This year for my birthday, I decided to buy myself presents, because sometimes you just have to be good to yourself. I wanted to update my wardrobe a little bit, because at the ripe old age of 22, maybe I shouldn’t still be wearing mostly shirts that I got in middle school. I should probably let you know that I love online shopping. I usually don’t buy anything because I’m cheap, but I really enjoy browsing. I’ve been really into thrift stores lately and the amazing bargains that you can get from them, and it makes me so happy that I can give a piece of clothing another life instead of having it sent to a landfill. So, to fulfill my birthday wishes, I went online thrift shopping. Yes, ladies and gentleman, that is very much a thing.
I have been donating and selling clothes to online thrift stores for a few years, but it hadn’t hit me that I could be shopping from them until now. One of the biggest advantages to thrift shopping is that you don’t have to worry about emissions or waste from production. It’s a really sustainable, but also really affordable way to shop, and you can truly find some amazing things.
The website I used is called ThredUp, but there are so many more. There’s Swap, Goodwill, reStitch, and many more to choose from that allow you to sort through the racks and racks of gently used clothing (and some other goods) to fit your needs. It’s actually amazing how inexpensive it was for me to add a bunch of staple pieces to totally revamp my wardrobe on a budget. It’s also super easy to donate or even to sell your clothes to a lot of these online (or in-person) re-retailers.
I think people are generally aware that thrift stores are fairly sustainable and inexpensive, but I don’t think a lot of people know that it can be just like any other shopping experience. It’s not all just musty old clothes that have never been in fashion; you can find really stylish and high quality clothes and be kind to the earth and your wallet all at once.
Gif Source: here.
Written by Mariah Greico, Class of 2018