When you are shopping for used clothing in thrift stores or vintage resale shops, you are shopping secondhand. Although you may not know it, shopping secondhand has plenty of benefits aside from the obvious money saving factor.
The majority of my clothing purchases are secondhand nowadays. This means that I am buying clothing that has been used or is unwanted from a previous owner. From this change in my life I have come up with 5 reasons why you should shop secondhand too!
Sustainability is a major buzzword in the fashion industry that you might have heard recently. Simply put, sustainable fashion consists of clothing, footwear and accessories that have been designed and manufactured in a way that lessens the end products' impact on the environment.
Now how does this apply to shopping secondhand? Shopping secondhand extends the life cycle of a product. By extending the life cycle of a product, you are keeping that piece of clothing (or whatever product you can think of) out of landfills and lessening its impact on the Earth. This method of shopping is the direct antithesis to fast fashion and the culture of mass produced low quality apparel.
After following many vintage clothing content creators on multiple digital platforms like Instagram and Youtube, I have seen and experienced the inclusivity of the thrift/vintage community. If you follow Paul Cantu on Youtube (founder of Thrift Heaven Vintage) you will see him go to vintage clothing conventions and meetups with local vintage resellers. The vendors who attend these conventions and meetups tend to help each other out with discounted prices, free gear, or simply shouting out other sellers' social media handles.
I have recently opened my own curated vintage shop on Instagram, and within the first few weeks I have already garnered plenty of support from the community. A lot of the other vintage sellers will follow me back after I follow them, and they will like my content just to show support. In addition to this, I have seen that many thrift/vintage accounts will shout each other out on their Instagram stories to reach bigger audiences.
Your purchases equate to your votes within the political world of fashion. By shopping secondhand, you choose to shop sustainably and ethically. This thwarts the businesses of fast fashion companies like H&M and Zara who use cheap unethical labor to produce their low quality garments.
When you go to a thrift store like Savers, Goodwill, or Value Village, the prices of pieces will be significantly marked down from their original retail price. With margins like these, you will save a fair amount of money. For example at my local Value Village, t-shirts will be priced around two to three dollars on average.
It is ethical to purchase from some thrift stores because they support charitable causes. For example, Goodwill promotes their mission to help people overcome challenges and get working to build skills and eventually a career. Another example, The Cure thrift shop in New York donates all of its proceeds towards Type 1 Diabetes research.
The majority of my clothing purchases are secondhand nowadays. This means that I am buying clothing that has been used or is unwanted from a previous owner. From this change in my life I have come up with 5 reasons why you should shop secondhand too!
 |
| [Infographic] 5 Reasons Why You Should Shop Secondhand |
1. Sustainable
Sustainability is a major buzzword in the fashion industry that you might have heard recently. Simply put, sustainable fashion consists of clothing, footwear and accessories that have been designed and manufactured in a way that lessens the end products' impact on the environment.
Now how does this apply to shopping secondhand? Shopping secondhand extends the life cycle of a product. By extending the life cycle of a product, you are keeping that piece of clothing (or whatever product you can think of) out of landfills and lessening its impact on the Earth. This method of shopping is the direct antithesis to fast fashion and the culture of mass produced low quality apparel.
2. Thrift Community
After following many vintage clothing content creators on multiple digital platforms like Instagram and Youtube, I have seen and experienced the inclusivity of the thrift/vintage community. If you follow Paul Cantu on Youtube (founder of Thrift Heaven Vintage) you will see him go to vintage clothing conventions and meetups with local vintage resellers. The vendors who attend these conventions and meetups tend to help each other out with discounted prices, free gear, or simply shouting out other sellers' social media handles.
I have recently opened my own curated vintage shop on Instagram, and within the first few weeks I have already garnered plenty of support from the community. A lot of the other vintage sellers will follow me back after I follow them, and they will like my content just to show support. In addition to this, I have seen that many thrift/vintage accounts will shout each other out on their Instagram stories to reach bigger audiences.
3. Consumer Power
Your purchases equate to your votes within the political world of fashion. By shopping secondhand, you choose to shop sustainably and ethically. This thwarts the businesses of fast fashion companies like H&M and Zara who use cheap unethical labor to produce their low quality garments.
4. Cost Efficient
When you go to a thrift store like Savers, Goodwill, or Value Village, the prices of pieces will be significantly marked down from their original retail price. With margins like these, you will save a fair amount of money. For example at my local Value Village, t-shirts will be priced around two to three dollars on average.
5. Ethical Clothing Purchases
It is ethical to purchase from some thrift stores because they support charitable causes. For example, Goodwill promotes their mission to help people overcome challenges and get working to build skills and eventually a career. Another example, The Cure thrift shop in New York donates all of its proceeds towards Type 1 Diabetes research.
Comments
Post a Comment