Recently, there has been a spike of costumers in many thrifting stores around Chicago. And even though most people would believe the shoppers would be grown adults, it is surprising to see that it’s actually mostly high school students.
Why Teens Choose To Thrift
For many years, thrifting has been frowned upon by high end society since shopping in such places indicates low income. However, things have definitely changed with this new generation. Gen Z or in other words, anyone born in between 1997 and 2012, has made a huge impact in society in there recent years. They are a more sustainability-focused generation which is why they began to shop at secondhand stores.
According to a Pew research study, about 67 percent of Gen Z chose climate change as the number one priority. This is because they believe that if it doesn’t change for the better it will negatively impact the future generations to come. “If you look at [the] values, attitudes and opinions of Gen Z, the environment is high up there,” stated Melissa Gamble, Fashion Studies professor at the Columbia College of Chicago.
Popular Thrifting Stores in Chicago
While here are many thrifting options in Chicago for people to choose from, here is a list of the most popular and visited stores:
- Greater Goods Community.
- Knee Deep Vintage.
- Family Tree Resale.
- Richard’s Fabulous Finds.
- Fad2Fresh.
- Vintage Frills.
Courtesy of Dick Thomas Johnson (Flickr CC0) - Lost Eras.
- Green Element Resale.
- Monarch Thrift Shop.
- Kangaroo Kids.
Gen Z’s Go To Store
Even though many teens choose to shop in thrift stores, some choose to shop online. And the most famous store so far is SHEIN. Additionally, SHEIN is a Chinese company that sells many products from clothes, shoes, to makeup. toys, even furniture. It is a famous store for many teens because of their extremely low prices. While this may not necessarily a thrift store, it is fast fashion due to the cheap prices which is what most people want when shopping.
“I’m a college student working three jobs and I don’t have like a ton of money to spend on really expensive pieces,” stated Ximena Rangel, student at DePaul University. It is an understatement to say Gen Z doesn’t wish to be expensive. They would so much rather buy something used for a much lower price than something new and expensive. Many people became influenced to thrift through social media, most popular app being TikTok. “I think I definitely got into thrifting through social media initially,” stated Rangel.
Thrifting vs. Fast Fashion
Many people have stated that Thrifting is better than fast fashion environmentally. Shein contributes to carbon emissions since their products are new and they ship them worldwide. “But you still have a lot of transportation emissions, you have other packaging costs that you’re contributing, so it is not a zero impact. It’s still a negative impact,” stated Rangel. On the other hand, Thrift shopping is a better solution since there are no carbon emissions involved in it because all the products are used. However, going thrifting is like going treasure hunting and some people don’t enjoy that.
Either way people will choose to thrift or shop fast fashion stores for a while. It is highly unlikely that people will eventually stop shopping at these stores since overall the goal is to get something the like for as cheap as they can possibly get it.
Written By Erika Cano
Sources:
WBEZ Chicago: What’s old is new again for yet another class of high schoolers in Chicago
The DePaulia: Thrifting and Gen Z’s shopping paradox
Time Out: Chicago’s best thrift stores for secondhand, vintage and resale shopping
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Mark Frauenfelder Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Dick Thomas Johnson‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License