A fast fashion sensibility

Some thoughts on how second hand shopping has changed

I’m kind of an expert at second hand shopping. I would actually say this is maybe the thing I am best at. I have been doing it for as long as I have been clothes shopping, since I was a young teenager basically. There are tricks you learn over time about which fabrics to ignore, and also how to see items in terms of different qualities to those you might prioritise if you were to buy new. So I would prioritise colour, fabric and shape over something fitting me because I will probably just have it altered anyway. (I wrote about the start of this habit a little while ago for NYT. But I always have thoughts on it.)

I actually like that you have to learn how to do this over time. It’s similar to collecting records or anything like that. You invest more time, you gain more expertise, you get better, more valuable stuff for less money. It feels a little outside the version of consumerism where more money always means better things. (Which I just don’t believe in at all.) This year I have bought three items of clothing brand new and then some socks, two bikinis and underwear. I don’t anticipate buying anything else before the end of the year. I spend a long time deciding whether to buy anything new so it takes a while from me seeing it to actually purchasing it and I don’t have anything I’m looking at at the minute.