Thrift shop fashionistas
‘I like the treasure hunt’
Sasha Arora
In her 1940s-style dress, with matching square toe Mary Jane shoes and the typical pin-curl hairstyle of that era, international relations student Sasha Arora (21) looks straight out of an old-school movie starring Ingrid Bergman.
And that’s exactly what she’s going for.
‘The 40s to 60s era is where my fashion heart lies’, she says. ‘It’s in the frilly, pink, coquette aesthetic, but also the body-hugging shapes, the noir and the femme-fatale look. I like the idea of dressing up for doing nothing.’
Her passion for vintage clothing dates back to her teenage years, when she fell head over heels for old movies. ‘My first love was Brigitte Bardot. Et Dieu… créa la femme is my all-time inspiration for dressing up.’ That’s why, when she moved to Groningen, the first thing she did was google ‘best vintage shops’.
These clothes make me feel feminine and elegant
Her favourite spot is Onder de Linde in the Steentilstraat. It’s where she finds most of the pieces fitting her aesthetic. ‘My goal is to have enough vintage clothes for my casual outfits to look part of that era’, she explains.
But she’s also made it her mission to buy sustainably. ‘Turning away from fast fashion is a big reason for choosing vintage.’ Fast fashion is an exploitative industry and the clothes all look the same, she feels. ‘Whereas this dress, for example, is unique.’
To her, it’s all about authentic, high-quality clothes. ‘What I love most is how they make me feel: alive, feminine, elegant’, she says. ‘It’s nice to wear something that was loved and cared for.’
And she, in turn, plans to love and care for the clothes too: ‘I want to pass all my vintage pieces down to my kids.’
Lotte Mulder
Even as a toddler, Lotte Mulder (21) was crazy about clothes. ‘I was the type of kid who’d only wear extravagant, bright clothes that didn’t match together. I refused anything else’, she says. ‘I always had a very outspoken style.’
Her style hasn’t changed one bit as she’s grown older, but her shopping habits have: instead of buying new, she turned to thrifting. It started out of boredom during her last year of high school, though it was only when she moved to Groningen that she got serious about it. Now, when she’s not on Vinted, she pays a weekly visit to her favorite charity shops, like Mamamini and ReShare.
I’m like a raccoon that digs through the trash
‘Secondhand clothes are cheaper, which is nice for a student’, she explains. But for her, thrifting is not just a way to find clothes, but a hobby. ‘It’s the feeling of the treasure hunt I like most. I’m just like a raccoon that likes digging through the trash’, she laughs. And nothing compares to the reward of finding a hidden gem, like that time at Felicità when she scored the ‘perfect pair of brown leather boots’. ‘That’s one of the best feelings.’
She too praises the quality of the items. Five years into thrifting, Lotte could not go back to fast fashion. ‘New stuff becomes so expensive when you compare it to secondhand. And the quality is just getting worse and worse’, she says. ‘Thrifting pays off easily.’
Yoana Ignatova
‘if I’m being honest, the environment was not the first thing I thought about when I started buying clothes secondhand’, says psychology student Yoana (19). ‘My friend took me to a thrift store a few years ago and to my surprise, I came out of it with a bag full of clothes.’
The more she shopped secondhand, the more she started to appreciate the environmental aspects of it. ‘For me, it’s yet another reason to keep doing this. I’m glad I can contribute in this way.’
These days, Yoana’s wardrobe consists mainly of things she found on Vinted and in stores like Mamamini. ‘My style is a little more out of the ordinary. For example, I once found a gothic, Victorian style T-shirt. That is so me. I would never have found it in a shop like Zara or H&M.’
It can be hard to find items you like that are also your size
But thrifting does require stamina, she’s found. ‘Because the clothes are more one of a kind, it can be hard to find items you like that are also your size. You just have to keep digging to find the right items. That’s part of the fun.’
A few years after her vintage shopping initiation, Yoanna is completely hooked. ‘I can’t even remember the last time I went to a fast fashion store. A lot of my friends come along with me, and I try to encourage new friends to do the same, so I can show them how much fun it is.’
Theo Ratzmann
Theo (20), a first-year biology student, fell into the vintage world through Vinted. ‘I used to live in a remote German town. When I found Vinted, I was stoked. It was secondhand, more unique, and cheaper, too.’
Style wasn’t his only reason for changing his shopping habits, though. ‘The environment was also a huge factor for me. The production of cotton and the assembling of clothes is hard on our world, it costs so much water’, explains Theo. ‘Working conditions are bad and when clothes are thrown away, they usually end up in the environment. By shopping secondhand, I try to minimise my waste.’
Now that Theo has traded his small town for the city, he finally has the chance to visit more thrift stores. ‘I go to GoudGoed quite often. Just the act of it is so much fun. I love it when you find something, you look at it for a minute and then think, oh wow, this is kind of fire.’
By shopping secondhand, I try to minimise my waste
He has almost completely given up fast fashion and shops mainly secondhand. ‘The last item I bought new was a football jersey from my favorite team. Those things are harder to find secondhand.’
You might have to look a little bit longer and put in some effort to find the stuff you really like, Theo says, ‘but it is really rewarding. In the moment itself, but also in the long run, morally speaking.’
Nola van Velde
While some discover the love for thrifting on their own, Nola (23), who is doing her master in clinical psychology, grew up with it. ‘Ever since I was young, my mother and I have been going to antique shops. You can find everything there, including clothes.’
As a teenager, she combined vintage shopping with buying from regular shops, but two years ago, she decided to transition to buying mainly secondhand. ‘There is so much waste in fashion. The number of clothes people buy and throw out is insane. I just didn’t want to be a part of that anymore.’
When something is broken, you don’t have to throw it out
She also feels it’s important to be more considerate about the things that you already have. ‘I hope that people realise that when something is broken, you don’t necessarily have to throw it out right away. There are still many shops and people who can mend your clothes or shoes or whatever it is. By doing that, we can make the world a little more sustainable.’
Nola is no saint, she says: ‘I still fly and take hot showers; I’m just trying to do my part by doing this.’
She also just enjoys finding something beautiful. ‘I like shopping on Vinted, and I love the Kilosales at EM2 at the Suikerunieterrein. Recently I found a beautiful embroidered coat. Those things can make me really happy.’worden.’
