One young person was surprised to hear their friend admonish them for shopping second hand and took to Reddit for advice.
In the post, a student started a discussion about the ethics of shopping at thrift stores. They said, "I prefer to thrift my clothes instead of buying new ones just because it's much more affordable (I'm still a broke student in hs!) and more sustainable."
They explained that their roommate felt these stores were meant for low-income families, and "people like me shouldn't go thrifting because we can afford to pay a higher price for new clothing."
The OP also voiced their concerns over fast fashion and the ethics of many modern clothing brands. "I just want to save my money when shopping for new clothes and also want to avoid buying from brands that use child labor … AITA for going thrifting when I'm not from a low-income family?"
Thrift stores have been around since the early 1900s, starting as charity shops often associated with churches or other religious institutions. Time wrote about their long history, "By 1935, there were nearly 100 Goodwill stores nationwide, and thrift stores made up half of the Salvation Army's annual budget."
These stores have been a place for folks to get affordable clothing for over a century, but in the past decade or so, there has been a shift to what some people call the gentrification of thrift shopping, or resellers buying high-quality items and then flipping them to make a profit.
The Week reported on the phenomenon of reselling thrifted clothes. "Many high-quality vintage pieces are quickly bought up, leaving lower-quality fast fashion in thrift stores. Higher quality clothing is also resold on websites like Depop, Poshmark, and Mercari, where it is priced and treated almost like a luxury item rather than a piece of affordable and sustainable fashion".
While this does happen, there is no shortage of clothing at thrift stores. The National Institute of Standards and Technology wrote, "On average, each person in the United States discarded roughly 47 kilograms (103 pounds) of textiles in 2018." While not all of these items end up at the thrift store, there is no shortage of used clothing.
There is so much textile waste that clothing gets shipped overseas to places like China or Ghana, where it causes numerous environmental issues. Videos can be seen of waterways and coastlines choked with discarded clothing.
🗣️ What's your primary motivation in shopping at thrift stores?
🔘 Cheaper clothes 🤑
🔘 Trendier items 😎
🔘 Reduced environmental impact 🌎
🔘 I don't thrift 🚫
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
While there was some discussion in the comments, most people agree that the OP is not doing anything wrong.
"Your friend is wrong," one person put it simply.
Someone else gave their perspective, saying, "I work for a charity thrift store. Our store helps fund the 20+ programs that help over 50,000 people every year in our state… services are all partially funded by people like OP coming in and buying the items donated."
Another commenter added, "Reusing clothes by purchasing them used from a thrift store is more sustainable. The reality is there are far, far more used clothes than can ever be resold."
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