Ethical fashion: Which thrift store to choose?

Around the world, thrift stores are proliferating. According to a study by Thred up, an American platform for selling fashion between individuals, the second-hand clothing market would represent 36 billion dollars in the United States in 2021 and should reach 77 billion dollars by 2025. In 2028, this figure should exceed that of fast fashion (disposable fashion). There is no such precise study for the French market, but the Institut Français de la Mode estimates that second-hand purchases are increasing and that in 2019, 42% of French women said they had already bought designer clothes. second-hand compared to 30% in 2018. Kilo Shop, Free'P'Star, Guerrisol... faced with this multitude of offers, it's hard to know which thrift stores to turn to when you're concerned about the environment.

For an eco-responsible shopping session in a second-hand store, here are some reflexes to adopt.

Check the origin of the clothes

Imports from abroad are common in the thrift store environment even though there are clothing collection networks in France. Large groups such as Eureka Fripe, which owns the Kilo Shop, Hippy Market and Kiliwatch brands, source their supplies abroad according to their website. This does not promote local trade. It is therefore interesting to look at the side of the French associative networks.

The Red Cross collects the clothes you no longer want and redistributes them to people in need or sells them at a low price near you in their Vestiboutique and Chez Henry brands. The income generated by these sales finances local actions such as the distribution of hot meals, maraudes, or helps to fight against isolation and school support for students in difficulty.

Pay attention to prices

Prices must remain reduced. It is the very essence of thrift stores to be accessible to all and supportive. With the growing demand for second-hand clothes, some shops are raising their prices. Thomas Delattre, professor of consumer behavior at the Institut Français de la Mode, notes in a 20Minutes article dated August 2, 2021: “Actors can afford to increase prices when there is more demand and profile of consumers.” These thrift stores are also much busier and finding the rare pearl in this kind of establishment is becoming more and more difficult. It is therefore advisable to go to more unknown thrift stores, on the outskirts of cities.

For example, there are the Guerrisol brands, a family clothing sorting company that gets its supplies via Le Relais (according to Le Parisien). About 22,000 containers are scattered throughout France. The best-known Guerrisol second-hand shops are in Barbès (18th arrondissement), but some are hidden in Paris, Avenue du Général Leclerc (14th arrondissement) and Place d'Italie (13th arrondissement). Just explore the city to find them. They often offer lower prices.

If you live in the region, local thrift stores are mostly very affordable and worth a visit because they sometimes collect your old clothes and sort them, thus supporting the local community by creating additional jobs.

Go to independent thrift stores

The independents support a local community and are at the origin of interesting initiatives such as the creation of upcycled products. It is about recovering objects that have already been used and transforming them to give them added value.

La Textilerie (10th arrondissement) is an independent thrift store where you can drop off your old clothes which will be sorted and then resold in the thrift store section of the store, or recycled by designers committed to an eco-design approach. These products will then be found in the "shop-coffee" section. La Textilerie also offers sewing lessons for beginners.

Designer Clara Victorya, a reference in the second-hand clothing industry on YouTube with 215,000 subscribers, shows how to give her clothes a second life. Cutting, sewing, customising, the young woman has no shortage of ideas for making something new with something old. In 2021, she notably opened her own thrift store called Relique (3rd arrondissement).

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