Whether you’re a fashionista, clothing flipper or a fashion treasure hunter, (a person who searches for brand name or designer products either at a ridiculously discounted price, new or used at a thrift store and limited edition/sold out styles.), there is importance in shopping for both new and recycled fashion:
New stores bring us the latest and greatest in trends from the great minds in the fashion industry, plus shopping at brick and mortar stores keeps people employed. Not only that, they are your best friend when it comes to giving you firsthand information on your favorite brand or designer before the rest of the world gets to see it, touch it or wear it.
Recycled fashion/thrift stores are not just an amazing place to find fashion treasures, they also serve an economic and environmental purpose. According to edgexpo.com:
- Consumers throw away shoes and clothing [versus recycle], an average of 70 pounds per person, annually.
- Only a few communities have textile recycling programs, about 85% of this waste goes to landfills where it occupies about 5% of landfill space and the amount is growing.
- Up to 95% of the textiles that are land filled each year could be recycled.
- Landfill space is expensive and in limited supply.
- Using recycled cotton saves 20,000 liters of water per kilogram of cotton, a water-intensive crop.
You can find the full article here: https://edgexpo.com/fashion-industry-waste-statistics/#
This means that every time you shop at a thrift or consignment store, you’re not only giving that article of clothing a new forever home, you’re helping reduce what goes into our landfills and you’re also supporting non-profit groups and mom-and-pop shops that have brick and mortar stores.
Now that the “ecosystem” of the fashion industry has been explained a little, I’d like to show you some places I go to hunt for fashion treasures.
Thrift Stores & Consignment Stores
There are a couple of things I consider when I go fashion treasure hunting at thrift & consignment stores:
- What kind of neighborhood is the store in? Is it an older, established community? If it is an older community the chances are great that I will find something vintage. Is it a young, hip or trendy neighborhood? If I am at a store in this kind of neighborhood, I am most likely going to find newer, never worn or extremely trendy items that are sometimes in the current season.
- What is the condition of the clothes? Does it smell like smoke or heavily perfumed? Depending upon what I am looking at, I may decide to buy it and dry clean it. Are there stains? What kind of stains and will it wash out? Some stains like ball point pen or even make up can wash out easily and will cost you very little to restore the garment.
- How much is the store asking for and can I justify the purchase price? If I am going to re-sell, will I make a profit?
- Am I shopping at a thrift/consignment store that raises funds for a charity or hospital? I am more likely to shop at a place where I know that a portion of my money will help their organization or charity.
Poshmark, Mercari, OfferUp & LetGo
Most online thrift stores are platforms that allow like-minded people to re-sell new and & used items.
The great thing about these online platforms is sometimes you are able to negotiate a price and sometimes even do trades. This group of people are like me, someone who hunts for fashion treasures and looking to make this their career. I like this group of people a lot! They are supportive of each other and genuinely want to see others succeed at being their own boss. Who wouldn’t want to be part of this group?!
eBay & Amazon
Ah, eBay! Remember when you went to some store and saw some item you just had to have but didn’t have the money for so you couldn’t buy it? Chances are eBay just may have it for you. When I served time at Nordstrom (because nobody works there, it’s a day prison!) I always loved the brand Billy Blues, but because it was out of my budget, I could never buy anything from that brand and now sadly, they are no longer in business. The plus side of that story is, every time I get on eBay, I type in Billy Blues and sure enough, I can always find them and sometimes New With Tags (NWT)!
eBay also has a lot of brand’s new items too. A lot of surplus buyers will have a lot of last season’s clothes & accessories that did not sell in store. My favorite is when Banana Republic and J. Crew surplus buyers re-sell last season’s clothing line because it never goes out of style!
Amazon is great for finding fashion that is brand spanking new to market. I haven’t had much success in finding used/recycled clothing on Amazon, but I’ve had great success in finding things that are brand new and have only been out on the market for a few weeks. It may not always be at a bargain price, but I can always re-sell it at auction.
Tj Maxx & Marshalls
These two stores have designer brands that are from past AND current seasons! The challenge is finding your size. Can’t find your size, who cares! Buy it anyway and re-sell it for the department store asking price! Did I mention they have Kate Spade purses too? KATE SPADE!!!!!
Remember, Buying New Is Great, But Buying Recycled Fashion Does The Environment Good!
When you are out shopping next, ask yourself, “Is this something I will wear for a season or until I wear holes in it?”
If you’re going to buy something brand new from department stores, make sure you donate it or re-sell it when you no longer want to keep it. Don’t let it be another thing to go into a landfill. Remember, one persons clothes maybe outdated to them, but to someone else, it’s a fashion treasure!