The Evolution and Challenges of NYC Thrifting

From Vintage Stores to Gentrification and Sustainability

by Valerie Rodriguez-Castro

As a New York City transplant, I came to the city wonderfully naïve with the idea that NYC thrifting would completely revolutionize my closet. After all, in a city full of influencers, celebrities, and the ultra-rich, thrift stores should be overflowing with unique, high-end pieces at affordable prices. Unfortunately, when my friends and I went thrifting for the first time, we fell into the vintage store trap. I was filled with disbelief when shifting through the racks, appalled at the lack of prices under $40. While we quickly learned how to differentiate between vintage shops and true thrift stores, it was clear that thrifting back home in small, rural towns was infinitely better than thrifting in the city.

The lure of NYC thrifting snares many incoming college students. However, with the rise of vintage resellers and apps such as Depop and Poshmark, traditional secondhand stores have started to drift from their original purpose.

The concept of secondhand shopping began in the late 1800s when Jewish immigrants— who faced difficulties integrating into the workforce— would sell secondhand clothes off of pushcarts. While these pushcarts garnered a bad reputation due to antisemitism and the negative stigmas around wearing secondhand clothing, Christian ministries such as the Salvation Army and Goodwill saw the value in the business model. They created their own secondhand clothing stores and rebranded them as “thrift stores” in order to attract younger, fresher audiences. These stores were originally made to encourage the cyclical lifespan of clothing as well as to provide impoverished communities with trendy clothes at affordable prices.

Now, thrifting has become a popular activity among people of all classes. Especially with the growing awareness around the dangers of fast fashion, more people have turned to secondhand shopping to lessen their environmental impact. However, thrifting’s rise in popularity has contributed to secondhand shops becoming inaccessible to those who rely on thrift stores out of necessity, rather than just for style. These stores have been gentrified.

In an article on thrifting in Jezebel, Hazel Cills reports that because of their newfound popularity, “a store then becomes ‘gentrified’ in the same way a neighborhood might, pushing out low-income buyers to make way for those with a surplus of cash.” In NYC, this gentrification has become glaringly apparent as it’s become normalized to see curated vintage stores a couple blocks away from low income neighborhoods. This has become particularly evident in Brooklyn neighborhoods as more New Yorkers move out of Manhattan in search of lower rent prices.

The rise of thrifting coincides with the new emphasis on personal style and the devaluation of trends. The trend cycle refers to a cyclic pattern in fashion when styles from past eras resurge in popularity. In the past, the trend cycle circulated on a twenty year timeline; now, the cycle has been shortened to a ten to even five year timeline. While the trend cycle seemed to dominate the fashion world for the past couple years, fashion experts have urged people to take a step back from trends in favor of finding their own personal style. Personal style means having a wardrobe that you feel comfortable and confident wearing despite the influence of trends. Since many people who wanted to revamp their wardrobe didn’t have the money to invest in all new pieces, they turned to thrift stores as an affordable option. This led to the commodification of secondhand style. Shopping at a thrift store forces consumers to focus on finding pieces that they like, rather than focusing on what is currently popular. In turn, distressed clothing became trendy. Secondhand clothes are no longer looked down upon. Instead, teenagers and young adults proudly proclaim, “It’s thrifted!” when somebody asks them where their new clothing is from.

Teenagers going thrifting in hopes of finding a couple good pieces haven’t drastically affected the state of thrift stores. However, the rise of secondhand clothing’s popularity leads sellers on apps such as Depop, Poshmark, and eBay to hit up their local Goodwill stores.

It’s hard to visit a thrift store in NYC without running into a few of the “Depop Girlies,” as they’re often called. These sellers visit their local thrift stores in hope of finding a large amount of vintage pieces to resell on their online storefronts for a large markup. They brand these items with terms like “y2k” and “vintage” in hopes of drawing buyers to their stores. However, these sellers often lack the knowledge to properly determine the worth of these clothes. As a result, sellers mislead consumers into believing that they are getting quality, vintage items, though the term "vintage" only applies to clothing pieces that are at least twenty years old. While scrolling on these apps, it’s not uncommon to see children’s t-shirts marketed as “xx-small baby tee, y2k, vintage” and priced for up to $80.

While many of these sellers are just trying to create a source of income in a capitalist society that values entrepreneurship, the problem is that secondhand shops have caught wind of the worth of secondhand clothing. In their 2022 Resale Report, thredUP, a popular online thrift store, estimated that by 2027, the secondhand apparel market will have nearly doubled and be worth $351 billion.

Because of this increased demand for secondhand clothing, thrift stores have decided to capitalize off their popularity. Employees for these stores have become more attuned to the value of clothing pieces; when they see a piece of clothing that is more desirable or of higher quality, they know to price it higher. In an article at The Wall Street Journal Bill Parrish, senior consultant in donated goods retail for Goodwill Industries International, said that each Goodwill store appropriately prices their items “to ensure that they are in line with the value of the category of items provided.” This is especially problematic with thrift stores in NYC because of the large fashion scene. Unlike employees in more rural areas, thrift store workers in the city have more experience in picking out secondhand clothing that could be deemed desirable. Stores like Goodwill have even started online storefronts to sell high quality donations at prices close to retail.

Many resellers argue against the notion that reselling has led to the rise in prices in thrift stores as these shops have no shortage of stock. In The Washington Post, Brittany Dickinson, manager of sustainability for Goodwill Industries International, said that in 2021 Goodwill stores received 107 million donations and handled 5.7 billion pounds of product. However, only 50 percent of those donations were put up for sale in their traditional stores and under half of those clothes were sold. Those that aren’t sold are moved to an outlet store.

Because of the large amount of donations that are received by secondhand shops, much of the blame is shifted back onto the shops themselves for not properly utilizing their excessive stock. Yet, what happens to the donations that aren’t sold isn’t commonly talked about. The donations that don’t reach the sales floor are deemed unsuitable for sale. They are either too worn out or are visibly soiled or wet. Huffpost reports that these items are either auctioned off or shipped overseas to textile recycling organizations. Anything that is left over is typically incinerated or sent to a landfill. While it may seem that thrift stores have an unlimited amount of stock to sell, the reality is much more complicated than that.

The problem is that consumers that rely on secondhand shops for their livelihoods are no longer able to afford long lasting quality goods. They are instead stuck with the leftovers like poorly made SHEIN clothing that isn’t made to hold up against long-term wear. Unfortunately, this means consumers get stuck in a cycle of constantly having to purchase new clothing when they would have previously been able to buy a couple of high quality pieces that would last a long time for an affordable price.

This dilemma has led many people to take an interest in how to shop sustainably. Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut solution. As many people have said before, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. However, there are ways to lessen your impact both on the environment as well as on impoverished communities. When shopping at thrift stores, it’s important to stay away from essential items if you have the money to afford them elsewhere. These items can include children’s clothing, warm coats, boots, and workwear.

Living in New York City provides many opportunities to find fun new clothes while lessening your environmental impact. For example, closet sales are a great way to try out new styles without contributing to gentrification. These sales involve buying clothes directly out of somebody’s wardrobe without having to go to an official store. These sales are often advertised on TikTok or Facebook Marketplace. Also, if you’re looking to limit your consumption, a good idea is to borrow clothes from your friends or from apps such as Pickle, where users are able to rent clothes from other fashion-lovers around the city.

If your main goal is to lessen your environmental impact, try looking at shopping from sustainable brands such as KOTN or Patagonia. While these stores tend to have higher prices, their pieces also tend to be better quality and are made to withstand time. Many brands like Patagonia also have programs where you are able to send your clothing in for free to get repaired.

Most importantly, be conscious when shopping. Clothing is not meant to be continuously discarded in a rotation during seasons. It’s important to curate a wardrobe of pieces that you treasure and wear for a long time. Sure, trends are tempting, however it’s crucial to be aware of how falling victim to them can affect the clothing cycle. By constantly cycling through clothes, more waste is created as garments are not worn to their full potential. There is no 100 percent ethical way to shop for clothing, but it’s important to keep in mind the impact that overconsumption can have.

EMBODIEDOctober 19, 2023Comment