by Roberta Fabbrocino

Up until the late 19th century, people wore clothes that were custom made for them and sewn by either themselves or by a seamstress.  Clothing items were seen as investments: they were mended, passed down and, at the very last stage of their life cycles, used as rags or as stuffing for furniture. Industrialization, ready to wear and department stores put an end to a long era of custom made clothes, but also contributed to the birth of what we now call “thrift stores.” The first ones were seen by many as unclean places, where only low income people would shop. These preconceptions survived and thrived up until the past few years, when a shift in the common perception of thrifting happened and since then the second hand market has been booming, as thrifting is becoming increasingly more mainstream.

According to thredUP’s Annual Resale Report 2020, 70% of women have shopped or are open to shopping secondhand and 62 million of them have done that in 2019. The secondhand market, worth $28 billion in 2019, is expected to hit $64B in 2024. Many factors contributed and are contributing to thrifting’s growing popularity, like environmental reasons, nostalgia and social media. The GlobalData Covid Survey states that 70% of all consumers agree that addressing climate change is more important now than ever and thrifting is largely perceived as a very sustainable way of shopping. Nostalgia is everywhere, from the silver screen to the runway and apparently in our vintage-loving closets as well. Social media are also big catalysts for this thrifting trend: the hashtags “thrifting” and “vintage” have been used respectively around 4 million and 121 million times on Instagram and Youtube videos about thrifting have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of views.

There are many benefits to the popularity of thrifting, especially environmental ones, but sadly it has its downsides too. Thrifting is a hobby for fashionistas and a sustainable option for environmentalists, but it is a necessity for countless low income families and individuals. Back when secondhand shopping was still deemed as uncool, the people who couldn’t afford to shop at regular clothing stores, were able to find and purchase what they needed at thrift stores. Now, as many seasoned thrift-shoppers would tell you, prices have gone up due to the growing demand for used goods from economically advantaged people.

Gentrification is a massive issue, with heavy repercussions especially on the housing scene in big metropolises like New York, London or Berlin, but its effects on thrift stores prices are also negatively impacting the lives of countless disadvantaged people. Professional Depop sellers routinely come under fire for re-selling originally cheap thrift store finds for a much higher price and are seen by many as one of the main causes of the aforementioned price rise.

This issue is very nuanced and there is no easy solution to it. On one hand, many middle-class people who approach thrifting for environmental reasons, could afford to buy from ethical and sustainable brands instead. But other middle-income individuals may not have enough disposable income to be able to purchase new and eco-friendly clothes, and therefore have to choose between two different “evils.”

For as cliché has it may sound, moderation can be a decent guideline for both the people who can afford to splurge at the thrift store, but don’t have the money to buy clothes from eco-labels, and those who are trying to supplement their income by selling second-hand pieces online.

Ultimately, if it’s true that consumers, especially the economically advantaged ones, should strive to shop mindfully and ethical at best of their ability, we must also recognize that system we live in encourages and rewards big companies that profit on the back of the global working class, and those businesses are the ones who should be held accountable.