trying to understand thrift

When I was a child, you always knew which kids didn’t have new clothing. It’s a sad fact but children are horribly superficial and the empathy I have for those children who felt like they didn’t fit in breaks my heart. (Fortunately my last 3 years of high school were spent at an “alternative” school where you could dress any way you wanted and truly, no one cared.)

Now, things have changed and on every fashion blog, most of the “what I wore” features have a “thrift” or “vintage” item in the mix. Kids can now score a great deal at a thrift store and be on the cutting edge, which is very refreshing and almost essential in the current economic situation we find ourselves in.

The terms “thrift” and “vintage” being used interchangeably on these sites annoys me to no end. I have a hard time considering something from the 90s as being “vintage” just yet, let alone something 6 months old found at Goodwill. Either way, thrift store chic has even become fodder for jokes on the parody blog “Stuff White People Like“.

In the fascinating book The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, in the final section, Pietra Rivoli details the life of clothing after it’s been donated to a charity. There is more used clothing in this country than we know what to do with. The charities have neither the time nor the space to deal with the constant influx of donations so, sorting companies all over the U.S. buy the excess from places like Goodwill and the Salvation Army by the pound. These sorting companies (usually a mom and pop style enterprise) have a highly trained staff that goes through every single article of clothing, picking out the good the bad and the ugly- everything with a profit-driven end purpose. They have people trained to spot the elusive perfect vintage t-shirt and have buyers for pricey boutiques lined up to purchase them for resale.

So, when you buy from a “thrift” or charity store you’re actually getting the first chance at the lowest price for an article of clothing. You have to do some serious digging and each trip is a hit or miss gamble. If you shop at “vintage” stores, someone else has done a bit of the legwork for you, carefully selecting what they deem to be stylish. You will have a better chance of finding something spectacular, but you will definitely be paying for that guarantee in the end.

Also, I want to point out a wee bit of hypocrisy. It’s frowned upon to say you bought something from a low-end discount store but, it’s okay to say you bought the exact same article of clothing from a thrift store? Give me a break.

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Tagged as: fashion, vintage, wardrobe