Thrift store shopping plus outfits

Hello, beautiful readers! :) Welcome back to eco-Thursdays! This time I am going to share my thrift store finds, talk about thrift store shopping ecological aspects and share some second hand shopping pros, cons and tips that could be useful. :) Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Note. Inbetween the text (which you should totally read btw :D) I will put my thrifted outfits. Most of them are from previous blogposts which I will link as well, if you fancy to have a look. Every piece is under 10EUR (except for footwear and bag). Unfortunately, the exact prices I don’t remember anymore. If I do, I willl write the details under the pictures.

Thrift store shopping is considered ecolocical and zero-wast-y because you don’t buy new, but wear someone elses old clothes or something they could have put into trash. So, you are giving the clothes second life and not producing excess waste as you would if you bought new clothes. Nevertheless, at some point you will still have to throw out the second hand clothes too but I guess with buying second hand you do at least a little bit good to the environment. Actually, even more eco-friendly would be to give the clothes a third life, for example, making something from them, a blanket, a rug, a soft toy or anything else, but that’s another story. ;)

Overall, thrift store shopping IS NOT an answer to Global environment problems, but I do think that it is a small way you can contribute RIGHT NOW and give the clothes longer way to the trash can. I think a true eco-friendly fashion lifestyle can be lived only when things are changed in manufacturing level (of course manufactures make what the people want, but people buy what the manufactures make, so from which do we start?). I have a real concern about HOW the big brand clothes (like H&M, Primark, Zara etc) are made in the far East. Not just about the moral issues that are unclear but about the environmental too. Are they polluting Planet with low quality material usage or eco-unfriendly fabric dyes? I don’t know. I don’t know ANYTHING about the clothes that windup in my closet. Do you? I think that is one of the challenges of this awesome globalisation era, to be more consious about the manufacturing process of things we use everyday and buy for a few euros in a store. I mean, I like this Earth and really want it to be beautiful, natural and not wrecked but on the other hand I don’t wanna live in a forest and wear leaves. BALANCE IS ALWAYS THE KEY. And science. :D Because science can come up with all the solutions, for example, new 100% eco-friendly fabrics, plastic that turns back into earth after usage and so on.

Ok, enough about the bad stuff and how everything is just awful. :D Back to the thrift store shopping. Let’s start with some good and bad things comparison.

Good

• You can buy beautiful pieces for just a few euros. Do I need to say more? :D
• You can also find qualitative and almost new or new things for low prices.
• There is a chance to find something intersting and unique no one else will have.
• If you don’t like the fashion trends that are in style at the moment, in thrift stores, you can find things from A LOT of eras. That is a con too, of course, but if you are sick of the bell sleeves or embroidery, you can find something for your taste in a thirft shop for sure.
• If you are a hunter girl :D (I’m not. I think.), going thrift shopping is really like going hunting. Because mostly every piece of clothing is just in one color and one size. If it fits, YAAY, if not – nothing you can do. Except sewing but I don’t do that usually. ;)

Bad

• Will you score, depends on luck. The sortiment changes daily and as I said, everything is just in one size and color, so thrift shopping can take more time and energy. But tbh regular store shopping is time consuming and energy sucking as well.
• It is harder to find at the moment in style fashion trends. I did say this before as a good point ;) but if you are looking for things that are in style ATM, it can be tricky and almost impossible to find.
• Yes, the clothes are used. They are washed and cleaned but still you can more often stumble on clothes with defects or stains.
• If you don’t like the piece of clothing you bought, you cannot return it. But the clothes usually are not pricy so I don’t care much about the returning policy.

Tips

I don’t know if this counts as tips but there are some things that are easier to find in thrift stores and some that I never buy there.

• Of course, I never buy underwear in thrift shops, even though they have some panties and bras. I guess the panties are not used, but still.
• I find it hard to find accesories as well, including hats, necklases and scarfs. Bags – sometimes.
• For me finding pants that fit nicely is a challenging always but scoring good pair of pants in a thrift store is like a full-time celebration for me.
• Shoes are tricky too, the pairs that are thrifted in my wardrobe are from special thrifted shoe shops. But I know people who have scored SO BEAUTIFUL pairs of boots, but that depends on your shoe size and foot requirements.
• Things I find easy to buy in thrift stores – dresses, tops, blouses, jumpers, sometimes skirts.

What else, well, telling you this, that I buy things from thrift shops, on some level makes me fee like a poor person who just cannot afford full priced new things. Yes, when I started thrift shopping, it was partly because of money and partly because I wanted to challenge myself to explore new options. In general, I don’t think that is shameful, clothes are clothes and usually the new items in stores are overpriced anyway. Overall, thrift shopping can be fun and you can find so many interesting and unusal pieces for a price of a cappucino. And good deals always make us feel good, don’t they? :)

Now it is time for you to share your thrift shopping experience! Do you often thrift shop or maybe you are a thrift shopping virgin? :O Do you have any tips or funny stories? Share everything thrift shopping related in the comments! (If you have thrifted outfit photos, I would like to see them too, so feel free to link them! :) )

                          With love,

                                Madara

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