The average American throws away roughly 81 pounds of clothes every year. Thrift shopping’s main goal is to lower this number and provide more eco-friendly resources to consumers. Thrifting has been a popular resource for all people in the past several decades, but the popularity of thrifting has drastically increased over the past few years. The affordable price of clothing, highly sought after vintage items, and positive environmental impacts of thrifting all demonstrate why many love to shop at stores such as Goodwill, Everyday People Clothing Exchange, Plato’s Closet and so many more.
Thrift shopping has countless benefits for consumers. On big websites like Nike, Abercrombie & Fitch, or Champion, most clothing items lie between $50 and $200. But, when bought second hand, these same articles of clothing can be available for purchase at less than $10. Additionally, in these thrift stores, vintage clothing is in excess. The chances of finding a retro-style shirt that fits a person’s fashion sense are incredibly high when thrifting.
Thrift shopping is not only good for the wardrobe, but also the environment. Thrifting reduces carbon and chemical pollution produced by clothing manufacturers. An incredible amount of time, energy, and resources go into creating just one item of clothing. The average t-shirt goes through a standard manufacturing and stitching process, is wrapped in a plastic bag, placed into a cardboard box, driven by a semi-truck to a local airport, flown by plane, and then is finally dropped off by a local mail carrier. When thrifting instead of buying new, each item of clothing purchased secondhand is one less new item of clothing sent through that same labor and energy intensive process.

Thrifting can also keep clothes out of landfills. Some people may immediately turn to the trash when clothes don’t fit anymore or are simply worn out. While this may be the easier and faster option, it has horrible implications for the environment. For example, in 2018, 17 million tons of clothing fabric and items were found in landfills. However, if a person decides to bring these old clothes to a local thrift store, another person will likely purchase them and use them frequently.
Junior Simon Assefa frequently visits thrift stores. Assefa believes thrifting is straightforward and an overall great concept. “I like thrift shopping. I think it’s a lot of fun. It is really interesting to see all of the things that other people didn’t want, even if I think that specific item is cool,” Assefa said.
“I usually go to this store called Everyday People Clothing Exchange. I think it has a lot of nice clothes and is really close to my house. It’s only a couple minutes away from school too so I can go with friends before practices and other stuff after school,” Assefa added.
Thrifting is a great way to shop and is a wonderful resource and experience. Next time getting rid of clothes, consider finding the nearest thrift store to save money and help the environment.