Thrifting is when people shop for items which are usually second-hand or discounted in places such as thrift stores, vintage shops or flea markets. Despite the ongoing stigma of thrift stores being dirty and only selling old items, thrifting has transformed into a trend, specifically among Generation Z, in recent years. Viral thrift hauls on social media like Tik Tok, the advocation of a sustainable lifestyle and the opposition of consuming fast fashion have contributed to the uprise of thrifting.
The benefits of thrifting
First of all, thrifting is a very effective way to save money. People can easily find second-hand items with good quality, despite much lower prices compared to brand-new ones. Thus, many people, especially those who suffer economically, can benefit from discounted prices in goods.
Fast fashion has been heavily criticised over the years due to the notoriously harsh labour conditions that its production processes create. Additionally, these processes create detrimental environmental impacts such as air and water pollution. Thrifting uses processes such as upcycling and reusing which can also alleviate existing environmental issues such as excessive plastic and fabric disposal.
The downside of thrifting
While thrifting has its many benefits, the problems that arise from it should not be overlooked. Some may argue that thrifting is “stealing from the poor” - consumers who can afford brand new items often compete against lower-income consumers in thrifting markets. This statement can be true, especially as an increasing number of thrift customers are middle-class Generation Z. The rise in demand for thrifting pushes prices in thrift stores up, bringing harm to the people who actually need items with lower prices.
The exploitation of reselling is another problem of thrifting. In January 2022, a viral TikTok revealed that a home decor item sold in Goodwill at 8.99 USD was being resold for 220 USD in a local thrift store. This is only one of the examples of how easy it is to deceive customers into buying something more expensive than it is supposed to be. In Hong Kong, reselling platforms like Carousell allows everyone to sell items, no matter whether they are used or brand new. It is difficult to monitor whether the sellers have sold the products with markups.
Too much thrifting can also lead to environmental problems. When customers buy from thrift stores, the demand for products will increase. The most common suppliers for thrift stores are fast fashion outlets, donated by customers who buy from fast fashion businesses. Buying brand new products for the sake of supplying thrift stores will have a similar negative impacts to those of the purchasing of fast fashion goods. With fast fashion being disposed of frequently, the environmental issues caused by fast fashion companies will only get worse.
What can we do?
Thrifting is one of the ways to establish a sustainable lifestyle, and it can, to some extent, reduce the issues caused by fast fashion. However, if one is economically capable of buying sustainable clothing with better quality, they should opt for those choices instead. This is to provide more chances for people who see thrifting as an essential part of their lives, possibly due to unfavourable economic statuses. People should thrift for what they need, instead of what they want.
Writing: Jessica Leung
Editing: Isaac Chow
Graphics: Jennifer Pun
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