Into the Thrifting

These days, we have a lot of thrift stores, online markets, even special apps and a huge quantity of bloggers who can show their achievements, they are also stylists and some of them even “look” buyers. What is the actual concept of thrifting? Some of the stores sell used fast fashion garments, others are vintage and there are also stores that specialize in selling secondhand couture. From them has begun the history of thrift stores.  

Before the 20th century, when fabric was very expensive, not everyone could afford to have handmade beautiful dresses and suits. People from high society were selling their beautiful, outdated wardrobes to the merchants and they were reselling them. In years people started shipping these clothes from Europe to the USA. Many large cities like London or Paris, New York had whole streets where you could see merchants reselling summer dresses, or undergarments from the rich people, because it was what regular people would probably buy and wear for work, but not ball gowns. Of course, with the growth of technologies many factories appeared, where they started producing fast fashion.  With this aspect now we have more affordable thrift stores around the globe. 

Being a teenager in Ukraine in the beginning of 2000 was very hard because clothes were insanely expensive. Eventually there also appeared secondhand markets and with huge inquisitiveness people could cross all the city to discover it. It was a big deal going there, but still most of the people were very embarrassed. However, there were people who wanted to look stylish and exquisite, so they did not care about the other people’s opinion. 

To become a good thrifter you need to become a hunter and build a skill, to dig better into huge pales of clothes.  My own thrift journey counts more than 23 years and it taught me to scan the clothes perfectly. With this experience you already know which hanger you will touch and which not. One of my best finds was a Gucci bag for two dollars in a local thrift store in Windsor Ontario. If you ask me which city is the best to thrift in, I will say NYC Manhattan “the Salvation Army”, there you can go with ten dollars to the store and go out fully dressed from top to bottom. 

Are you intrigued about my Gucci bag purchase experience? There is a very cozy store on Wyandotte street “May Court Club Shoppe.” This store is a must visit for all thrift lovers who are seeking sophisticated looks. Sharon Pyke is the president of Windsor’s location and she proudly told me about the mission of their organization. 

“It is a cycle, people from the community donate gently used clothes, we price them and funds from the sale go back to the local organizations that need it,”  said Pyke.

This store is a charity store, people who work there are volunteers. Their common cause is gathering money from purchases to help the local community. 

“There are more locations in Ontario. And all of them do different roles. Sometimes people are gathering for art presentations with artists, book readings with authors and music concerts,” said Pyke. 

Can feel how every volunteer employee is proud of participating in their great mission. 

Remember thrifting doesn’t mean you are digging into the bed bugs, a good thriftier is a person who learns how to be precise and persistent.