Thrifting is Trendy: Great for the wallet & the environment
Before I dove into this business, I had no intentions of ever wearing second hand clothing. At the end of the day, why would I wear something used if I could purchase something new for maybe $10-20 more? Also wearing something used was stigmatized around my peers.
Once I dove into this business, It brought flashbacks to being in high school and wanting to wear Ralph Lauren shirts, polos, and shorts. Working for minimum wage at that age ($6.79) I could not afford a garment worth $49-89. At that age I had opened an ebay account, and I remember searching for Ralph Lauren pieces, I thought to myself "hey! I can get 3 pieces for the price of 1, this is a great deal!" I immediately ordered 3 garments similar to the ones I had tried on at Dillard's which I knew were going to fit me well. Sure enough, I received them and they were in good condition as shown in the pictures. I was excited to now go to school in my new Ralph Lauren pieces. When I showed up in school it was as if no one ever knew they were used. For the remainder of my high school duration I would purchased what I could from ebay second hand.
Once I graduated from high school I went to College and I got a better paying job at a restaurant and got grants from scholarships I had earned. Living at home with minimal expenses, I did not really find myself looking for second hand clothing again. Once I graduated college and found a "professional" job in my field I was able to afford more things than ever. You could say I completely forgot that at one point, I had purchased used clothing.
Fast forward a few years, I got tired from the corporate lifestyle and decided to quit my job and go exploring the world with the little money I saved up. After living overseas for 8 months, I finally came back to the states after running out of funds and had to plan once again what I wanted to do moving forward. My only options were to get another job to continue my old lifestyle or hold out for a little longer to see what came about. In my opinion life will work with whatever you move and decision you make, I opted out of getting another corporate job and somehow someway at the same time a few small hustles popped up in my life that allowed me to continue surviving. As I started to venture into selling products online, my friend and I decided to go into Goodwill for inventory as we had heard people making some money flipping things from thrift stores. As far as I remember I had not walked into a goodwill before, my friend and I scrolled through the store in the toys section and home goods and found a few things that we flipped later on. The second time we walked in I decided to scroll through the clothing section.. and that day my life would completely change and would put me on route for what we will later call Eco Quality Clothing.
That day I saw the amount of gems just sitting on hangers, I thought to myself "wow people really donate all of these garments in mint condition" I immediately picked up all the name brands that I recognized and did a quick quality control on them. I checked out at the register, a total of $120 roughly $4.50 a piece and immediately went to work to take pictures of them and list them online to see if we had any luck. Few days after a few pieces had sold and from there the rest is history.
I dug deep into the industry and found some frightening statistics and facts about the negative impacts of fast fashion and how buying second hand clothing could bring about a new trend of sustainable fashion. We found our mission: to influence a new generation towards sustainable fashion, to embrace wearing second hand clothing and extend the life of the copious supply of clothing that there is in the world and to contribute, along with others, to helping the environment all while having fun and trading each others closet.
At last, our company was established and up to date we have transacted more than 5,500 garments and have been able to recycle more than 20,000 lbs of textile. We will continue working hard to grow and strengthen our influence in our community and the world. Look out for us @ www.ecoqualityclothing.com ♻️🌎💪