If you want to dress in designer clothes for just a few dollars, you might want to ask fashion enthusiast Kalita Hon (@kalitaku) where to shop.
The stylist couldn't believe her eyes after finding a designer piece at the thrift store and showed off her "dream dress" on social media.
"The true thrift girlies know how rare a Mandalay dress is," Kalita wrote.
The brown dress features bejeweled straps and a matching criss-cross belt. It was a perfect fit for the perfect price: just $20.
Kalita is right — this is a rare find. Mandalay dresses are few and far between, and online resales can go for hundreds of dollars.
Thrift scores like these may be scarce, but similar savings certainly aren't. Secondhand shopping is a great way to cut costs. According to CouponFollow, "Thrift store shoppers save an average of $1,760 per year by buying secondhand items."
Shoppers frequently find designer bags, coats, and shoes for a fraction of their original prices at local thrift stores. And not only is shopping secondhand great for your budget, but it also helps protect the environment by mitigating overconsumption.
Fast fashion is a major burden on the planet. Globally, we're producing more clothes than ever and wearing them even less. According to Boston University researchers in 2022, "Every year, people in the United States throw out more than 34 billion pounds of used textiles."
That figure speaks to waste habits in the U.S. alone. And all those garments will sit in landfills for huge amounts of time before beginning to break down, potentially leaching chemicals and shedding microplastics in the process.
And how about the environmental impacts of the transportation it takes to move new purchases around the globe?
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Cheaper clothes 🤑 By donating your old stuff and shopping secondhand, you'll prolong the lifespan of your items, reducing waste and conserving resources.
Commenters were very excited for Kalita.
"Soooo beautiful," one said.
"This would have me in tears," another wrote. "Omg so happy for you."
"You won the LOTTERY!" a third agreed.
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