By: Corinne Schroeder
With our love of style, fashion design and merchandising students are put in a difficult situation. Keeping on top of trends, watching high fashion runway shows, and devouring every copy of Vogue fuels our hunger for new clothes and accessories. As fashion students, it’s practically our job to look good and wear outfits that express our creative style. But as college students, we aren’t always able to afford to take a trip to the mall every time we get new style inspiration. Shopping is an expensive habit, but thankfully there is a remedy – thrifting. Thrifting, or the act of shopping at secondhand stores, is the perfect way to fill up your wardrobe with unique, quality pieces that don’t hurt your bank account.
Most of my own wardrobe is made up of thrift pieces from various stores like Goodwill and independent secondhand shops. I prefer thrifting to shopping for brand new clothes in the mall, because of the cool vintage finds I can get at extremely low prices. Shopping at thrift stores gives you the chance to find real vintage and designer items, or even clothing pieces that are just extremely well-constructed and good quality. It’s true that you have to put more work and patience into looking for pieces at thrift stores, but that’s the fun. It’s like discovering perfect gems in a treasure hunt, except instead of finding gold coins you’re finding vintage Dior. An added bonus to thrift shopping; it’s a way to be environmentally conscious and save tons of clothes from being dumped into landfills. So next time you see the perfect 70s vibe going down the runway and you can’t wait to recreate it, look in your local thrift store. I promise you’ll find something much more unique and fashion forward than anything at a fast fashion store in the mall.