The Art of Thrifting
Thrifting, once a retail subculture for the unconventional group of society, has emerged to become a household pursuit.
It all began around 2013 when the youth started getting into the ‘vintage’ style. High-waisted jeans, gold hoops and platformer shoes became trends, and other clothes were seen as basic. While other people preferred to buy clothes at ‘Top Shop’ or ‘Zara’, which cost a fortune, others discovered a cheaper way of looking good and expensive through thrifting.
Nomtobi says, “Old-fashioned clothes were becoming a trend, yet not everyone had access to their parents’ old outfits — This was when thrifting started to be a thing”.
Unsurprisingly, by 2016, the clothing resale industry had become an $18 billion industry, online and offline.
Buying second-hand is no longer a concept associated with “broke’’. Today thrifting has taken a different meaning. “Not everything thrifted is second-hand”. Sometimes it is old-fashioned clothes imported from different spots or shops, says Nomtobi.
A musty smell wafts through the door as you enter a thrift store stocked with racks on racks of clothing in many different colours and sizes. Every item in the store had been in someone else’s closet before it ended up on a rack.
The satisfaction of thrifting is not just in buying clothes but in the environment. People are given the space to be creative and create a different fashion style unique to them.
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“You won’t find everyone dressed in the same outfit as you, which brings out originality,” says Nomtobi.
Despite how easy people may make it seem, thrifting is not as easy as it seems, especially for beginners. Finding a piece of clothing might take longer than a usual shopping trip. The good thriftier knows how to get away with the most expensive branded jeans for R100, while some of us get overwhelmed and leave with nothing.
Ayanda Dlamini says that the trick to avoid overspending is not to wait till you have a lot of money to go thrifting but go with minimal money and see how much you can stretch your budget. To be a good thrifter, one must know the perfect spots or shops. One must have a clear mind to look through the piles and piles of clothes, ranging from dull browns to bright neon.
Ayanda Dlamini says you must have time and be open to buying some extra-obituary things. “You cannot go there looking for something specific but be open-minded to find something different”.
Historically, fashion has rarely been elevated to the same stature as painting, music, sculpture or architecture. But fashion is one of the purest expressions of art because it is art lived daily. Nomtobi says that fashion and art link together in the most obvious way. “Fashion is self-expression and creativity in all forms. When I pick my outfits out, I’m creating.”
A key to being a good thriftier is knowing the perfect spots that won’t rip you off. Nomtobi says that one problem with some thrift stores is when they overprice clothing and still refer to themselves as thrift stores.
“The whole purpose of thrifting is to shop cheap.” Says Nomtobi.
All art is made of the passion an artist brings into it. In the same way, a painting has artistic power, so can a red leather jacket have artistic power. Art can be expressed in different ways, and above everything, the environment you are in can inspire artistic creativity. Thrift shops and spots are always inspiring to the people who love fashion and those starting to understand their unique style. Thrifting has created and helped even people that cannot afford to buy expensive clothes to look good and expensive, and everyone deserves to enjoy this experience.
