Well Worn | The Joys of Shopping Secondhand

Ever since I began buying my own clothes, I would bypass Topshop and instead get stuck into the local charity shops of my hometown, Bath. It was an experience, a proper day out. I remember being 17 or 18, I’d spend hours in charity shops, and on Saturdays, at the vintage market that was on every weekend in town. There was also this amazing vintage store, that was so full to the brim it was impossible to browse without things falling off the rails. I don’t know what my initial inspiration was, but I think I was heavily influenced by certain icons and movies, obsessed with the trends of the 60s, 70s and 80s, and just never satisfied with things available on the modern high street. Spending hours in vintage stores transported me to those other times, and somehow I just felt so at home.

Still to this day I love to seek out charity or thrift stores anywhere I am around the world. I love to browse local flea markets (the best I’ve found are in Europe), and discover all kinds of unique pieces from different eras and completely different worlds.

Working in sustainability as I do now, the second hand movement (if you can call it that) already came naturally to me. I’ve been familiar with some of the best vintage and second hand stores in the UK, for years, and have become really good at filtering through rails and rails of junk to find that one special piece. But beyond the benefits of finding more unique pieces by shopping second hand (and in fact, at times, saving a lot of money along the way), there are also so many benefits for the planet, too…

Words | Danielle Copperman

Photography | Felicia Sewerinsson

1. You reduce unwanted clothes and dead stock ending up into land fill. Most clothes made new these days are susceptible to being produced in ways that reduces the cost but in turn the quality too. Methods of production that cut price tags usually mean they have undergone processes which involve harmful fibres and chemicals. Not only do these toxins end up in our water supplies when washed, they can also affect our skin when we wear them, AND once in landfill, they not only take years to biodegrade, they end up contaminating the earth and having detrimental affects on the planet. There’s just a few reasons to buy less fast fashion, and to buy new, less frequently.

2. When you shop from charity shops, you’re supporting social enterprises and organisations that actively help less fortunate communities and those in need of support and even things like basic clothes.

3. Shopping second hand, you give clothes a new life. As mentioned before, most unwanted clothes end up in landfill, and so buying second hand, you give clothes an entirely new life, and you keep the cycle going. Passing clothes on eventually or returning them to second hand stores once you’re done with them, you are contributing to a circular economy and way of consuming. This also normalises the re-wearing of things again and again, too, which to me is something that should be celebrated not shameful.

4. By buying second hand, you also don’t support fast fashion, or at least you reduce the regularity of shopping from mainstream stores and conglomerates. This means you buy less items made from synthetic materials and you also refrain from supporting companies who’s ethics are potentially detrimental, both socially and environmentally.

5. Shopping this way, you begin to buy only a special few pieces instead of loads of items that you might only wear a few times. Your relationship with shopping changes, and you become more conscious about buying only things you really need or love. You also become more involved in the shopping process. You don’t browse mindlessly through rails of new releases, but you really search hard, and feel genuinely satisfied and attracted to the pieces that you find.

6. Shopping second hand means you begin to stop buying into seasons and trends. It’s a real revelation, because you step out of the endless cycle of buying new pieces everytime the weather changes. I have learned to buy the basics and essentials for all seasons, as and when I need them, and the rest is up to chance. Shopping in this way you end up with more timeless pieces, and you learn to get more creative with styling them differently, instead of replacing them.

7. A favourite reason of mine to buy second hand more often is that you don’t draw from the Earths resources as much as you do when you buy brand new. Clothes require so much energy, water, natural resources and manmade resources. To give a rough example, clothes made from cotton have required so much land and water for that cotton to grow. They then require even more water and energy to clean them and process them into threads or to mix them with other materials. And some synthetic materials use plastic, chemicals and oils just to form a useable fabric. Other than that, buying from brands that mass produce, there is transportation involved, which means more oils and fuel for transportation, as well as miles that it travels; sometimes from one factory straight to store, other times, through several different production sites, warehousing sites and distribution centres, all before it hits the stores.

8. Finally, there’s generally no packaging when buying second hand or vintage, or definitely less. There is no packaging involved apart from perhaps a price tag. With mainstream, mass produced fashion, usually, before its on a rail on a shop floor, it’s been transported in individual plastic film, and then probably boxes, outer cases and other containers along the way. So buying from second hand stores or even online, you’re cutting down on a lot of packaging too.

Some of my favourite stores in the UK, Paris, and online…

UK

Oxfam, Westbourne Grove

Oxfam, British Heart Foundation, Bath

Jack and Danny’s, Bath

Saturday vintage market, Bath

Green Park Market, Bath

Traid, nationwide

Salvation army, Hackney

The Market Cartel, Hackney

Mary’s Living & Giving Shops, nationwide

British Red Cross, Notting Hill

Fara, Angel

Crisis, Finsbury Park

PARIS

Come on Eileen

Carole Bigielman

Tilt Vintage

Odetta Vintage

Vintage Desir

Vintage 77

Studio W

Vintage System

Kilo Shop Kawaii

Nice Piece

Culture Vintage

Free P Star

ONLINE

Ebay

Depop

One Off Piece London

One Scoop Store

Etsy

Vestiaire Collective

The Worn Store