Our first encounter was as a fresh 12 year old from Chilenje, I knew this shop was different from all the other shops; that at the time felt like megastores. It was smaller granted, but it had everything in the one dingy - a term I later learned and loved- room.
As secondary school progressed and as I started to learn the customs of the land, I found among teenagers to say you shop in a charity shop carried some sort of stigma and was simply a whisper unlike when you shopped in New Look or took the train to Primark.
When I started working I met all sorts of people, some who would wear something a couple of times and get rid of it, aesthetics gang, then I met people who shopped in charity shops because that was what their incomes allowed. The stigma I thought I felt at school had by this point disappeared and I was a regular shopper, veteran even. In those days £20 in British Heart Foundation left you feeling like Carrie Bradshaw walking down the grey skied high street with multiple bags, living your best life.
Charity shops started to increase their prices, but not many people noticed, we had the luxury and privilege of comparing the prices with BHS, it was always cheaper. Someone I worked with remarked that charity shops had become so expensive that her aunt would utilise Next's 5 finger discount. Not endorsing 5 finger discounts you will be doing the walk of shame down the aisle by yourself, somehow not worth it. At the time I just did the uncomfortable laugh thats all I could do, I laugh in the face of social discomfort hahaha.
Stagnant incomes, mean more families are reliant on charity shops, but the popularisation of secondhand selling apps such as Depop, has resulted in a spike in prices in charity shops, and families are affected.
When we aren’t actively seeking out city breaks on Airbnb we are rightly outraged by the consequences of services like Airbnb - not comparing the two, both are online services affecting real people for the better or worse - kids with money have come and made charity shops inaccessible we don’t even realise because for us even those Depop finds are cheaper than brand new or vintage. You could argue that Depop like charity shops is an assertive push towards sustainability, no matter the cost.
It is the role of corporations to champion sustainability and fair trade, from the sourcing of the raw materials to the garment makers, however shoppers can also demand better. The way consumerism and capitalism works means neither will ask for sincere change because good marketing normally quiets down any noise, somewhat both consumer and corporation benefits from fast fashion, the corps make maximum profit and we find jeans for £9.99. That’s barely incentive for change. This greed results in tragedies such as the 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse. 1,100+ people where killed. 29 brands bought garments from the Rana Plaza factories, of those only 9 including Primark, Matalan and Bonmarche attended the initial proposal for compensation meeting.
P.s What I am saying is that we need to make more conscious decisions when it comes to shopping. All our shopping habits have real life consequences, close to home with people not affording to shop in charity shops because we shop and resale our finds and abroad the women - mostly- making the garments are in ill suited buildings, some are underage most are over worked and underpaid, and all this so we can buy cheap clothing. We wear these a couple of times get bored and the journey to a landfill begins or if you send it to a council provided clothes bins it might end up making its way to Africa in bulk, where it will annihilate the local textile industry.
