The uniform-free day was undoubtedly one of the best days of the school year when you could ditch the school uniform and wear your best/favourite clothes. But with that came a little bit of anxiety about the judgement from the other kids. What if my outfit isn’t cool enough? This isn’t important to me now, but it’s a pretty big deal to a kid, but also, there is a huge deal made out of repeating outfits, especially those of celebrity status/in the public eye constantly. One of my favourite quotes is from a podcast where a person talks about being teased at school and asked why he wasn’t wearing Nike shoes; the person’s response was, “Why do you care?”. Why do we care so much about the fashion choices of others? More importantly, why do we care what others think about our fashion choices?
I have some older cousins, and as a result, my sister and I were often getting bags of their clothes, rarely did I pick anything from the bag; those jeans were enough to put me off jeans for many years. I remember loving their old gymnastics outfits, though, dressed up as a gymnast for Mum and Dad’s Olympics-themed 40th Birthday party (There are probably some photos somewhere).
Buying preowned cars and houses is pretty mainstream, but clothes, furniture and other goods have been well behind until now. The only reason I’ve set foot into an op shop has been to find outfits for dress-up parties. That was until I started following Annabel from Restyle Studio (also on Instagram under the same name), where she educated me on the benefits of thrift shopping. “It’s not the cost of the garment; it’s the journey the garment has had before you”. Before purchasing brand new, I now check out the Facebook marketplace, gumtree and op shops.
The stigma attached to thrift shopping/buying second-hand is very real. It’s often been a sign of wealth and status; if you can’t afford to buy brand new, you must be poor, when really, why does it matter where you buy your clothes or how much money you have? With rising living costs, climate change, pollution, and high waste/dumping of rubbish, we must look at ways to live more sustainably now than ever. Buying and selling second-hand isn’t just a more sustainable way of living but can be a way to get some extra cash off items sitting around in your home, and you get to sell them to people who will use them.
The buy nothing project is another excellent way to decrease the amount that goes into landfill by gifting your unwanted items to someone in your neighbourhood. The buy-nothing project promotes connecting with your neighbours, the feel-good of giving things to people who need them and decluttering your space simultaneously. (Canberra have buy nothing facebook groups in each suburb/area)
I’m glad that thrifting is now cool. The positive impacts it’ll have on the planet alone are second to none. I think “vintage” items have more character than today's modern products. It’ll be a sad day when vintage cars are no longer on our roads; there is so much history and character compared to today's new cars.
I have memories as a kid looking at all the different stuff in the revolve shop at Mugga Lane Tip (I think it’s now The Green Shed), and earlier this year, when searching for a bed frame for my spare room, I went to the Green Shed in Mitchell and was amazed at all the stuff there. It can be challenging if you’re looking for something specific or need it in a hurry and the other battle is the big companies selling things cheaper and cheaper; this is one of the most significant contributors to waste because it’s so cheap to buy, people often don’t care that they never wear it or throw it out because it didn’t fit and only cost $10. Imagine how much we would save if we didn’t get sucked into the sales and cheap clothing stores. I’ve had a rule on my purchases for a while, if you love it, buy it; if you don’t, walk away. If you walk away and can’t stop thinking about it, go back and if it’s still there and you still want it, then purchase it.
I will finish by leaving you with this cool video of Noah Johnson. Noah Johnson is a 21 year old Tasmanian-born fashion designer who has taken TikTok by storm with his upcycled, wearable art.
What are your thoughts on purchasing preowned? Are you a buyer, a seller, a giver, or all of the above?
Hahaha, man. When I was in primary school everyone would wear their aboslute best "cool kit" they had. It was most certainly a day of judging what people are like outside of school. Kind of like when you go to a work Xmas party and everyone dresses really differently from one another.
Thrifting is great. These buy nothing groups on Facebook are brilliant for minimising waste too. I've got a bunch of second-hand stuff in my place. Some we do up a little bit and other stuff we just leave as is. I like that it's a little bit anti-establishment too. like, "damn you big trendy corporations! You won't be seeing any of my money!'
How good is Noah's story! Have forward this email on to Mum. She's a thrift shopper from way back.