In recent years, popular trends from the 90s and 2000’s have come back in style from high waisted jeans to tracksuits. The current trends may look like a blast from the past. With these trends coming back, many people have decided to thrift shop in order to get an authentic look to fit into these trends. However, the increase in thrift shopping has caused some controversy, some people feel that if one can afford first hand clothes they shouldn’t buy discounted clothes from the thrift store that under-privileged people may need. 

Some students began thrifting as a sporadic event, but got addicted once they saw the difference in price between regular shopping and thrifting. Junior Skylar Parker, who has been thrifting for years, understands where some of the controversy comes from but doesn’t think it as big of a deal as people make it seem.

“I started thrift shopping in middle school and I liked it, but once I got to high school I began to thrift more and more and now I hardly shop at first hand stores. The amount of money I’ve saved from thrifting is crazy, probably hundreds of dollars a year. I remember my mom would spend like two hundred dollars for back to school clothes every year just for me, which is insane. Thrifting has changed my style because now I don’t only dress for trends; I kind of put my own spin on things that are popular; whereas, before I started thrifting I would strictly follow trends,” Parker said. “Thrifting has also changed the way I shop because now when I go to actual clothes stores I can’t believe how much things cost and that I actually used to pay that much for clothes. While I can understand where people who think that only underprivileged people should thrift are coming from you’ve got to realize that Thrift stores will never run out of donations and saving money isn’t the only reason to thrift it also has a positive impact on the environment.”

Some students also feel that “gatekeeping” or trying to control who can or can’t do something is uncalled for. Junior, Noah Sohna, thinks that anyone can thrift shop no matter one’s salary.

“I enjoy thrift shopping. I love when I find a name brand item or something that looks really good for cheap. I don’t think anyone should control who can or can’t thrift. Everybody wants to save money, because you have a lot of money, doesn’t mean you want to spend it on clothes. Some people don’t care about their clothes as much as other things, so I don’t think it’s right to deny them of being able to thrift just because of what’s in their bank account,” Sohna said.

Thrifting has many benefits such as helping the environment, saving money, and finding authentic clothes from the past. Junior, Madison Martinez, enjoys the fact that her thrifting has a positive impact on the Earth.

“I love to thrift. I really like the y2k style and I can find a lot of low waisted jeans, tank tops, and track suits at thrift shops that are really cheap. I also like the fact that I’m recycling clothes. The fashion industry can cause a lot of pollution especially fast fashion, so I feel like thrift shopping is a much more sustainable and wise choice. I also donate all my old clothes that way it’s a continuous cycle of giving and taking from thrift stores which further helps the environment. Thrifting not only saves me money, but it also helps the Earth which is a win win to me,” Martinez said.

However, thrift shops differ from normal stores due to the fact that the clothes they have don’t have much variety in terms of sizes and colors. Junior, Pamela Tamo, went thrift shopping once and was frustrated when she couldn’t find what she was looking for.

“I usually buy my clothes online so I can get any size and color I want at the click of a button, but when I went thrift shopping, I could find something really cute and they wouldn’t have my size and when the thrift store doesn’t have your size your pretty much out of luck because it’s not like you can just look through the hangers until you find your size like you can at normal stores. I know thrifting is cheaper and better for the environment, but it was pretty stressful. I did like what I ended up getting, but I feel like I looked for a long time to find a few clothes whereas if I went online I would’ve found it much faster,” Tamo said.

Thrifting has many pros and cons and it usually comes down to the person shopping to decide if they like it. However, with popular trends from the past taking on within a new generation, thrifting continues to grow in popularity.