Why People Are Increasingly Preferring Thrift Stores Over Boutiques (And It Has Nothing To Do With Income)

Drew Barrymore, Zooey Deschanel and Anne Hathaway are just a few of the celebrities who shop at thrift stores and aren’t shy about talking about it. It’s clear that divas don’t do this for lack of money or because they don’t care about their appearance (we all know that’s not true), but for more noble causes.

Nowadays, especially among young people, there is a tendency to avoid shopping malls and boutiques in favor of thrift stores. And the team of awesome.club decided to discover his motivation for taking this step.

cotton irrigation

According to statistics, to produce the necessary amount of cotton just for a T-shirt, 2,700 liters of water are needed (the same amount that a person consumes in 900 days). Now imagine the amount of resources needed to produce T-shirts, jeans and other clothing for all the stores in the world. In China alone, 300 million jeans are produced annually.

One more point in favor of the Environment. In this case, we are not only referring to clothes, but also to household items and toys. Take a test: when you have a birthday, separate the gifts, themselves, on one side and the packaging on the other. The result will be that the packaging pile is likely to be larger than the product pile. And typically, that pile is made up of plastic that most of us won’t recycle, thus harming the environment. Anyway, one more advantage of used clothes: they are not packed. The worst that can happen is you take them home in a plastic bag.

Clothes that make it onto thrift store shelves are given a second life rather than becoming just another cog in the global “waste machine”.

Just imagine that:

Every year around 400 billion square meters of fabric are produced. 60 billion of them are immediately thrown away (they are scraps that cannot be used). The rest is used to produce textiles, including 80 billion pieces of clothing. 1/3 of these parts end up in landfills after a year. 3-4 parts thrown away are not recycled (at best they are burned).

That’s one of the reasons not to throw your clothes away. Instead, donate them to thrift stores. Of course, only the parts that still look decent. The rest can be given to special recycling centers or people in need.

Shopping at thrift stores often feels like a hunt. Among the huge piles of common parts, one can find some real treasures from well-known brands at impressive prices: about 50 to 90% cheaper than new parts.

Blogger and mother of three Annie Reneau wrote: “I have a lovely sundress; it’s flowery but not too flowery and it’s just the right length. It’s perfect! Every time I wear it I get so many compliments and obviously people ask me where I got it. ‘At the thrift store,’” I say with a smile. “For the equivalent of 17 reais”.

Annie explains that she has already managed to buy winter pants from the adventure brand “Columbia” for her husband for the equivalent of 42 reais and an Aldo brand wallet for 2 dollars — or about 6 reais.

The main argument of people who are against thrift stores is not wanting to wear things that other people had worn before them. However, we also cannot be sure how many people have tried on a “new” piece of clothing sold in a mall, for example. Many thrift stores disinfect clothing before placing it on the shelves. But if you still hesitate, you can disinfect them yourself.

In the past, the media loved to write about the huge prices for clothes that celebrities wore. These articles showed pieces so expensive that many people joked, wondering if it wouldn’t be better to put the bills directly on the body instead of the clothes. Nowadays, more and more journalists from fashion magazines draw their readers’ attention to the fact that celebrities prefer cheap and elegant clothes.

This is because priorities are changing. In the past, it was prestigious to show off how much you make on very expensive clothes. Today, choosing simple and inexpensive pieces is a sign of intelligence. As Zooey Deschanel once told journalists, “style is not when you buy expensive things.”

Zooey Deschanel isn’t the only celebrity who buys used clothes. Drew Barrymore, for example, appeared in a thrift store dress on the red carpet at an awards show. Singer Kylie Minogue is also often seen shopping for clothes at thrift stores. Recently, she and Billie Eilish donated some of their accessories to a charity sale, reigniting the “good and cheap” cycle.

Rocker Alice Cooper not only buys but also sells used clothes and even opened her own thrift shop in 2014. Actress Anne Hathaway is eco-conscious and also buys clothes from thrift stores. See how beautiful she looks in this used dress that she purchased for the equivalent of 62 reais.

Sarah Jessica Parker also confesses her love for used clothes and claims that shopping at thrift stores is not only enjoyable, but also very cheap.

Here in the awesome.club, we believe that the wave of thrift stores is here to stay. It is educational in the sense that it shows the importance of taking care of the environment and your wallet.

Have you ever bought used parts at thrift stores? Did you discover any gems among the clothes?