THE RETURN OF THRIFT SHOPS, DIYs AND RESALE
DENIZ AKKAYA
Gen Z, whose shopping habits are unlike any previous generation, began to make their own clothes in addition to saving the world!
If you’re wondering what’s next in sustainable fashion, you don’t need to look any further than TikTok. In the videos that started as cute little art projects on TikTok, young people paint and cut the clothes they do not wear instead of throwing them away and adapt them to today’s fashion and aesthetics. But there’s something bigger here than a cute art project, here. By making hyper-consumerism cringey, this generation is officially revolutionizing the fashion industry; industry is being reshaped and norms are firmly rejected.
We humans live completely disconnected from the lives of the true creators of what we have. While we are encouraged to buy more expensive, better-quality clothes to “use for longer,” young people on TikTok the teenagers who step back from more consumption are radically turning the old into the new and actually using them. We see that those who are not really into DIY projects often and almost always shop from thrift shops. So the priority of this generation is sustainability, for sure.
Resale market is expected to grow by 69% by 2021, according to ThredUp’s report. The reason for this is that people are in economic trouble due to the pandemic and that consumers who do not want to physically go to the store are turning to online shopping. Luxury brands that have been aware of this shift for some time have understood the importance of second-hand shopping, which is gaining considerable popularity among Z and Millennial generation consumers, which will account for more than 60% of overall luxury spending by 2026. The second hand market is expected to rise from $ 7 billion this year to $ 36 billion by 2024. Considering other markets affected by the pandemic, the providences about the resale market don’t look so bad!
As the pandemic brought endless free time to our lives, sewing, crocheting, embroiding and tie-dying clothes became ways to pass the time. It has become our collective hobby to watch countless “how-to” videos on TikTok about giving clothes bought from thrift shops an upgrade and “up-cycling” old clothes. With the popularity of crafts, patchwork has also taken its place among the fashion trends that made a come back. Patchwork-style clothes can also be seen in 2020 collections, blended into one with their own interpretations of brands such as ASAI and Eckhaus Latta.
In the 1990s, Maison Margiela and XULY had been among the first brands to step into sustainability in the fashion industry by repeatedly reworking and upcycling fabrics. After DIY aesthetic successfully conquered the ’90s youth and their runway, this evolved into patchwork denims in the 2000s, becoming an indispensable part of popstars!
Apart from the free time we have and the return of Y2K aesthetics, the reason behind the rise of second-hand shopping and DIY projects is of course the global climate crisis. In this period when we realize the damage we are causing to our planet, we clearly see the necessity of reviewing not only the industry but also our very own individual habits.
