Are you guilty of thrift?
Is shopping at a thrift store to be ashamed of?
Designer brands, such as Gucci and Prada, can get away with selling their shoes, sun glasses, and handbags at ridiculously high prices because people will still buy their products. This is not because the designs they offer are breathtakingly unique, but because of wha t that high price implies about the person who can afford them.
But if expensive clothes are equated to high social standing, then are cheap clothes equal to low social standing? Some might think so. Indeed, thrift stores around the world are unified by the distinctly musty smell of items that only ended up in a thrift store because they’ve been worn down or stained.
But the times have changed; people living in or close to poverty are not the only people shopping at Value Village and Salvation Army anymore.
Thrift stores are enablers, providing the financially realistic materials needed for the elaborate ideas that RAs have; who in their right mind would pay a normal price for a shirt they know will be defaced for a Banana Challenge costume? When cost is hardly an issue, thanks to thrift stores, dorm spirit can flourish. Keeping spending to a minimum is never a bad idea for university students, regardless. And that questionable smell found in thrift stores is not the stench of shame, but the aroma of environmental consciousness; thrift stores are recycling stations at the most basic level.
But frugality doesn’t demand the sacrifice of fashionableness. Unlike more reputable stores with aisles upon aisles of identical products, a shirt found in a thrift store is likely one of a kind: a buried treasure, which one very often has to literally dig for. A persistent shopper-adventurer might spend hours sifting through ugly Christmas sweaters and polyester leopard-print jumpers before finding that perfect item that fits just right. New and shiny things are nice, but an item with history means more, especially the worn-in comfort factor for jeans. I doubt a thrift store shopper has ever bought an item feeling guilty because the prize was hard-won and is fiscally cheap to boot.
Rather than having a negative connotation, a particularly stunning thrift-store find can be a source of pride and honour. While sporting some Steven Madden shoes I bought at a garage sale for a trifling sum, a friend of mine exclaimed that she had the same pair. I practically boasted to her that I had spent less than she had. Today, my cheapness is a skill, reminiscent of patience, hopefulness, determination throughout the search, and wisdom in the purchase, rather than a characteristic to be ashamed of.
Bethany Roy
Recent Comments