As many of you know, thrifting has been around for decades before it became very popular. It was a way for lower-income families to purchase gently used clothes and home decor at an unbeatable price. Over recent years thrifting has gained major popularity and support from all communities. It’s become a mainstream way of getting used clothes and making or styling them to look like something you’d find on Pinterest. With the growing popularity, the once-affordable option has now become a market for resellers, specifically resellers for Depop. Because of the quick change of how thrift stores are being used and frequently shopped out, many problems have arisen from this new take on the once “uncool” stores.
This growing issue has recently gained a lot of traction on social media apps such as TikTok and Instagram. Depop resellers are often purchasing clothes from all store sections and reselling them on the popular platform, for a ridiculous price. For example, someone will buy a two-dollar t-shirt, and resell that shirt for fifty dollars or more depending on the brand and how popular it is at the moment. That completely destroys the point of thrift stores, which is to buy used clothes for a cheap price. What resellers don’t understand or choose not to accept is that this greatly impacts the local community because those resources are now being depleted. It leaves many people without an option to purchase clothes because they simply can’t afford department store prices.
That’s not the only negative thing coming out of this situation either. Many resellers have been recently purchasing youth clothes and marketing them as extra small women’s clothing. The selection of clothes intended for small children are now being raided for “vintage” or Y2K inspired crop tops. These decisions weaken the integrity of thrift stores all around. Prices are also forced to be marked up due to the high demand for these clothes. I remember just a few years ago, my local thrift store sold one dollar t-shirts and now the cheapest t-shirts you can find are around eight dollars. It goes without saying that this is something that should be discussed more and prevented.
At the end of the day, everyone is entitled to spend their money how they see fit. I just want to encourage everyone to think twice about purchasing from Depop. It truly does more harm than good for communities and lessens critical resources for those in need.