45 Times People Scored Big-Time When Thrifting And Shared Their Vintage Finds Online

First and foremost, we wanted to know how Verena defines the concept of "slow fashion" and its significance in promoting sustainability. She shared: “Slow fashion is essentially the opposite of fast fashion. Slow fashion principles include priorities such as quality, longevity, mindful design, environmentally conscious supply chains, ethical manufacturing, and waste reduction. The root cause of many issues in the fashion industry is the over-production and disposability of garments, so slow fashion seeks to address this with an opposing mentality and business model.”

Learning that, we were curious to know how Thrifted differentiates itself from fast fashion retailers when it comes to promoting sustainable fashion practices. Brogan shared: “Our whole business has been and always will be pushing sustainable fashion, it’s not a trend that we have recently jumped on like a lot of fast fashion retailers have. Promoting circular fashion is at the core of our business and this can be seen throughout everything we do. In terms of specific initiatives, we recently partnered with Twig - the circular payment provider, to show customers at checkout the carbon offset they achieve from buying what is in their cart as secondhand rather than new. We also run an educational campaign on our website to give customers more background on the 'Why?', as well as a 7-point sustainable shopper checklist which you can see on all product pages.”

The trend to thrift has definitely skyrocketed over the past years. Verena doesn’t hide the joy of that. She shared her views on thrifting and gave a few tips for fellow shoppers. “It is so exciting to see such a growing interest in thrifting! Thrifting offers an amazing budget-friendly and sustainable alternative to fast fashion. By extending the life of existing garments, we are not only saving textiles from the landfill but are also not supporting unsustainable and unethical brands and industry practices.

For successful thrift shopping I think it's important to give yourself time and have fun! Having a general idea of what you're looking for is helpful to stay focused, and if you don't find anything that's okay! Check another store or check back later, stock is always changing.

If going through all the racks at the thrift store is intimidating or overwhelming to you, then try more curated options such as consignment stores or online secondhand retailers.”

As fashion trends change rapidly, it leads to a throwaway culture. We were wondering if Verena believes that people could adopt a mindset of conscious consumption and prioritize timeless, versatile pieces over short-lived trends.

“First I think it's important to recognize that rapid trends are just a fast fashion sales tactic - the fast fashion business model relies on high volume and constant turnover so it needs customers to be constantly changing our closets. The ever-faster micro trends are the perfect way to make people feel like they regularly need to get rid of out-of-trend clothes and buy whatever new styles are now 'in'. It's an extremely unsustainable cycle and rejecting this is a huge step to industry change. But that's not to say you can't still have fun experimenting with clothing and style! For many people shifting from a trend-driven wardrobe to developing their personal style is deeply rewarding. By focusing on your personal style vs following trends you can build a closet of clothing you truly love wearing and feel amazing in. When we love our clothing we want to keep it and wear it as long as possible. Understanding your personal style allows you to both express yourself and get creative regardless of trends, and also helps you better assess which trends and styles you actually enjoy and will want to hang on to,” explained Verena.

She also added: “If readers are interested in learning more, I go into this topic and have activities around understanding your style and sustainable fashion priorities as well as changing shopping habits in my ebook Quit Fast Fashion.”