Chloe Reid
Reporter
Within the past few months, there’s a fair chance that you’ve heard the phrase “gentrifying thrifting”. While not an entirely new concept in and of itself, with thrift store popularity spiking within recent years, the gentrification of thrift stores has become a much more prominent issue in today’s news and on social media outlets.
So what is “gentrification”? Simply defined, gentrification is the process of rebuilding deteriorated, or lower-income areas and neighborhoods into a more well-developed area. Gentrifying has been happening for years in many circumstances. Lower-income cities like Detroit, Atlanta and Boston have all endured their own facelifts. So what does this have to do with thrift stores?
After the spike in thrift store popularity, a new trend was born and developed by those buying secondhand clothing and products: reselling. Older sites such as eBay and Craigslist and newer apps such as Depop and Poshmark have all been reputable for the main purpose of allowing people to sell their used goods in exchange for cash. So while reselling itself isn’t new, the trend of buying things specifically to resell for a higher price is. With this concept, the idea of gentrifying thrift stores was born.
It’s a simple idea. High-profile resellers go to thrift stores and spend time looking for rare, brand name and exclusive items that can sell at an exponentially higher price point compared to the typical under $10 prices at a thrift store. According to those buying, this new form of making income has its highs and lows.
Gentrifying thrifting has only become a more prominent debate throughout the recent months, and here’s why: Resellers buying things from thrift stores and then selling them at a higher price point allegedly encourages thrift stores to raise their prices to match with the demand. It also takes away a portion of the low-cost clothing for those in low-income situations who truly need the lower price point.
On the other hand, overconsumption is just as large of a problem in the United States. As Americans, the trend of fast fashion has become all too popular in recent years. Mass-produced, trendy clothing at an extremely cheap price has been the set standard for many American consumers. With this mass production though, also comes mass demolition. According to a BBC article titled: “Why clothes are so hard to recycle”, “Roughly 85%, or 13 million tons of discarded textiles are burned or thrown to landfills in America each year.” So in an attempt to reduce waste, the average citizen’s next thought is to donate those clothing items to a thrift store, where it could help someone else in need. However, most thrift stores are being overloaded, too. In regards to the previously mentioned 85%, the other 15% of discarded clothing is donated to thrift stores, which can add up over time as well. According to an article from The HuffPost, titled: “We Buy An Obscene Amount Of Clothes. Here’s What It’s Doing to Secondhand Stores.” Back in 2012, one Salvation Army location in New York reported acquiring nearly 5 tons of clothes per day. In 2013, Salvation Army locations across the country took in 80 million pounds of clothing overall. With this in mind, thrift stores most certainly won’t just “run out” of clothing anytime soon.
However, thrift store pricing has been reported to have increased over the years, and this could’ve come with a variety of reasons. Is it truly because of resellers and those using thrift stores as a way to get income, or are there other reasons behind the updated prices?
The answer is yes to both. There isn’t one set reason behind the increase in thrift store prices over the years, rather a concept as a whole: demand. Popular thrift stores such as Goodwill, Savers and Value Village, don’t recognize resellers themselves, but they recognize the increase in sales, meaning that as long as thrifting remains trendy, thrift stores will increase the price point as a way to create additional income.
Where this additional income is going, from either a good cause or just direct profit to the heads of the companies, remains a mystery. However, reselling thrifted items specifically for a bigger profit has only come around to being a prominent trend within recent years. This is mainly due to the spike of “aesthetics” becoming a trend due to apps such as TikTok and Instagram, where people will spend countless hours looking for specific pieces of clothing to match a targeted look they’re trying to achieve. Resellers caught onto this, and with people’s preferences constantly changing to keep up with that of those they view on social media and within their friend group, resellers use this to their advantage in being able to target certain clothing pieces to their eager audiences.
Despite this, thrift store popularity started to increase before social media was a prominent focus in finding clothing trends. Whether it be from an increased positivity towards frugality to wanting to shop sustainably, Americans turned thrifting from a public display of poverty to one of being environmentally friendly and unique. So in total, the gentrification of thrift stores is becoming a very real problem. However, while thrift store prices may be increasing, it might not be directly the fault of resellers individually, rather the thrift stores themselves taking advantage of the more positive stigma wrapped around them that’s to blame.
