Second Hand Clothes

I absolutely love second hand clothes. I have since I was trying to be an enviro-cool teenager and my friends and I distinguished ourselves from the preps and jocks with our Salvation Army finds. I love the hunt, the chance that you'll find some treasure that someone else magically rejected, the individuality, artistry, vintage appeal of the clothes. I love the prices -- I can get an entire bag of clothing that I love for less than I'd pay for a single piece in the mall. I love that finding and selecting pieces is an art, an expression of creativity and vision, rather than merely following trends or using money to buy style.

I remember one wonderful moment of fashion inspiration in a great 2nd hand store in Virginia. I saw a woman across the store hold up a skirt that at first looked boring to me. A-line, a heavy cotton-type fabric, just below the knees, in pure white. How dull, I thought! But then I looked again, and I realized it was sophisticated, simple, and elegant. It was a whole new look I had never considered! I raided the skirt section next.

I love that these are items that are no longer part of mainstream consumption. By buying these, I'm not adding to the global manufacturing market; not driving consumer demand. In fact, I'm taking items out of the garbage stream, thus reducing pollution. There have been some interesting blogs debating the merits of 2nd hand shopping and its effects on the poor -- are we taking things away from those who need them? However, I do think that with the abundance of goods in North America, we all could move into the 2nd hand market arena to some extent and there would still be enough for all of us.

Lately, even some of my most dressy items of clothing come from second hand stores. I have GREAT quality jeans, some purchased for $15 at the most. Beautiful dresses; elegant sweaters; dressy tops. I'm finding pretty much everything I need. Well, two exceptions: purses and shoes. But that's another post.