What happens to your clothes when you donate them?
I don’t think people know that the VAST majority of clothes donated to thrift stores aren’t sold
Here's what's actually happening...
Gen Z vs. Millennial descriptions on resale sites
millennial:
sequin shorts I wore to the club with Jeffrey Campbell boots in 2011 = $15
gen z:
vintage RARE Forever21 sequin leopard print shorts similar to viral vintage Charlotte Russe shorts = $298
the shorts:
“Sheinification” refers to the enshittification of clothing quality, driven by fast fashion
Here's WTF is happening in the fashion industry & why the quality of clothes has 📉...
fashion is political
milkmaid dresses, cottagecore, long denim skirts, quiet luxury, old money, coquette, soft girl, girl math, i’m just a girl, stay at home girlfriend, tradwives
it’s never just about the clothes
“Junkification” is when platforms get flooded with low-quality, cheaply made products
The shift often occurs when under pressure to scale & be profitable
• Etsy: handmade → manufactured
• Poshmark: secondhand → dropshipping “boutiques”
• Amazon: 1P → random 3P sellers
this SNL skit perfectly sums up consumers’ paradox with fast fashion
them:
the clothes are cute & cheap but they smell like gasoline…there’s no forced labor or shady stuff going on, right?
brand:
if there was, would you stop buying it?
them:
no 😕
Thrift karma is about paying it forward.
A few years ago, I spotted this vintage 1960s Priscilla of Boston lace wedding dress at the thrift store for $30…