This year on August 17 us, and many others, will be celebrating National Thrift Shop Day by finding great clothes at great prices at our local thrift stores.
A rundown on thrifting
Thrifting is an amazing alternative for shopping on a budget. Shoppers can find their own unique, and sometimes higher end, articles of clothing for way less than the original price.
Thrift stores also have other benefits that are not just regarding style. A study from the University of Berkley explains the environmental benefits of purchasing recycled clothes, which includes keeping landfills empty and reducing pollution caused by textile factories.
Buying secondhand means you’ll be keeping plastic out of landfills and positively contributing to the decrease in worldwide textile demand and subsequent waste.
SERC, The University of Berkley
Thrifting: From ‘cheap’ to trendy
Popularity in thrifting has been growing over the years. According to NARTS, about 16% to 18% Americans will shop at a thrift store in a given year. For resale/consignment the percentages are lower at 12% to 15%.
Although thrifting was seen as a negative way to obtain clothes in the early 2000s, social media platforms like Youtube and TikTok have made thrifting a trendy way to find orginal, vintage pieces. The main social media influencer that catapulted the trend to where it is today is Emma Chamberlain, a 19 year old Youtuber.
Chamberlain started making thrift haul videos back in summer of 2017. Her first thrift video titled “Try-On Thrift Haul #1” received over 1 million views and grew popular among her over 9 million subscribers. Many credit Chamberlain in bringing the thrifting trend to light.
Behind the bargain
To show the benefits of thrifting, The Warrior Word writers have decided to take a trip to our local resale store, Uptown Cheapskate. Uptown Cheapskate is a resale store that is not like an average thrift shop. This store is a higher end thrifting location that carries stuff from Wild and Fable, a Target brand, to Free People and Urban Outfitters apparel.
After trying on three different outfits/pieces, we are going to see the price the store is selling for and then the original price of the items.
Outfit #1
For this look, Kayla is wearing a white Areopostale sweater ($9.99) and a Hollister black denim skirt ($11.99). The original price of the sweater is $29.99 and the skirt was $44.95.
Outfit #2
This Tommy Hilfiger dress was priced for $12.99 at Uptown Cheapskate. The original price for this dress was priced at $64.99.
Outfit #3
This Lucky Brand jean jacket was priced at $21.99. This is usually very expensive for used clothing, until we realized that the jacket was originally $129.99.
After our adding up all the prices together, we discovered that we would have been saving a total amount of $212.96 just between those four items. This one thrifting experience just shows how great thrifting is as a whole.
If you want to join in on the newest trend and save money while doing it, we highly recommend that you add thrifting to your to-do list!
THE WARRIOR WORD 