To Thrift or to Thrive

There is a certain pleasure in finding an article of clothing that matches exactly what you want and knowing that it was well worn by another. The aesthetics of not just saving money and contributing to charity but to reuse what can be used again; to originate your style throughout more than just the couple years. Finally, it is the smell from another time, it is not to live through the clothing but to let experiences live again. Thrift shopping is a way of life to many. It is not just for people of a certain class or social status, it extends beyond that. With a new pattern and generation emerging, the patterns come about.

Recently there have been reports of larger number of people thrift shopping, especially with the economic situation as it is. Some salvation armies have been running low on supplies because people are thrift shopping more and giving less, as pointed out in an article by the New York Times. With this, there is also a growing scene with a term already known to some. These people are hipsters, known in the 1940s to mean those against mainstream fashion, music, and the scene. It is a slang term that has been revived recently to mean more than that.

Hipsters are not just about rebelling against a seemingly consumerist culture, but about reviving a society to recycle itself. As a New York style guide suggests, “clothing that wasn’t good enough to be bought on the first go-around is prime pickings.” This type of identity is not to cut costs or to save money but to save the past and identity without producing. Many spend hours and hours looking for clothes, using vast sums of money to come up with something that they define as themselves. The spectrum is changing. The idea of looking past older faux pa’s to become someone new can use someone’s clothing to go beyond what is the norm. It is about going beyond conventional ideas into another realm.