The Good, the Bad and the Vintage

In the heat of the pandemic, many people have turned to unique avenues to make money or find an interesting new hobby. One thing that blew up is buying and selling vintage second-hand clothing. This is not new. Thrift stores and charity shops have been around since the 1920s. What seems to have grown in popularity is the fact of reselling “vintage” pieces found in thrift stores and secondhand shops. 

              There seems to be a big difference in buying clothes from a thrift shop for a personal collection and buying to resell. I believe the intention leads to buying in bulk and for oneself. When viewing secondhand shops, we see the proposed solution to two issues: providing clothes to lower-income members of communities and creating an avenue for sustainable fashion. When introducing the act of reselling these items for inflated prices, we see no change to the original issues secondhand stores try to solve. 

I am an avid collector and guilty of spending large sums of money to collect these coveted vintage items. The feeling of nostalgia and making a retro outfit brings a feeling akin to receiving an extremely valuable family air loom. I love going to thrift stores or searching online for old clothes that remind me of my childhood or spark a faded memory of long-forgotten fashion trends. The issue is that almost everywhere I look, resellers seem to believe every item they sell is a highly coveted piece of historic memorabilia. This can be seen in action by taking a quick stroll through Depop, a fashion marketplace app. Resellers seem to sell any piece older than 10 years at the same price as a retail high fashion brand. This is not sustainable. Hundreds of old and used clothing are being bumped up to three times their original price. Most of the time the price is solely dictated on the age of the piece. I have come across horribly damaged clothing that was marked up just because of its age moreover its design or brand. This is extremely reminiscence of popular brands that sell uninspired designs for extremely high prices. 

As this era of resale continues to boom, it feels as if the same things that were first created to fight fast fashion are benefiting the same things they sought to destroy. The simple act of reselling has also affected prices in secondhand shops. I have personally noticed a steady rise in prices from stores such as Goodwill. This is not a localized issue. This poses major problems for the people that depend on secondhand stores for clothes and other items. Simply put, profits and fashion are steadily revealing the greedy nature of resale. The line between collector’s pieces and secondhand items has become blurred. Many people are slowly realizing these issues, but little to no change is being made in the resale industry itself. If there continues to be a steady increase in resale prices, secondhand stores will no longer serve as an alternative to fast fashion.  

-MG-