By: Nurul Ain Nuwairah & Qeisha Isabella
As thrifting and vintage fashion trends grow, so does the local vintage and thrift resale shops in Singapore. With higher markups, the lack of transparency and overthrifting, resale shops are on the bridge of being cancelled by consumers.
An endless sea of colour fills one’s vision the second they walk into the store. The racks on racks of different garments in almost every shade and material seem to crowd the store from wall to wall. The large tables set up around the store are covered with mountain piles of clothing that make it seem almost impossible to find anything special beneath the heaps of garment, so much so that the sheer volume of clothes becomes almost intimidating.
However, many youths in Singapore might beg to differ. For many, thrifting is a great way to save some cash but for others, it became a way to make extra money.
More Thrifters, More Resellers
The thrifting scene has been growing ever since more youths flee to second-hand stores in attempts to be more sustainable. According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), of the total 168,000 tonnes of textile and leather that is thrown away, only about 6% of the total waste produced will get recycled.
“I feel like it would be more environmentally friendly (to thrift) after learning about the amount of textile waste from clothes and fabrics that are disposed of,” commented Hanisah Rahmat, an avid thrifter of 3 years. Miss Hanisah also added that she has not “bought anything from fast fashion stores” since she got to know about the textile waste issue from the internet, and she is not the only one who has reacted this way to the news.
However, with the rise of thrifters comes the rise of resellers. As not everyone who would like to be a part of this thrifting culture is able to physically partake in picking out their own clothes, and this is where the resellers come into play. They act as a bridge between those who want to buy but simply don’t have the time to do so.
Resellers usually take the time to go out and source for their pieces, making sure to carefully consider their specific consumers who are, in this case, those who follow the different reseller shops on Instagram.
Nicole Chin, a 25 year-old who has been thrifting for almost 10 years, said: “We pay for the effort they use to source the items,” when asked about her opinion on thrifted clothes being resold.
Many like her do not mind purchasing clothing items from resellers, even when they know that the prices would not be similar to those found in a thrift shop. There is a general understanding that the higher prices come from the time taken for resellers to curate unique pieces that would interest their own online customers.
FRESH FINDS: Hanisah Rahmat (pictured) often finds her second-hand clothes in Johor Bahru vintage and thrift stores such as King Outlet bundle (jeans in photo) and ROSSIE INC. (green top in photo). Some of her wardrobe pieces are from when she manages to thrift overseas in countries like Japan. (Photo: Hanisah Rahmat)
THRIFTY AND TRENDY: Nicole Chin (pictured) showcases her looks in a style diary on her Instagram, @chinchilla.vintage. She usually thrifts locally in second-hand stores like Thrifty Trendz or SSVP Shop, located in Yio Chu Kang and Geylang respectively. (Photo: Nicole Chin)
Tian Hui Ling, 20, owner of @Earthythrifts on Instagram, makes business from reselling clothes that she finds from local thrift stores. When asked about her opinion on sourcing for clothes in a second-hand shop to sell on her account, she said: “It requires luck, time and physical effort to find the right style and fit of clothing. In my personal experience, yes, I may not have luck every time but I do manage to find pieces that are suitable for me if I truly spend ample time to dig through the clothes.”
But as thrifting for good pieces became more sought after, these businesses had to make risky decisions to stay afloat. These decisions include:
Hiking up prices of second-hand items;
Shifting to sustainability to reach a wider audience;
Over-thrifting to gather more unique pieces;
However, many second-hand and sustainable consumers have their qualms regarding these decisions. They believe that these second-hand stores are ‘capitalists’ and profiteering off the poor and shared that these reselling practices should be stopped.
Cheap Fashion, but at a High Cost
“I feel that people who buy thrift clothes and sell at a way higher price is just ridiculous. I do understand that the price increase is to compensate for their time curating the clothes to be sold but they don’t have to increase the price up to $40 when they only got it for $5. They can charge at a higher price but they have to be reasonable about it.” said Miss Hanisah.
These are some common sentiments that most buyers share within the community from time to time. From a business perspective, the price is a direct response to the competitive market. As more resale shops began to emerge and grow, so does the average price of a resold piece.
“Initially I started off selling most clothes at around $25 and below, but now due to the demand and competitiveness in the reselling industry, most of my clothes are now sold between $25 to $38.” Miss Weiwen, owner of a thrift/vintage resale store named @Daisypasie on Instagram, shared the reason behind her prices. “I price them based on the rarity, quality, brand of the item and demand.”
Apart from the growing competition, curation plays a strong role in pricing. In general, most buyers would pay more for items that have a brand name or vintage value. Some curated pieces are rare, unique finds that are not commonly found in fast fashion retail. Examples of these clothing items are vintage band tees, 80s windbreakers or Y2K comeback brands like Juicy Couture and Von Dutch.
Other factors that may influence the price are the quality, stitching and defects. For defected pieces, some resellers even choose to re-stitch them back into shape, or re-work them into something completely brand new.
CURATED AND CREATED: Yip Weiwen, owner of @Daisypasie on Instagram has been reselling second-hand clothing for the past year. Her account had grown to 4,690 followers in that time and now she is venturing into reworking and sewing clothes for her online store. (Photo: @Daisypasie on Instagram)
For Gen Zs, being unique and able to freely express yourself beyond the norm is something to be desired. Often, Gen Zs seek individuality in order to stand out. In simplest terms: Being basic is pretty lame.
With this main motive in mind, the value of an item remains subjective. For some, they would stick to a limited budget regardless of how unique a clothing piece is, but for others, they are willing to pay beyond $5 for a thrifted find because it is something that holds ‘individualistic’ or ‘brand’ value.
Scamming Sustainability & Lack of Transparency
In an era of Greta Thunderberg, metal straws and saving the turtles, Gen Zs are more inclined to take a positive step towards climate change by being environmentally-conscious. For a start; cut off fast fashion and switch to second-hand clothes.
Many thrift resale businesses begin advocating for sustainable fashion to promote their own store, whereas some simply love selling unique finds for their customers. As talk of sustainability grew, businesses started taking unethical practices to cheat their buyers’ trust.
For Isabelle, owner of @avocadoxthrifts on Instagram, she decided to take a break from her shop and the thrifting resale community for its ‘lack of transparency’ and ‘toxicity’.
“There was a period of time where I felt that the community was more about selling what was ‘trendy’ and not really being concerned with environmental impacts,” She explained. “It’s difficult for buyers to differentiate between preorder and thrift shops because of the lack of transparency etcetera, or the way they market stores as ‘thrift’ when it isn't.”
Standing in a buyer’s perspective, Miss Isabelle shared instances where there had been stores branded as thrift resale shops but resell mass produced pieces from Taobao or fast fashion stores for a higher price than its original value.
“I've contacted a few of the buyers who unknowingly bought Cotton On pieces and Taobao pieces for like three times of the price and they actually got rather angry at me and continued to support the stores,” she added.
The issue does not lie in these shops reselling fast fashion pieces, but in misleading their buyers saying that these items were thrifted or going towards a sustainable cause when they were not. For buyers who were eager to make their first sustainable clothing purchase, they may be disappointed to find out that the pieces they bought were contributing to fast fashion.
“I think that labelling if something is from Taobao is great because it encourages more transparency, especially for people who don’t thrift as much and cannot tell what is fast fashion or not,” Miss Chin shared after learning that such practices exist within the community.
For some authentic thrift resale shops, they completely avoid curating pieces that are tagged from fast fashion stores unless they are deadstock pieces. This is to deter misunderstandings and appeal to a crowd that is actively seeking exclusive items.
“Personally, I will not resell clothes that are from fast fashion brands such as H&M, Taobao and Cotton-On unless they are dead stock pieces, meaning that they do not manufacture them anymore so these pieces have a longer history and are more rare hence there is a higher demand for these items.” said Miss Weiwen.
It may seem like a bleak road ahead for those who want to be more sustainable, but Miss Isabelle shared a way that buyers can be more proactive in their purchase decisions. This uses image reverse searching that is available on e-commerce apps like Aliexpress, Shopee and Taobao:
(Photo: @avocadoxthrifts on Instagram story highlights)
Affecting the Vulnerable
As people started to invest in the practice of thrifting, more discussion came up about how thrift resellers are “stealing” from the poor. Before thrifting was popular, Mr Gilbert, owner of Lucky Plaza level 6 thrift store shared that his shop was visited by foreign workers. There were many who felt that the new group of buyers, including resellers, were taking away valuable clothing sources for those who needed them more.
Some seasoned thrifters like Miss Hanisah and Miss Chin find that resellers are more at risk of hurting these people in need, especially since they would be more likely to buy more than just a few pieces.
“Given the fact that thrifting recently became a trend, more people are purchasing thrift clothes which means there are lesser clothes for the people who truly need them.” said Miss Hanisah.
However, this is not the case from the perspective of thrift shop owners and Mr Gilbert, owner of Lucky Plaza Bazaar, bears witness to debunk this belief that many may have. He shared that prior to the rise of youngsters flocking his store, the weekends are often packed with foreign workers.
When asked if the number of students resulted in fewer foreign worker customers, he said: “It's not like that because those foreign workers usually can come (to the thrift store), their off days is on weekends, (whereas) students come on weekdays so it won’t clash.”
For those who are worried that excessive thrifting may result in depleting stock, this is not the case as clothes are constantly recycled over and over again. In fact, Mr Gilbert shares that clothes are constantly restocked everyday because they do carry large amounts of second-hand clothing in their inventory.
“The clothes at the thrift stores, at least the ones I have visited, constantly replenish stock and there it is, an endless pile of second-hand clothes, waiting to be picked up for a second life; if not, thrown away to the landfill,” Miss Ling shared.
The idea of gatekeeping thrifting would limit who gets to thrift and who does not. However, many clothes that go unsold will be sent back to landfills which does not contribute to make for an eco-friendly environment.
THRIFTING HAVEN: What used to be multiple thrift stores at Lucky Plaza level 6 has now merged into one mega thrift store named Thrifting SG. This expansion was bought by Mr Gilbert, owner of Thrifting SG. (Photo: Nurul Ain Nuwairah)
On the surface, a thrift resale shop may seem like a shady place for sustainable fashion purchases. As a buyer who may not know the reasons behind a thrift resale shop’s business decision, it is easy to develop a mob mentality and rile everyone else to go against them.
When Mr Gilbert was asked on his view of the thrift resale community, knowing that resellers have been purchasing from thrift shops just like his for a higher price, he noted that it was all business. “That one is a business lah, it's up to individuals. Let's say they see it's cheap and they go, hey, It's worth to mark up something and if they have that kind of customer base then why not?”
As consumers, we have to keep in mind that these are small businesses and not mega corporations. Authentic thrift and vintage resellers thrive off second-hand stores and they do not directly support fast fashion companies like Zara and H&M. They do need these profits in order to buy more quality clothes and sustain themselves as a business.
“I have also heard of second-hand fast fashion, where others say IG shops and Depop are just mimicking fast fashion,” said Earthythrifts owner, Miss Ling. “However, I beg to differ, as we are merely small businesses that run on small batches of used clothing between 10 to 18 pieces, drops on a biweekly or monthly basis, without any manufacturing factories. How can our impact be compared to the fast-fashion companies? It is a far stretch, isn't it?
The impact of ‘cancel culture’ for a small business can cost them their entire living. Most of them are young entrepreneurs who are finding ways to pocket funds for their future at their own time.
One Bad Apple Spoils the Bunch
The reality is that reselling businesses had been in the industry for a long time. The reality is that reselling businesses had been in the industry for a long time. Carousell, a Singaporean online e-commerce platform made for reselling secondhand goods and a common marketplace for thrifters, have sold 158 million items as of 2018, according to DMR Business Statistics.
Though there are some questionable instances of poor unethical behaviour from few thrift resellers, there are still many reliable and trustworthy shops that do resell great finds at an affordable cost. In the words of Miss Isabelle: “There can be a few bad apples in the crate but doesn't mean the entire community is bad.”
Many of these resellers are new to the business world and they are learning as they go. There may be some mistakes made by less than a handful of resellers online, but instead of threatening to ‘cancel’ or ‘boycott’, we should guide and encourage them to be transparent and ethical.
It is easy to get caught up in a honeymoon phase of something new. Though it is good to stand up for a passionate cause, gatekeeping who gets to thrift or ‘cancelling’ those who resell second-hand clothes may result in lesser people involved in the sustainability movement.
DEAL DIVERS: According to Mr Gilbert, thrifting in Singapore is still relatively new as compared to seasoned markets in Philippines, Malaysia and Japan. THRIFTING SG in Lucky Plaza is only 5 years old. (Photo: Nurul Ain Nuwairah)
As long as the cycle continues to breathe another life in clothes, whether it is sending back to second-hand stores, reselling or repurposing them into something different, this growing community can be a positive platform to advocate for bigger causes like ethical and environmentally-friendly fashion.
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