a lack of community in my area. I almost feel like I thrift to remind myself of going through handmedowns with my family as a kid.
I think you missed a big piece of the puzzle here, though. The last ungentrified thrift stores near me (Habitat for Humanity Restore in 2 different cities) had to change how they operated because their landlords dramatically increased their rent.
They went from supporting lower income people and keeping things out of landfills to being another place that rejects anything but high-quality items they can sell for 50% of MSRP or higher.
During gentrification, it's landlords who put small businesses out of business by aggressively raising rents.
@Tonysopranoyafinook Including the cooperate ones or just the small time guy who risks dealing with squatters. Oh and by the way don't forget the local assesors office. SOMEBODY has to pay for our chitty public school system!
This is part of a bigger problem imo. In a lot of cases landlords are raising rents due to increases in property taxes as values of properties have gone up due to our crazy economy.
@Tonysopranoyafinook ban unearned income
Truth!!
Not in the area I live in. I was actually shocked to listen to landlords brag how they are going up on rent to make a profit. I am truly amazed how the local government can do something but they do not.
I'd rather buy great quality clothes for years from small local brands than pretend to save the planet, buying mainly H&M, Zara, Shein second hand shit.
What local small brands are you talking about?
Not an attack but in my area we have Zero "small local brands" for clothing....
Weirdly, in a small town of about 7k we have a clothier who hand makes clothes. Sometimes you do have local small brands. @@rc07333
Isn't buying quality less frequently the basis of saving the planet?
I do both - quality is key. Fast fashion rarely has quality, just a look.
@@rc07333 I live in Poland and we have quite a lot of decent local producers.
We now have at least one shop in Iceland that rents outfits from higher end brands for occations. So you no longer need to buy a dress for a one night outing to never wear it again as you can rent it!
I think that's super clever!
of course there are people who take advantage of these business models as well… i saw an article about a woman who stole like $800,000 of clothes of nuuly and sold them all on poshmark.
That’s a fantastic idea!
My family thrifted out of necessity when I was younger and it wasn’t as cool. It’s been amazing to see so many people discovering how awesome thrifting is recently, but at the same time it’s been hard to see the industry change to become so much more commercial.
Is it amazing are is it showing how shit humans are? Perfectly content to put others down until the enshitification of capitalism ravaged everything. I'm tired.
Lmao on the other hand it’s better if people don’t know about it since there would be fewer people getting whatever semi serviceable items the store actually does put out. Never tell anyone about your secret fishing spot
I have stopped buying clothes altogether, because I have skin sensitivities that cause me to break out into rashes and blisters whenever I wear synthetic fibers, like polyester or nylon, etc. And I can't trust any factory made clothes to be completely free of synthetic materials, because the fiber content listed on the label only applies to the main fabric of the garment. Things like decorative trim, zippers, the thread used to sew the seams and even the label itself can still be made of synthetics in a garment that's labeled as 100% natural fiber. So I make all of my clothes myself, even my underwear, and wear and mend them until they can't be mended anymore.
I'd love to pay you to make me a shirt!
People will pay you to make clothing for them. I would. I can't sew well enough to not be embarrassed by my lousy skills. Bespoke clothing is going to be the future.
The fabric costs alone, are more than buying new clothing; people like OP & I, with specific material or sizing needs, _have_ to make stuff ourselves, but it can be cripplingly expensive.
I have also noticed that the thrift stores are mostly full of fast fashion that deteriorates quickly. So while the brand-new polyester/rayon/crappy synthetic clothing looks pretty good brand new, it looks pretty bad at the thrift store. So much for finding “treasures”; it’s harder than it used to be.
Theres an issue as well as "professional" thrifters ransacking all the cheap ones daily to upsell in their own stores or ebay. Always got to be that one guy ruining it for the average thrifter.
Even a decade ago high quality second hand wool winter coats were easy to find cheaply. Now, not really :(
For plus size this is how it's always been though, since fast fashion is pretty much the only one that wants to sell us clothes. Hence almost everything plus size in the thrift stores has always been fast fashion.
Yeah capitalism! the enshitification of our lives continues.
@@AshaSelfsDemoFilmscapitalism brought you pairs of shoes with contour options instead of buying a single 1 size fits all when one of em busted. Shoes sold as pairs in boxes didn't start until the 1800s. You live in the highest standard of living to have ever existed, owning simple things kings and emperor's would be jealous of like AC. Thank you, free market capitalism, for all your innovations.
What you're complaining about predates capitalism. People have been skimping on material and cheating ingredients while jacking prices/meeting quotas in every economic model since the Sumerians. It's a human thing, not a economic model thing.
You've really misunderstood free market capitalism's benefits, most of all the fact you have a choice to support or not support a company's practices by buying or boycotting. You can raise capital and start a business and be the change you wish to see in this world.
Or sit back and rely on the corporations for your survival in exchange for all your money, while complaining the rich get richer.
It's a free market democracy, do what you want. Support what you want with your actions and purchases.
You missed the worst problem of them all: All the *good* stuff gets cherry picked and sold on eBay or expensive "vintage" shops. What is left at the thrift stores is the dregs. That is the exclamation point for everything you said in your essay.
No sh1t! People who are poor don't have a choice while Resellers wait for the doors to open every morning, leaving the junk to the others who can't choose.
I noticed that recently. I think Goodwill should be publicly pressured into not having an online sales presence, now that everyone is learning the truth about them.
THIS!!
@@deepwaters7242 Nah its even worse than that, a lot of the time these higher value items are getting cherry picked before they ever even hit shelves, not by resellers camping out the store openings.
@@everet6136 Resellers are the heavy ones in my town, and the employees get first pick. That's cool because they hire low income, elders and people with disabilities. The resellers are a genuine problem in our town - it's touristic, so overpriced boutiques are everywhere selling the stuff they got at thrift stores at 9:05 in the morning, on the rack of a boutique for a huge price by 10am. I know this because I know quite a few of the workers, ex workers, and managers.
Can we stop pretending that massive for profit corporations making millions every year in profit (goodwill) are going to GO UNDER if their labor costs increase slightly and they DON'T triple their prices?
this ^^^
Goodwill isn't a great example, because many people don't shop there because of their gross business practices. Plus, why would you spend tons of time searching for things that end up costing almost as much as the new product (or same amount)? Well, and . . . large for-profit companies generally don't have a labor cost issue, they have an issue figuring out how to keep all the money at the top & pay their shareholders more every year. They have PLENTY of money to pay people more; they just don't want to.
@@JRoseBooks😂😂😂 Yes, sweetie, millions shop at Goodwill.
@@Junkinsally Yeah, I know but it doesn't change that many people have stopped shopping at Goodwill. I fact checked how much they earned before I wrote my initial comment. :D
You mean like the 99 cents only stores and family dollar? Like them?
One problem with thrifting is also that people buy to re-sell. so that is driving the price up as the thrift stores know that people are going in there looking for specific brands that they can resell for a profit, and more online sellers are going to the store and competing with one another for such merchandise.
resellers are price fixing or price rigging
This is happening in my area. Some buyers just rush in pull all the decent stuff off the racks and leave the less desirable items behind. If they decide they didn't want the item, they don't return it to the rack they got it from. Once I look around, I don't want to go all over the store to find what is not purchased. Many of these people are rude. I go there to shop for myself or friends not to make money.
Yep. But heaven forbid you say it here or they'll come after you. As someone said below, they swoop in and gobble up anything decent. I don't know what thrift stores can do to curb it, but I hope they figure it out.
I'm seeing that too. Everyone with their phone out checking ebay prices. Makes finding anything good anymore really difficult.
I just came here to say that. People buying then using RUclips to show off how they bought and resold items for higher prices is driving costs up. Now workers checking in clothes set prices the same way. I also heard Goodwill is doing the same and have their online sales too. But I never checked to see if that’s true.
I just know process are outrageous. I used to go to buy an extra outfit or pj for when my young grandchildren visit. They sell used holey, stained or items with hems unraveling close to new in store prices. I get better deals shopping sales or clearance in stores. I used to also get used clothes for my husband to work in because they’ll be stained day one at work. It’s next to impossible to find anymore and if anything is close to what he’d wear, the price gives sticker shock.
1990s - 2000s thrifting was killer for 1940s - 1970s era stuff that was plentiful and dirt cheap: electronics, furniture, home decor, lighting, books, records and most importantly clothing. For a very long time the only new clothing I bought was socks, underwear and shoes. After a while the good vintage stuff didn't show up anymore and was replaced by Gap, Old Navy and other poorly made brands, I gave up trying to find anything vintage regardless of price nearly 20 years ago.
A chain thrift store in my country has recently really started to lean into the 70s aesthetic as part of their branding. Thing is, I haven't seen any 70s items in there since I was a child, no way are you going to get a retro groovy outfit from there.
All that stuff has dried up. Now you have 1990's to 2020s stuff like old computers, Ikea furniture, toys, more toys, and very little adult nostalgia items. Yet when an older item from the 80s is dropped off its way overpriced and is often broken.
It's like most millennials never grew up until their 30s because there are so many toys and less of everything else.
Even some Old Navy from early to mid 2000's is higher quality then what brand became in 2009--2010.
Anytime something becomes a "thing" on social media....it's essentially destroyed.
Pokémon, Video game collecting, etc etc.....the niches get discovered and everyone hops on a train that isn't for them.
Thrifting used to be the only way I could buy "new clothes", but now it sucks because I can hardly find anything in my size and the men's section is always like two racks and that's it. Not to mention because prices have increased it's almost like you're just buying the clothes new :(
I felt that way too until I went to a new clothes place a little while back and found out that they too had quadrupled all their prices. You can't win.
Men''s clothes are always short in thrift shops because men usually haven't been so fashion conscious. They buy the items they need and wear them until they are threadbare. It is the very reason that men's clothes are better made and have better fabrics than women's clothing. Anyone from the clothing industry will tell you that men's clothes are designed for many more washes than women's clothing. Next time you go to a shop, have a look. Men's stuff is better sewn, better quality, and made from better fabrics...
@@tianikane3312 Yup, I second this. My dad's old work shirts were so durable it lasted him until he retired. I was able to do some simple alterations on it so that he can wear them again.
what pisses me off is seeing the depop girlies rummaging through the mens section like there isn't already a shortage of mens clothes at any thrift store.
@@hufass lmao
I lived in Chile in the 80's, our thrift stores were second hand clothes from the US, so we called it "La ropa Americana" it means "The American clothes"
I was so hyped one day when i found a Mr T and a Dukes of Hazzard tee lol.
hey I have lived in Chile now for the past 23 years and it is still ropa americana at the feria! I find tons of cashmere sweaters - and the prices are low because the majority of the population are not wealthy. But I have noticed that there is more and more shein and way more polyester crap than before.
Thrifting used to be about allowing the lower paid and poorest to be able to buy decent reasonable quality second hand clothing and goods, at least in the UK. Here the majority of "thrifting" is via what we call charity shops, run to provide funds either to small local charities or to large national charities. The rise of influencer culture has ruined that experience for many of the poorest as charity shops have continually upped their prices knowing that the market is expanding and they now attract better off customers. Some charity shops here now sell second hand clothes for just as much and often more than you can buy new clothes for, and it's even worse for electrical goods, vinyl records and CDs. Major charities will now rather sell such items on Ebay where they can get more money for them instead of in their shops. In some ways that's good for the charity, they get more money, but it's pricing out the very customers these shops attracted for decades.
We've already been priced out of our communities with rising rents and units being converted to airbnbs... now we're getting priced out of our beloved thrift stores, too.
mary queen of shops ruined it, she told shops to look like boutiques and match their prices to attract "better" customers, yes it's class cleansing, you can see those episodes on youtube right now
they also steal a lot, like a LOT, people working there
I liked thrift stores because slave labor is used in the making of most new clothes. I thrifted partially because of affordability and partially due to not wanting to give my money to unethical, climate-change-fuelling corporations. But now? I might be forced to buy new again.
Too many of them have become 'boutiques' with fancy window displays and curated collections. At one thrift store in my city, there is a line up before opening and people are looking at the window display and on their phones looking up the value. They are 'flippers'. If you don't get there at opening time, the best stuff is long gone. It really isn't that much fun any more and I rarely find anything vintage except crystal and some fine china that no one wants.
I’ve resorted to almost entirely shopping from estate sales now because I can’t even afford thrift stores anymore. It’s dystopian
Stole my comment
there's not many estate sales in my area, but i'm moving and i hope the new place has tons of those because i want to get new decorations for my room and stuff! i also need a desk but idk if i'll be able to find one i like lol wish me luck :D
Even the companies running estate sales have upped their prices and are charging absurds amounts for certain pieces of clothing, this is the case at least in my area
I see so few estate sales anymore. 10-20 years ago there were loads of them, and you could score such great stuff. Now they only sell the leftover junk or giant furniture they can’t sell for $$$ online.
I hate SHEIN! I’d never buy the crap!
Even worse? The Goodwills are full of it now😡
Recently almost bought a Shien jumpsuit cause I didn't check the tags 😅
Next trend is making your own clothes and im calling it here
Thats what I do.
They would probably fit better than the store brands. I'm an athletic tall woman and can never find decent clothes.
recycling, tailoring, repurposing. just found hella old jeans from my hs days, gonna bring them to a tailor soon as well as get some jewelry repaired
I can already feel that becoming more of a thing now- unless my route into sustainability and fashion videos have resulted in my algorithm giving me more people who like to sew
Fabric is VERY expensive.
I stopped going to goodwill..got tired of fighting over others garbage.the rich have become trashy and goodwill is greedy..taking a preachers dream to help the poor to a Corp that exploits the system to maximize profits..this place brings out the worse in people.
one time i went to a goodwill and they were charging like $3 for a little terracotta pot, the new one at home depot was like $2.50
@@nerinok I heard another story similar to that recently. It is so laughable--how long can they continue pretending that they're "helping" anyone with those prices?
Also, price comparisons ftw (even when it seems counterintuitive). The same need for comparing prices applies to coupons--I have seen coupons where, when you did the math, you actually paid more *with* the coupon. (Seriously--I had another person check my math just in case.)
It's the dollar store items getting marked up that really gets under my nerves. As much as I like the idea of thrifting, everything is pretty low quality now and when I shop I get stupid picky so I feel good in what I wear
@@zoyadulzura7490 goodwill is kind of just filled with junk now. id rather buy it new and get more for my money. Its less environmentally friendly, but if im honest, i dont care about that if it significantly impacts my wallet.
Let’s not forget, majority of their inventory is free.
Sure, it's gotten popularized on social media, but there's another reason there's an uptick in thrifting: Everything is getting more and more expensive and so there's no choice BUT to thrift.
actually clothes for the most part are getting cheaper and cheaper… and more poorly made
@@sofearthwindfia Yeah, though even if clothes are cheaper, everything else isn't!
A shirt at Winners used to cost 25-30$ new and 5-10 at Value Village. Now they cost 30-35$ new and 20-25$ at Value Village... This is not about inflation
True. I can't afford to pay $30 for a new bra. So I go to a thrift store that have some in great shape for $4.50 .....BUT WAIT! ....It has a yellow tag so it's 50% off!! I try to shop the 50% off tag colours.
@@l.5832 Always great when you find a deal like that.
The only reason there’s such a huge market for thrift stores is because people have so much excessive stuff to get rid of in the first place
Thrift stores are a byproduct of fast fashion
nah it always existed, especially children and teen clothes because they grow out of them.
people who buy hauls from shein and dont know what to do with it always just dump it at a goodwill
How many thrift stores have you gone in and done research to see the amount of fast fashion brands on the racks?
I mean, people have been donating and reselling secondhand goods since at least the late 1500s, so it's not just fast fashion.
And there is nothing to do in life It seems then go to the bar, Go out to eat and a few other things in between like bowling movies but now that everybody is a lazy loser they all just get their food delivered get driven around by someone else and probably buy thrift store stuff from someone else because they are also it's too lazy to get out there and do it...
I'm one of those Boomers you mentioned. Even as a kid, I would go to Goodwill and yard sales with my grandmother to find good bargains. Not just clothing either, good quality wooden furniture too! People need to get back into crafting! Clothing too worn to wear can be made into beautiful decorative and functional items.
And books. We bought bags of books at Goodwill and thrift stores. 📚
the problem is the materials are expensive. and if you don't know what you're doing then you ruin some good mats
@@roxyroxelleDIY on media outlets can help. Patchwork quilts and rolled rag rugs aren't that hard to make. Maybe make a business out of it.
@@CT-uv8os Yes! Have done both as well as other projects. The rugs I made are iften called rag rugs or braided rugs. With all this fast fashion clothing that is often made out of 100% synthetic fabrics, they make great little rugs for the backdoor when you have dogs. Cotton and cotton blends make rugs that can hold up to heavy traffic for years and depending on their size are machine washable. The cost to make one is less than $5! Theft stores will put anything with a stain or rip in the 'rag' pile and often give some to you for the asking, which means all you need to buy is a needle and thread.
Been thinking of taking up sewing my own clothes since I'm already patching up my clothes constantly at this point
probably the best thing we can do is learn how to sew & adjust clothes we already have 👏🏼 rather giving more stuff to thrift shops
Even repairing clothes etc, I usually hand stitch my adult daughter's things so She doesn't throw it away 😅.
Unfortunately adjusting modern clothing is usually not practical or possible. In the old days, there was ample seam allowance (3/4 inch) standard. Then sergers came in and there is basically no extra fabric to let out (HUGE savings for manufacturers as they need less fabric). Also the super stretchy rubbery fabric they use now is actually very difficult to sew and hem. I have modified clothing I owned rather than buying new (new job would allow zippered sweaters/jackets but not hoodies, so I removed the hood and fashioned a small stand up collar.) and I turned a maxi t-shirt dress that I had bought in a thrift store years ago into one just above the knee for summer.
Majority of women knew how to sew and make clothes before.. they left it for corporations, now look😂
@@puch9830 Yah well, I know how to sew but we are expected to pay 50% of the bills if in a relationship and 100% if single so the 'corporate' work was kinda needed. How much you going to pay me to hem your trousers compared to what the corporate job pays?
@@puch9830 So true, that's true with food, repairing etc. Makes us vulnerable to corporations.
The quality of clothing from big brands has gotten so bad over the years. I have a 12 year old Under Armour T-shirt that still fits and looks good. I bought a UA T-shirt less than a year ago, and it has 3 holes in it and has shrunk. The big brands don't give a hoot about creating more waste, its all about shareholders and greed.
My wife exclusively shops at a Goodwill outlet location that puts everything out in unsorted bins that they sell by weight. Pretty much her entire wardrobe is just expensive name brand, but that she bought for $2.50 a pound.
One thing rarely mentioned is how thrifting can be basically useless for people who are big and tall, slim or short. It isn’t something for everyone.
You said it! I was a 2XLT and it was a struggle to find anything that fit or that wasn't already worn out. Now that I've crept into 3XLT forget it I have to buy new.
Heck, or these days even being a small or medium, or like 28 waist 32 leg or something is really hard to find at thrift shops - feels like everything is size L or XL and nothing else.
Weirdly, with my odd shaped feet I've had better luck at thrift stores than at many retailers. And discount shoe stores basically never carry my size.
As soon as Goodwill started charging extra for name brands like Nike and Under Armour, I stopped going. I get my gently used clothing now from eBay.
Here is a hack that still works:
If you are traveling to New York and want a shirt that says "New York " Go to the local goodwill and you can great deals.
I recently got a like new condition Grand Canyon shirt for 2$ in Flagstaff, AZ.
buddy i can get New York t-shirts at every thrift store here in Texas literally any day of the week
@@helpfulcommenter Ok.
I've worked for GoodWill in Quebec (called Renaissance here) for 4 years during my studies. They have a 6 month programs set in place to training people new to the country, or have disabilities, or even have a criminal record. Not everyone hired there is on this cycle, but please understand that it can be hard to check on every single item that hits the floor. If the pricer was told that the base price of shoes HAS to be a certain amount, they will put the tag on even with the dollar store tag still attached. They shouldn't, but they're not paid enough to care. I disregard items like this. Because I know they have a quota for this minimum wage job. They do lifting, sorting, cleaning and tagging items to sell, and ending their day cleaning up the mess customers leave from their children that ran around breaking open toy bags, leaving garbage on the shelves, and clothing on the floor. It is often thankless. Be kind!
I still enjoy thrift shopping. I still donate to them.
Tip if you read this far: I recommend monthly visits for a completely different floor of goods. The color tags are the rotation system. Ask the staff what color the current week is to know what's newest to the floor.
All Goodwill shops in my area do not color code, never have sales, no discounts for senior or military/1st responders. With the exception of shoes, all categories are unit price (a few have "bin" clothing priced lower per unit, some do price up a children's RL puffer if the cashier catches it, etc. However, I've shopped at major city locations while traveling with my husband for work and have seen the stark difference in brands and quality of goods priced accordingly, sometimes luckily enough to hit the sales if there on the sale day. It may be that these city populations donate more of the better goods, but more likely the case, if you walk into a thrift and see the category board pricing on the wall, (with no shopping carts, only hand baskets), the more likely you will not find anything of real value. It's been sorted and kept off the floor if and when it gets donated.
what is the point of this comment? it's like we're having a discussing about their being lead in the ice cream machines at Mcdonalds and you start in about how hardworking and underpayed the employees are. what does that have to do with fucking anything? Nothing in the video or the comments was disparging low-level employees.
@@Vault-Born I'm not criticizing anything. This video is great! It's just to give perspective on where the money is going and what conditions they're under when discussing thrift stores and their pricing methods. My personal annoyance about dealing with customers aside. XP
I have bought everything at thrift stores since 1966. Lived a very rich life with everything I ever needed at 10 cents on the dollar for many years. It's been so fun and easy! 😂
God I hate gentrification. I hate thrift flippers. I hate companies marking shit up.
Let poor people have fucking SOMETHING goddamn.
This. So much. My local thrift store is just as expensive as new and it's been picked clean by flippers.
You buy second hand clothes by the kilogram in many places where I'm from.
Honestly, blame middle class people for buying fast fashion. The lack of decent clothing is a bigger problem than the gentrification. Thrifting has been slowly gentrifying for decades. Thrift stores just can't resell shirts that were $3 in the first place, that are falling apart at the seams.
If you want to do something about the problem, call people out for buying from SHEIN, H&M, Target, etc. Realistically, people who are buying that garbage aren't poor. Poor people can't afford to buy clothing that they can only wear twice. If you can afford disposable clothing, you can afford better quality clothes. Period. No exceptions.
common poor people L
@@KNURKonesur The by weight places tend to be mostly things that thrift stores didn't think they could sell, or things that were on the salesfloor for too long.
1. Poor people deserve a bit more choice than tee shirts that say, "Smith Family Vacation 2016" on them, and stained sweatshirts with kittens on them.
2. Poor people rely on thrift stores for things like clothing for job interviews, social occasions, etc. They need more than just the bare essentials so they're not naked. They need more than just the basics, just like most people do.
3. Thrifting varies a ton based on demographics. Wealthier communities tend to have significantly better thrifting opportunities. Communities that need them the most tend to have a lot of crap. There's some degree of distribution with some chain thrift stores, but less than you'd think. They also don't redistribute based on community need. They send the best stuff back to stores in wealthier communities where they can make the most from it. (I generally don't thrift for clothes because I don't feel like one should take stuff from the people who really need it, but I will in parts of Connecticut because Goodwill will have things like Burberry coats for $100 or Canali suits for $150. My mother bought a Chanel Boy bag in excellent condition there for like $200. In that store they don't even have things like shirts from The Gap or Target on the racks. Thrifting varies A LOT. Saying "Oh, it's great near me, so it must be like that everywhere" is kind of like saying, "Well, it's raining where I am, so it must be raining everywhere.")
I went to Goodwill the other day, and the prices were more expensive than Walmart!
It seems to me that prices went up and quality went down after the COVID shutdown. When my kids were growing up, thrifting was really beneficial, because there was such a short time that kids clothes fit, and mostly they aren't worn out. The kids would have a packed closet. But that went away when the kids became teenagers. The selection that was acceptable went away or was in too bad shape. Now they have nearly empty closets of a few treasured items. But the bookshelves are still loaded.
Excessive lockdowns and the hyperinflation afterwards in 2021. The only people who benefited from those are corrupt politicians, the big corporations as many small businesses became closed, and the corrupt teachers' unions.
Thrifting was AMAZING during the pre-covid era. I recently went thrifting for the first time in a few years and it was nothing but a waste of time.
Because Kids born in newest Generation Alpha from 2011--2013 when stared depending on where you grew up ( Alpha Short hand for asshole/swipe up generation) they do not know how to read and even do all reading of books in red by a person form on rare chance they need to read even using speech functions on machines/phones or books until middle school when kids get all books on computer in a DVD form using an external DVD drive each classroom has or downloads depending on how company operates and use speech to function on how be read to buying a pair of headphones for said reason. Reason 90% of schools went his route was schools gave so much work kids backpacks were failing mainly due to having to overload backpacks beyond what is normal or seeing kids using smaller overnight/big day packs made for hiking/hunting or kids backs were being ruined.
@@Chad_Thundernuts I found in 2023 Baseball hat an official MLB licenced Milwaukee Brewers, a cheaper mesh one used for a season in Little league or similar which was in bigger size kids one in a kids L/XL so hat will fit me as I am 5 foot 2 inch and even had higher end logo on said hat like a 3D sewed on patch. Reason hat was sill here is 95% of kids and adults are Minnesota Twins fans or are 10% Chicago Cubs with rest being 5% rest maybe 1/2 of tha being Colorado Rockies. Odd as Brewers are second closest team from where I live, Minnesota is first, then third is Colorado.
I live in Thailand, thrift store mostly meant Japanese's throwaway items, it amazed me that a lot of them are very recent items, not that old, but they ended up in the throwaway or donation and shipped abroad.
Lots of them are like-new items people somehow don't want, or their former owners might not be around anymore. I happened to live near wholesaler who sell these things in weight, not by how much it worth, so it's an incredible deal when you find something nice for really cheap.
Thrifting isn't yet gentrified here, but I'll be sad if it turned to something like these stores in the US.
im from Malaysia and this was really popular in the 2010s, we call it "bundle stores". im seeing some gentrification of it, stores brand themselves like Bandoru (bundle in Japanese 🙄) n sell these items with higher prices, but i dont see them becoming popular.
whats more preferrable now are online shopping or markets, you get to buy items from the owner themselves and haggle a bit if you buy more. its much more fun (for me, at least) especially when i get a good piece from muji for a cheap price ❤
I picked up a uniqlo item for 200 baht in bangkok. Originally worth 800 baht
The only reason there's even a market for thrift shops is because we already consume too much sh*t to begin with. This is especially true with fast fashion and electronics. Can't begin to tell you how many bluray players and old denim outfits I've personally seen in thrift shops...
Many clothes found at real thrift stores are most likely there because their previous owner died before them.
High quality clothes last multiple decades, especially if well treated. I have a cotton coat I wear atleast 100 days every year for 10 years now and it’s still rocking my outfits
Ah yes, my dead mother’s clothes were just me ‘having too much sh*t’. I should have just not had a mother
Thrift Stores have existed for a long time, but the merchandise has slowly evolved from donated products that were made to last, to donated products that will last a bit (if you're lucky) when you buy that at the thrift store. I would say it's kind of a mix right now, depending on what you're looking for, but older, better made items are getting snatched up for resale. In another ten years, there probably won't be any and it'll all just be mass produced junk that was built to break.
@@lateformyownbirth My dude, they made no statement about your mother specifically, nor any mothers for that matter. They did not necessarily state that people donating clothing after the death of a loved one was somehow inherently evil or should be stopped.
@@traviskittehthey're pointing out that 'the only reason' isn't correct
The absurdity of finding a shein item or cami tops being sold for more than the original price at goodwill will never stop getting to me
I'm thrifting for like 15 years, and the change of the industry is so huge- with a weight change I'm pushed back to buy used clothing , since "quality" clothing in my country is mostly fast fashion that is close fitting me. As a teen, had to keep in secret to avoid bullying where are my clothes are from.
We do have second hand store lines and also small, independent thrift shops (their actually doing charity work) is even changing into a shein drop-off that I deeply hate. Plastic clothing is like 95% of the stores. Sometimes I do find some old people clothing that I enjoy to death, but it's not the same like it used to be :")
However, importing fabrics (as you try to sew clothing) makes everything HARDER to get and create actual clothing - this makes slow down the process, which is okay, but there are lots of workplaces when you're pressured (especially woman, femmes ) to wear a clothing piece like once in a year. I know, because some people were actually making fun of other women for liking the same sets, and calling them "unhygienic", total BS. Anyways, back to waiting for linen arriving in my country!
I live in Canada and thrifting majorly changed since Covid. No more seniors discounts in my city. Also NO CHANGE ROOMS. So try buying a pair of pants without trying them on, paying $7.50 (the average price in my city) and if they don't fit, you can't return them! So the types of things I can buy now is very limited. And very few really vintage items any more...and if they appear, they are squirreled away in a showcase and you can't easily access them.
I've noticed recently that Goodwill is removing items off the racks that have tags with that week's 50% off color.
When I said something about it to an employee, they pleaded the fifth.
@@karenr7931That makes sense, that's why I can't find something decent in the week's color.
@@karenr7931 Sounds like they're removing them too early; they do the sale of a specific color day to try to get rid of as much of that color as possible before they remove it the next day. Those items have been on the floor for a month so they're being replaced with something that might have a better chance to sell.
When my mother was alive she said; "I don't get it! They're getting all these things donated to them for free, but when they sell them they charge about the same price that you can buy it new at another store." She specifically was talking about Salvation Army at the time. And I agree 100% because I have seen it for myself.
because resellers are price fixing, it needs to be illegal
You do not know how much this video is so important to me. I am doing my undergraduate thesis WITH THIS EXACT TOPIC. THIS CAME AT SUCH A PERFECT TIME!
hell yes good luck on the thesis!!!
Watch Mary Queen of Shops and how she TOLD charity shops in England to remodel like a designer boutique and attract "better" customers. It's class cleansing at its finest. So you have middle class people working there and pricing out the poor now.
I'm not poor, but I don't make a lot of money and so I have to be resourceful. I used to wear about 90% thrifted clothes. Not anymore. I like brands like Boden and Madewell, but I can't afford those new. So I learned to sew. There's a salvage store near me that has a large and awesome fabric department. I buy patterns when they go on extreme sale at Joann, or I buy them secondhand from online sellers (Etsy, etc). My sewing machine and most of my sewing tools were bought secondhand (mostly from FB Marketplace). I love my handmade clothes and I feel proud of wearing them!
That is amazing! I give you a lot of credit!
The TV show Fallout had an interesting example of circularity. One of the main characters in this post apocalyptic world lives in an underground vault, which has one wedding dress that all brides use, and then sign with their name and wedding date. They even make a joke about brides usually do not spend much time in the dress anyway, so it makes sense to share
That's a really good idea! Also, back in the day, wedding dresses were meant to be taken apart, dyed, and restructured into dresses for the bride to wear regularly.
@@JP-ve7or Back in the day they brought a suit and didn't reconstruct it at all.
i miss when thrift stores were only for poor people, i had to pretend i didnt get all my stuff there when i was a kid but now all the clothes are overpriced crap made in the last 10 years, so maybe the stigma was worth being able to get decent quality clothing at a good price
thirft stores were never "only" for poor people. thrifting was popular for people from all across the socioeconomic spectrum, when i was growing up in the 80s and 90s.
@@helpfulcommenterMaybe where you lived, where I grew up, you would be bullied for that shit. I never let anyone find out I mainly wore secondhand stuff for that reason as a kid
@@randomtinypotatocried are you talking about being an actual child or like being a teenager? because yeah where i greew up if you wore nice clothes as a teenager you'd get clowned, you had to thrift your clothes to look cool. 80s/90s.
@@helpfulcommenterI got bullied for wearing hand me downs the year I started junior high. Then I'm high school some of the cool kids started wearing "vintage", but it was niche 70s stuff like bellbottoms that weren't cheap. I got two pairs of jeans at the beginning of the year and just had to patch them as the knees gave out.
@@francisnopantses1108 and look at you now
I grew up with a single mom who could only shop at thrift stores. I remember in the early 2000's shopping as a child and going to school in what I found at the thrift. By the time I got to college, I had thrifted everything in my closet! I remember people being shocked at the vintage pieces I had found. I did get my share of "that's gross, I could never wear someone's old clothes!" so when It got popular to thrift I was honestly super excited!
I stopped going to our local chain thrift store when their security guard stalked and harassed me through the store because he thought I was trying to steal stuff (I was not). Yes a security guard. For the thrift store.
Can't blame him when in many cities, shoplifting have rising for years because of corrupt mayors relaxing of even refusing to enforce laws against shoplifting and go after businesses who attempt to catch shoplifters with lawsuits.
If I see someone post an old t shirt for $300 on eBay does that seller really expect it to sell for that much? Thrifting has become unaffordable now.
I think Macklemore's viral song "Thrift Shop" also had a hand in making thrift stores more popular again in this cycle
Now? NOW? It's sucked for DECADES. I used to play in a rockabilly/psychobilly band right before the Swing Revival happened in the 90s. Before, we could go to Salvation Army or Goodwill and get authentic 50s clothing for next to nothing. Once the Revival hit, the thrift shop people swooped in like vultures, bought up everything, and put it in their stores to resell at 100x what they got it for. Thrifting has pretty much always been garbage because of nostalgia and trends.
Thank you. I remember thrifting sucking in the 90's because of grunge.
About 30 years ago I lived in a small community and the set up a Free Store. It was so people in need could go and just take what they needed, for free, and people would donate things they didn't want. Then they expanded and everything in the store was $2. Some days they'd have a 'bag day' and everything you could stuff in a plastic grocery bag, in bag cost you $2. So it was still a good deal. Then they expanded again and prices started getting comparable to the thrift stores in town. The internet allowed people to check on resell price values. Too bad....I remember buying a brand new cat flap door still in it's package for $2 and an entire bathroom set of towel bar, robe hook,toilet paper holder, etc for $2. Those days are long gone.....
There are a lot of wealthy people out there that will throw good clothing out because it has a small grease stain on it, or a very tiny fabric pull or whatever. I think just in that sense, that they can donate it versus throwing it in the trash is 100% a good for the planet.
So true! I got a secondhand cashmere sweater for 90 cents because it had a tiny hole in it, which I sewed shut 🤷♀️
Especially when they are decluttering they donate locally. I usually go to a thrift store where there's a rich neighborhood. 😊
Doesn't even need a reason, my mother has a rich ladyfriend who buys expensive cloths and only wears them once or twice, then they go in a garbage bag and she gifts them away to her friends or donates.
@@JP-ve7or i’ve found so much incredibly expensive clothing that’s just like a two minute job with rubbing alcohol to get a tiny stain out, or the grease stain that you put Dawn on and then put in the laundry.
Lots of really wealthy people have literally zero tolerance for any imperfection in their clothing, no matter how small or hard to notice it is. And i’m here for it.
Mending is my superpower!
Here in France people donate old clothes for charity.
The charity stores select what's good and what's not. The re-usable clothes are then sold at a tiny cost in charity shops.
Some folks go to them shop, buy cheap and resale them online as vinted clothing.
If more people dressed like Charlie Brown, we wouldn't have fast fashion turned thrift shops and clothing landfills.
I used to shop in thrift stores in the 80s. I would find incredible pieces from the 40s, 50s and 60s, many of them handmade and homemade. In some stores you could fill a whole bag for $5 or even $2. Nowadays all I find is worn out fast fashion for $15 for a normal item. I can often get the same brand new for less!
20% of your wardrobe will be worn 80% of the time.
True
More like 5%
Some cool platforms for selling and purchasing second hand clothing in Europe (I live in Germany):
- Sellpy
- Momox Fashion
- Vinted
This trend is also interesting for electronics such as smartphones or cameras. Last year, the EU passed the right-to-repair-act. This is not only interesting to increase the lifetime of one consumer's products, but to booster professional resellers of goods.
Truer words never said lol
I have two sets of identical sweat pants and tshirts I got from Walmart that I wear every day for work. I wear them until they look like a stormed Normandy in them.
It's been bastardized by greedy resellers. I repair/make stuff from old clothing and seeing what people charge make me gag. That tattered Hanes sweatshirt from 2008 you're selling is not worth $50, get a grip 🤢
Why is it greedy to resell? Supply and demand. Is the original retailer greedy for making money selling the clothes in the first place?
@@ResellTheWorld Yes, slave labour + cheapest material + marking the price way up is greed. What tf did you think it was, charitable behaviour?
So true! I've ordered a "vintage" dress (it has overlocked seams so not very old...) thinking it was in good condition considering the price of $60, nope... it came with holes! I now have an unwearable dress! They just rip you off because they can get away with it :S
If people are buying it, then it _is_ worth the price.
Most of the time the problem comes down to consumer behaviour.
@@someguycalledcerberus9805 I was just thinking about that- I work at a tourist spot (today's my last day actually lol) The amount of people who buy the gift shop trash is _insane._ Instead of getting a nice, unique souvenir, ppl act like they _have_ to buy a low qual magnet that every store has. It gets made in China, wrapped in plastic and shipped to Canada. Then ppl buy it AND TAKE IT BACK TO CHINA. Like what? 😭
There’s a problem with all this. People (like me) who can’t afford… really most stuff new HAVE to go to those stores because EVERYTHING is too expensive otherwise. I had to get a $5 rug at 5 below and a 99¢ one at goodwill because the floors in my apartment are just… the worst. And I had to wait for 5 months to get those when I had wiggle room for once.
And that’s before you get into the clothes that are worn to the last thread.
So I need thrift stores. But they suck because they aren’t as affordable as they used to and they’re horrifically picked over. Cheap SHEIN type stuff overloads them and nothing in my size is really… there. I’m not even a weird size, kinda average which is actually the issue.
It sucks and makes me have to hunt down deals elsewhere which only makes it worse when I don’t know when I’ll have like… new socks or that one off thing I need for the kitchen or something.
I've been saying for years, if you can afford good quality clothing without thrifting, don't thrift for clothes. Buying quality pieces that are made from at least mostly natural fibers *IS* sustainable on an environmental level, and ethical production does provide good jobs to a lot of workers, particularly women with limited options, worldwide. Buying ethical and sustainable clothing also increases the demand for ethical and sustainable clothing. When demand for a product drops, the first course of action for most businesses is to lower prices, which typically means lower quality.
11 tips for middle class shoppers:
1. Buy less. Period. If you're buying good pieces you shouldn't need to buy more than a handful of pieces each year.
2. Rethink your definition of "affordable." Prices at trash stores like Target and Walmart shouldn't be the barometer for what clothes should cost. Historically speaking, the price of clothing was pretty steady until the last fifty-ish years. From plain togas in Roman times, to a mid-range suit during the industrial revolution, up until about the seventies, a set of good but not great clothes would cost today's equivalent of $800 to $1,000. That sounds like an extraordinary amount if you're used to buying a trunk load of clothes at one go, but that's roughly a top, bottom, and piece of outerwear cost from a better quality brand today. Think about what you spend on clothing for a season and spend that on two pieces instead of twelve.
3. Plan your wardrobe. Instead of buying individual pieces or outfits, think about your wardrobe as a cohesive whole. Don't buy tops that only go with one bottom. Don't buy anything occasion specific. Think about what your favorite things are and buy different iterations of them within a color palate. If something doesn't work with a bunch of other pieces, leave it behind.
4. Plan ahead. For big ticket items like coats and tailoring, buy them at the end of the season when they're on sale.
5. Comparison shop. Visit a bunch of stores before making your selections. Don't just settle for good enough. Make a day of it, and spend the day looking for exactly the right coat, or an amazing new sweater. It's worth the investment time-wise if it's something you're going to wear for fifteen years.
6. Refine your style. Figure out what you like best, what works best for your lifestyle, and what suits you best. Stick to that. By all means, try new things, but those new things should mesh with what you're already doing. (For example, I primarily like black and gray. I live slim, structured pieces. I like luxurious textures. Even if I find something oversized, colorful, and breezy that I like I'm going to pass, since it won't work with the rest of what I own.)
7. Skip things you only need once a year or less, unless they're absolutely necessary. If you know you practically never wear suits, buy a blazer instead. For 90% of guys that's going to be sufficient. Don't buy a formal gown if you know you're only going to be able to wear it once or twice. Buy an elegant neutral skirt that you can wear with different tops instead.
8. Don't be afraid of basics. I wear plain black tees at least three days a week. I tend to spend the bulk of my clothing budget on great jackets and sweaters. Part of the reason I can afford to buy tippy top of the line designer jackets that last for decades is because I buy packs of plain black tee shirts from Costco. They're a decent weight. They fit well. They last a long time. You can also wear solids more, and they're easier to match with other pieces. Yes, the tee shirts are boring, but my collection of jackets and sweaters isn't.
9. Periodically diet. Unless your body undergoes large medical changes (menopause, having a baby, new medications, certain health conditions) your size shouldn't change that much after 25-30. If you start noticing that your pants are getting a bit tight, cut back a bit or exercise more. Having weight creep on is real, and it's much easier to lose three pounds than it is to lose ten. Keep on top of it. (For me, I just cut out carbs for roughly two weeks a year. I also like to sneak extra vegetables into my cooking just in general. If a recipe calls for two bell peppers, add a third. Swap in a vegetable instead of rice or pasta with a saucy dish or stir fry. etc. ) Once you've settled into a relatively comfortable and realistic weight for you, do your best to maintain it. As a rule, weight loss is hard. Under normal circumstances maintenance requires significantly less effort.
10. Give your hand me downs to places that meaningfully serve the underprivileged. Organizations like Dress for Success give your donations directly to people who need new professional clothing. Thee are similar organizations for formal clothes, which go to underprivileged kids for things like prom. Casual tee shirts, pants, sweaters, coats, etc. are great to donate to shelters. Independent thrift stores that donate their profits to a specific local charity are also a good choice, but do your homework. Some small thrift stores are just regular businesses. If you don't know where to donate in your community, call the food shelf. If they won't take the donation directly there's a 99% chance they'll know where your donation will do the most good.
11, Stop deflecting about fast fashion. The "poor people need to be able to buy clothes too," argument for fast fashion is extremely flimsy. Poor people aren't the main market for sites like SHEIN. Truly poor people can't afford to buy a $3 top that they'll only wear once or twice. Poor people have to consider the longevity of their clothes. They generally shop from brands like Carhart because they know that coat is going to last them at least five years, even with rough wear. Middle class customers are driving the fast fashion boom, and "I can't afford to buy the styles I like from better brands" is a really lame excuse to buy garbage that's made by indentured workers, in unsafe conditions, that is destroying the environment. Yeah, it's nice being able to buy a couple pieces of clothing a month, but it's wildly unnecessary. Make an effort and save up for truly special pieces.
Many people spend hours shopping anyways just diy the fashion or anything already.
If someone truly likes fashion it shouldn't be hard to diy.
There's so many videos about diy and how to repair.
I often run into people with 3 or 4 carts full of clothes when at a thrift shop. These are businesses using donated goods for profit
You mean like the thrift store is doing?
@@kgb4187 they're making larger profits, but I'm talking consignments. Levi addressed how online sales of used clothes is a big factor in rising prices.
As opposed to not buying the clothes? When not bought, they'll be eventually thrown in the dump. Go to a goodwill bins some time. Thousands of pounds of clothes, shoes, and goods tossed daily....everywhere.
@@ResellTheWorld quality clothes vs what should have never been donated. Cotton is recycled: those are the bins people should be filling with worn out items instead of Good Will or VV or 2nd Ave.
@@jonclark5113 so you think people should toss their clothes in the recycling? Then even more clothes will be produced instead of being reused. That takes way more energy (fuel/production) than just reselling. What you are suggesting is less sustainable. I think capitalism is your problem. People making money.
my dream in life would be to start a thrift store that sells 99% of items donated to it for $1. And keep it small and not overly packed so people can actually shop and see items easily without the frustration of being overwhelmed.
I worked and i shop at thrift stores and the 2 biggest frustrating things i always am met with are the stupid high prices and spending most my time and energy to move other items, especially clothes, to even have enough room to find things i want.
I currently collect free items from around my town and others and either sell the items to people at swap meets for $1 an item or just give it away to people in my world when i hear there's a need for things I've collected prior.
At the end of the day it is seriously beyond meaningful and fufilling being able to meet needs for others especially if they are already struggling because i have too many times been at the mercy of others kindness and know the humiliation of lengths it can take to just get by and get basic needs met.
There's too much stuff people just throw away and waste in our worlds that i struggle to understand the greed everyone has. When I also see how many garages are ridiculously packed so full of the extra stuff there is hardly room to walk through let alone park a car in.
Love the idea, but the flippers would just buy it all up.
I totally share your point of view. I am moved reading your comment. Thank you.
Also love the idea, but asides from flippers and resellers who would gouge your stock and void the point by reselling at a steep mark up, there's also the problem of rent. Unless you outright own the building or have a landlord that believes in your vision and cuts you a deal far below market rates, you would go under within a few months because of rent alone unfortunately. And that unfortunately isn't accounting for things like the sympathetic landlord getting pushed out eventually by corporate landlords or landsharks who will genuinely go out of their way to ruin someone who rents below market rate.
Used to buy clothes used like 10 years ago but the value proposition has plummeted as prices surged. Hard to justify buying possibly damaged clothing with a worse return policy when the price is comparable (and very often higher) than buying new.
It's entirely ruined in my city.
I remember pre covid, getting bags of great clothing for $2-5 a piece. Went thrifting again recently, found one decent item and they wanted $20 😐
Where I live in Canada, thrift stores have no change rooms so you can't try them on before buying and there are NO refunds or exchanges. (I don't buy much now)
It’s honestly wild how growing up poor, I was used to getting pennies thrown at me by other kids for not wearing branded clothing cause it either came from goodwill or dollar general. Now those same people have grown up and are thrifting cause it’s cool now 🥴 Like don’t get me wrong, I’m glad more people are thrifting now, but it’s just really ironic isn’t it? It really sucks that the clothes I’ve bought from goodwill lately have just absolutely fallen apart in less than 2 years :(
We recently got a thrift store near my house and it is interesting seeing how the prices change. I'm all for sustainability and am also a person who can see potential in things. I found a pair of capris that were on sale, but were brand new. They were obviously donated due to a manufacturing flaw. It had five buttons on them when there should have been four and three of them were sewn directly on the top of the leg instead of on the belt. I took them home, moved everything around and now they are perfect!
The same thing has happened to open air vegetable and meat markets around the western world. The cashed-up folks shopped at grocery stores and the poorer folks haggled at wet markets, and then there is this sudden shift of middle and upper-middle-class folks heading to wet markets and now they are no cheaper than the fucken grocery stores with their price gouging.
Thrifting is commonplace. But you know people want it cheap. They're not gonna be investing so much on clothes that they're only gonna wear a few times and then change it for better ones that are more better in overall quality.
When you said that the responsibility for providing affordable clothing to low income people falls on these **companies**, right after talking about how these companies were jacking up prices just because they can, that really disturbed me. That's messed up, and I know this is how things work in many areas, but I never thought about it with clothes before. They're responsible, not the government, and they don't have to follow any rules for their pricing. Thanks for laying it out that way!
resellers are price fixing to class cleanse clothes
I really like the "Buy Nothing Project" for second hand stuff.
My prime thrifting years were 1984 to 1999. You could get amazing, stylish, quality clothes for a decent price. By the time of the early 2000's there was a lot of poor quality items around and the good stuff was getting skimmed off and sold for hundreds. I can't imagine how thrifting would be worth it anymore. I still have some great items, I'm probably sitting in a goldmine!
I was doing this before it was a thing. I never threw clothes in the trash. My dad tried to throw clothes in the trash 🙄 saying "im from a different time this is what I've always done" yet you can use a smart phone, use a computer and want a better computer, video call, program vhurch lessons and more
It was a trend in the 90's too. I saw a lot of thrift stores make way for "resale shops and boutiques" as well, and that ruined it.
i have found some HEAT at the thrift store, like a shirt with extremely confusing lettering. i found 2 crop tops at a bougie thrift store and i turned 1 into a long sleeve shirt and the other i decorated with bleach. by far the best thing i have found at a thrift store was a $15 WORKING air fryer. its amazing. the big problem seems to be the influx of low quality clothing at the thrift. most of the shirts i donate dont fit me or were free shirts that i almost never wear. i almost gave one of my band shirts to the thrift, but then my grandma wanted it. i wear shirts at night and during the day, so it makes since why i have more shirts than anything
Really long shot. But just in case it's a Cosori air fryer, there was a major recall where they could catch fire. Maybe someone donated it because they didn't want to go through the hassle.
I've scored some REALLY nice stuff at my local Goodwill, including a steamer, brand new couch, and a toaster oven! I think it was only about $50 altogether?
Also yes to sharing clothes with family! My cousins and I will swap wardrobes once or twice a year! I actually still have a skirt from the late 90s that five of my cousins wore before I ended up with it. It's still my favorite one tbh.
The problem is synthetic cheap fabrics are flooding all of the thrift stores and the consignment shops and places like Plato’s closet are all getting heavily flooded with cheap low quality synthetic fabrics that were previously already made unsustainable
I like to buy used clothes. I live in east Germany and there is a chain called ReSales. But the last years the quality noticeably decreased. Especially the mens area is getting significant smaller every time I visit one of their stores. I like classic menswear, but long coats are gone and suits are only available in "kids sizes" (I'm quite large).
Just cause you're large it doesn't make other men "kids" bro
My issue with thrift store now is the speculation. The people who are hunting for rare or valuable items just to sell on eBay or Craigslist or online for three times the price. You can tell that’s what they’re up to when you see them walking around with their phones out, muttering “ooh this is a good one, let me see if there’s more of these” and they don’t look like they are shopping for the items because they need them
Thrift store are not a thing in my country and the very few that exist are mostly niche stuff. So I resorted to buy quality instead of quantity. Works for me so I'm sticking with it.
I have been second hand shopping for 50 years. I have had some pieces that I bought twenty five years ago. Quality pieces. It’s rare these days.
I used to thrift all the time bc we couldn’t afford anything new. Goodwill and Unique were lifesavers for us. But now it’s sad to see that a shirt from Unique can cost twice as much as buying it brand new. Luckily now I can afford clothes from big brands from time to time, but I feel sorry for families in situations were thrifting is no longer an affordable option.
Also electronics. I used to love looking for vintage electronics, now the section is just filled with Amazon basics crap and Walmart garbage
They sell what they get. And lots of people are donating their Amazon crap. There are even whole stores devoted to selling Amazon returns.
Thanks to the exorbitant prices at GreedWill 😂😂😂😂
'Charity shop' worker here (as we call them in the UK). Some of the issues we face are caused by the misconception that the 'charity' is for our customers. This is certainly NOT the purpose of the shop, we are there to support the charity that runs the store in raising money to support their goals and not just to give stuff away cheaply. We have dozens of regular reseller customers including ones that openly admit they run 'vintage clothing stores' but there are cases daily where customers complain that prices are too high even with items priced significantly under what those same items sold for on eBay. Our shop's purpose is not to provide low-priced products as may be the case in some stores in the US and other places and people are generally confused about what we do over here. The vast majority of stores here in the UK are the same. All items worth over ~£50 are always listed on eBay and will never be seen in the shop. We get extensive training on how to spot 'the good stuff' and people with specialist knowledge in things like watches and electronics 🙄 are hired to help to maximise money raised for the charity.
no it's both, middle class people shouldn't shop there. It isn't giving it away when you got it for NOTHING so that poor people could buy it. Ebay is for collectors not wearers. They're not confused, you're wrong and probably just lying so you can be classist. Like not putting the good stuff out for the Poors.
"We have dozens of regular reseller customers" they're scum
"cases daily where customers complain that prices are too high" people who actually want to wear the item are priced out aka Poor people.
That is classism. Like ticket touting is illegal, resellers need to be illegal on an item everyone needs, clothing.
It's a bit ironic and hypocritical of the people who want to raise money for a charity, (e.g. for the poor african children) and then absolutely don't give a fuck about the "local poor people" who just want to be able to buy affordable clothing... I think the shop owners should rethink their morals a bit when selling to resellers or raising the prices to ridiculous amounts.
@@FashionFun-n3f going to be fairly nonspecific here but let's say our charity was raising money for cancer research. Our aim is to raise money for that cause and that cause alone, end of story. We have absolutely zero moral obligation to provide cut-price items to the community. There are many charities that provide free food, clothing and more in the UK and we donate items such as blankets and sleeping bags to local homeless shelters (as we do not sell them). I think things are or were different in 'thrift' shops in the USA where the focus was on community support but here, it definitely isn't.
@@FashionFun-n3f Why don't you only shop at the Charities that help local people then? Near me The St Vincent de Paul help the poor (any and no religion needed), they give free food, counselling, bedding and clothing and help people get jobs. The Society for Prevention of Animals help local animals as well as poor people who can't afford to desex their animals.
It’s mainly due to having a lower percentage of high quality clothes produced and eventually you end up with a lot of plastics and neylon clothing passed down to thrift shops.
I used to almost exclusively purchase thrifted items until 2022. From 2020-2022, I saw more and more fast fashion and fast “manufacturing” items take over thrift stores near me. I haven’t found anything worth purchasing secondhand from a local thrift store since 2022, honestly. Instead, I have focused on purchasing secondhand items from private sellers and vintage stores that focus on high-quality items. It’s more expensive, but I know what I’m purchasing will last a long time.
I recently went to about 8 charity shops (UKs version of thrift stores) on one road, and all the quality clothes were very expensive. like £50+ for a 100% cotton shirt for a guy. But all the shein branded shit was rarely over £5...
I stopped going to Goodwill and started going to store like Ross. The prices at Goodwill being only a few dollars off those at Ross made me say, "Why buy used when I can by new?" I have to save for months because I'm poor but the payoff is better. i don't have to gamble with the lifetime of the piece of clothing i buy because I know it's new.
I started thrifting on 1983, and I still do it, though the vintage stuff is long gone. I can sometimes find decent modern clothes amongst the Shein and Lularoe, but the prices are ridiculous at a lot of stores.
Companies aren't buying back their own clothes because its cool or what the market wants, they're doing it so those clothes don't go to thrifts and into the secondhand market. THEY want to be the one to sell me a jacket, because that way they get the money instead of an independent reseller. Make it once, sell it twice. And yeah thrifting sucks now - I've done it since the early 90s (grew up on it) but these days it's so hard to find something that isn't trash. Plus size is even worse bc once you find something you like and that fits, you tend to hang on to something until it wears out - which these days isn't long! I can't remember the last time I bought new or even donated clothes, I buy so little but I wear it until it's un-wearable, even past repairs/alteration.
The quality of clothing in thriftstores has gone down and prices are raised. Many times it seems that you could buy the same type of clothes seen in a thriftstore at a clothing store and at least you would get the clothing new. I do like the idea of people buying better quality clothes so that later it is easier to sell if you don't want it anymore. Buying better quality clothes made with natural materials like cotton and linen is better in the long run.
I'm a life long thrifter... (at almost 63 I have a low income) so I now shop at the bins and at yard sales when I can... I also donate and take from neighborhood free boxes to save money for bills. The only time I buy new clothing is when I buy from small vendors - at the renaissance faires I work at and the conventions I work at.
I stooped shopping at Thrift Shops the minute DONATED and USED and WORN-OUT clothes starter matching in price with brand new garments.
I go to the mall now. And with the sales they have.... Same prices as Thrift Shops.
I've got a few rules I follow.
1. Don't shop for fun. Only get things I need.
2. When I need something check the thrift stores first.
3. Buy higher quality things. Natural fibers where possible.
4. Wear them as long as possible.
5. Repair.
6. Anything that's still in good condition that I can't wear I donate to a local church. They give clothing away for free to those who need it.
7. Anything that's in poor condition gets disassembled and used as rags or for it's hardware parts. I love saving zippers and buttons because I sew.
I'm just trying not to be wasteful.