My love for second hand fashion
- maisiemunch
- Mar 3
- 3 min read
I haven't always been a second hand shopper. And don't get me wrong, I still occasionally buy first hand clothes. I will admit that through my years at high school- Shien, Pretty Little Thing and Boohoo were my go-to's. But discovering the magic of charity shops made my shopping habits change. I always thought of them as 'granny clothes' shops, but after giving them a chance and finding unique and vintage pieces, I was convinced.
For me, knowing my second hand finds once had another home, another owner, and another life, made me curious. It led me to wonder what memories were made in every piece I bought. Knowing that I have sold old clothes myself that held such memories and nostalgia got me thinking about what I was buying. At my favourite home town car boot sale I found a pink vintage new look top that I immediately loved. The seller was so glad to see it excite me, and she told me how she always wore it out on special occasions in the 70's. She said that I had to buy it, that it would look great, that she would be happy it was going to me, as she was my age when she wore it. It was only a top and a woman who wore it 50 years ago, but It made me love second hand fashion, knowing my clothes had a past life and a new life.
The realisation of how often I was buying the latest trending item from a clothing brand really dawned on me. I started seeing alarming social media posts about how unsustainable fast fashion is. As someone who was previously an over consumer in the fashion industry, I felt as though my new choices in buying second hand clothes was the right one, and made me feel that little bit better. I recently found out that across the world we consume over 80 billion pieces of clothing items every year. And a lot of this ends up as waste. The cycle of pre-worn fashion is the best way to combat this and it just makes sense. Passing on clothes through generations is the solution. Even if you aren't into vintage fashion, second hand shopping is so diverse and there is always something for everyone, sometimes it just takes some digging and patience.
And I must touch on cost. We all realise that clothes are just getting more expensive. Primark bargains seem to be disappearing, and 'retail therapy' feels more like financial trauma. But for me, finding 50p bargains is so satisfying. I often search for an item on vinted to see if I can find it cheaper than in the original shop. Why buy it full price when vinted can get you 50% off? This is for both consumer sake and for the sake of saving myself a tenner or so.
From second hand shopping for multiple years now, I have learnt that there are some real gems out there if you really look. So here are some of my favourites.
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