At least in Jakarta, online thrift stores have become a major trend on Instagram. However, I've come across several accounts that simply purchase items from fast fashion brands (eg. H&M, Zara, etc.) and resell them by labelling it "thrifted", which really defeats the environmental benefits of buying thrifted items. While I'm glad that people are becoming more aware of how harmful the fast-fashion industry is, I'm also concerned that thrift stores are essentially replacing our highly consumerist fashion culture. What do you guys think?
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Wow, this clears a lot of gray areas for me! Do you have any thrift shopping dos and don'ts that you can share with us? Thanks!
Hai Eileen!
Thanks for your question!
Thrift stores are known as shops that resell second-hand or used goods including clothes, books or even furniture. Usually, a person has outgrew the item but the item still has value. So these items are given to thrift stores and have good quality, which means they aren't easily worn out.
Fast fashion brands, on the other hand, make trendy clothes that are quick, cheap and disposable. These clothes only have half the lifespan of good quality products. This creates a big pile of unused clothes in landfills or incinerated causing the fashion industry to become one of the biggest global pollutants.
By this understanding, you're right. Having instagram accounts sell fast fashion clothes that are labeled as "thrifted" does defeat the purpose of buying from thrift stores. Especially since the items were not actually used in the first place. It's basically the same as purchasing from the fast fashion brand itself.
In that case, we need to improve on the culture too. The consumers here are still focused on purchasing new products instead of renting or thrifting, which can be caused by different reasons. These problems aren't just environmental problems, they are social problems too. There should be a clear idea of what thrift stores are, the benefits of renting or what sustainable shopping is all about. There is still a lack of awareness that thrifting isn't purchasing an unused, low quality items labelled "thrifted", thrifting is purchasing second-hand goods that have quality and value.
Hope this answer helped!