Gallery • 3 Photos

Photo by Ruby Lueras

Matthew Shaw, junior, in his favorite thrifted item: his jean jacket. Shaw says thrifting is something everyone should try "at least once."

With an increase in fast fashion comes an increase in carbon emissions, water pollution, and landfill trash. However, students are combating the effects of fast fashion with another way of shopping: thrifting. 60.3% of students have gone thrifting, according to a Bear Facts Student Media survey of 280 students. 

One of these students, Isabelle Gawedzki senior, says that her thrifting journey started when she was “like eight years old” and that her family has always bought from second-hand stores.

“They’re perfectly good clothes, so why should they end up in landfills? There’s already a bunch of good clothes produced, so we can just keep reusing and recycling them,” Gawedzki said. “Thrifting prevents fast fashion and overall the environmental benefits are really really good.”

Not only does thrifting benefit the environment, it also provides people with unique pieces they love, according to Matthew Shaw, junior. Shaw has been thrifting since fourth grade, when he thrifted his Halloween costume. Now. Shaw only goes thrifting with an idea of what he may want, and often finds his favorite pieces that way.

“Thrifting doesn’t erase the history of the clothes. I love that each piece of clothing already has an advanced story when you buy it,” Shaw said. “What I’m wearing right now [for example] is my jean jacket that I got at Goodwill for like 12 bucks. I never go in looking for a specific item, but when I found this I was like, ‘that’s perfect.’”

To find the perfect thrift finds, Gawedzki recommends to always be thorough. She goes thrifting about once every two months, and says that she’s picked up many thrifting tips along the way.

“Leave no stone unturned. Sometimes you’ll be looking in an area, and you may not like anything at first, but if you just go piece by piece maybe there’ll be a really cool shirt tucked in somewhere,” Gawedzki said. “

This “less expensive alternative” for fashion is exactly why Hannah Pratt, junior, says she thrifts. She only recently started to thrift a little over a year ago, and says it’s great that people are becoming more and more open-minded about thrifting. 

“I think it’s great that people are starting to experiment and look at different places to buy clothes, because I remember when I was younger people were not as open to buying used clothing,” Pratt said. “ Currently I have been finding a ton of really great pairs of jeans, and I found a black pair that fit me perfectly, so I would say they are my current favorite. I had been looking for a new pair of black jeans since I accidentally bleached my other ones so I was so excited when I found them because they fit so well.”

Despite advocates seeing the benefits of thrifting, some people still may be skeptical of their local Goodwill. Shaw combats this thought and says if you’re thinking about thrifting you should just “go for it.”

“Thrifting is for everyone. There’s not a piece of clothing that’s bad. It doesn’t have to be perfect the way it starts: you can change it, you can modify it, you can take a pair of jeans and rip them, you could even take a shirt and cut it in half and sew it to another shirt,” Shaw said. “It doesn’t have to be the way it started it can be something new and I think that’s really cool.”