I’m gonna pop some tags: why thrifting is the new trend for students
Shopping at thrift stores is a new trend for many college students. Students in Logan frequent thrift stores such as Deseret Industries, Plato’s Closet and Somebody’s Attic to find unique clothing for a low price.
Thrifting is a cheaper alternative to buying brand new clothes, as well as a more sustainable one. Many students buy clothing from thrift shops to prevent clothing waste by keeping clothes in circulation.
Though shopping at thrift stores is now trendy, many students have been shopping second-hand for years.
Chloe Green, a student at the University of Utah, started thrifting in high school because it was a cheaper alternative to department stores, but continues thrifting because it’s affordable and sustainable.
“I definitely like how affordable it is and also the fact that it’s reusing clothes,” Green said. “It’s like recycling.”
Clarissa Hill is a freshman at Utah State University and an avid thrifter. She enjoys repurposing fabric purchased at thrift stores to create her own clothes.
“I hate capitalism, so I like being self-sufficient,” Hill said. “I like making my own clothes, and it’s just more fun that way not to be the same as everybody else, to have my own unique clothes.”
Like Hill, many students enjoy thrifting because the clothes are unique to them, but how do you separate one man’s trash from another man’s treasure?
“You walk through all of the aisles,” Hill said. “You have to see everything, and you just go really fast and flip through all of them, and then if something catches your eye, then you can pause for a second.”
Students aren’t just thrifting for clothes, though. Audrey Flood, a freshman at USU, picked up a funnel cake maker and a “#1 lover” mug during her trip to DI on Tuesday.
Flood enjoys looking for ironic items at thrift stores because she “doesn’t like buying things that are sincere.”
“Thrifting a lot of times is people throwing out their garbage that they don’t like at all,” Flood said. “Because there’s this stupid t-shirt that I got at a conference that I’m never ever going to wear again, and I would never buy that personally. But I just love the vibe of having that all in a store.”
Flood enjoys buying ironic objects like the #1 lover mug because they make her ponder the history of the strangely specific items found at thrift stores.
“It makes me curious about what the purpose was of having that mug in the first place,” Flood said. “Why was it made? Did somebody purchase it, or did they make it for somebody else? There are so many questions, and I love that mystery. It prompts deeper thought.”
Darcy Ritchie is a second-year journalism student at Utah State from Idaho Falls, Idaho. Outside of writing for the Statesman, she loves to DJ for Aggie Radio, eat french bread in the Walmart parking lot, and tweet.
—darcy.ritchie@usu.edu
@darcyrrose