Secondhand fashion: What’s in it for you?
Hobby shopping is getting more and more popular nowadays. It is no longer the age of long-lasting jeans and people who do not want to refresh their wardrobe every once in a while. Almost everyone keeps an eye out for attractive sales and new collections that appear in the shops every few weeks or so. We buy more and more clothes as our styles are changing and as we want to showcase our unique personalities. And that’s overall totally amazing!
Meanwhile, secondhand fashion is growing at an unbelievable pace. It is increasingly common for us to shop at secondhand clothing stores, flea markets, and even get secondhand furniture. And that for sure has its roots in this simple concept - we love being unique! That’s why for us — lovers of secondhand - looking for this uniqueness, this thrifting feeling is a fun way to explore fashion and apparel (and to be more eco-friendly!). Let me give you some reasons for that.
Reason 1: Develop your own style
Looking for secondhand clothing is thrilling but also challenging in its way. You may think “Oh I am not the kind of person who is able to find something unique or fitting in secondhand stores this easily.” Hey, but you know it is not true, right? Whenever you go to the secondhand clothing store or flea market, you can only find things that are one of their kind so no one else has them. And that already makes you unique! You can easily develop your own style. And you don’t have to worry if anyone else on the street will “copy” your style.
Reason 2: Become aware of your environmental footprint
A second reason why secondhand fashion can be greatly beneficial for you could be if you want to be more eco-friendly and reduce your environmental footprint. As many are starting to become aware; much of today’s clothes are produced from polyester or acrylic — essentially variable forms of plastic. Producing polyester requires a lot of heat, so it also needs a lot of energy and a lot of water afterward to cool it down. Before polyester is transformed into clothing, it needs to be dyed. This dye is toxic to humans and animals. Polyester also pollutes rivers in the production areas since the water from cooling can end up there due to unsafe production methods.
So even if you decide to buy clothes made from natural materials, it can be worrying, and your choice can have an environmental impact. Let’s take a look at cotton. While growing, it needs a lot of water since it is incredibly thirsty. It also requires a lot of pesticides to grow.
And the other aspect — transportation. A lot of clothing is produced in Asia and transported to Europe or the United States. It is unfortunately common that fast-fashion clothing is being overproduced and sadly a large part of it, therefore, ends up in landfills. Such landfills might be in less developed countries, essentially requiring the clothing to be further transported just for the sake of disposal.
Reason 3: Extend the lifetime of your clothes
Lastly, what you can find in it for you, is to extend the lifetime of your clothes. When the clothing goes from hand to hand, you can be sure it is not gonna end up in a landfill after production. If you wonder if there are other ways of extending the lifetime of your clothes, you can probably fix them up yourself if they break or you can even let your creativity run wild and transform them into new pieces of clothing.
How can you start exploring secondhand fashion?
That’s relatively simple. I will give you a couple of hints with places where to start:
- Vintage or secondhand stores: If you are on the outreach for mid-to-high-end clothing at a reasonable price. We bet that there is something for everyone, and the thrill of searching can be invigorating!
- Flea markets: Here, you can explore a wide variety of things: Clothing, shoes, and even furniture. And browsing various people’s wardrobes, while hearing stories from former owners is a great way to enjoy secondhand.
- Mobile apps like Second Trend: There, you can buy your new clothing or apparel directly from other users, or put your own stuff up for sale so that others might enjoy clothing that you are no longer using.
We hope to hear more stories about how you enjoy secondhand shopping!
