Posted by By Shelby De Jong and Aivyn Hemminger, Staff Writers
“First impressions are everything”, “seeing is believing”, “a picture tells a thousand words”- throughout our lives we have heard these cliches, we have been advised of the importance of visual presentation since we were young, and now as teenagers, we are in control of how we are viewed. As a society, we are all aware of the importance of appearance, and the importance of expression. When you get dressed in the morning, whether you carefully choose your outfit or you throw something on, you’re making a statement. You can see someone’s personality, their inspiration, what areas of the internet they inhabit – all just by looking at them. Walking through the halls of New Paltz High School, you can see a variety of styles on display – inspiration from current trends such as Adidas sambas and y2k, or things such as 90’s revival and athleisure.
“If done with confidence, any style is good.”
Josh Quinn
Recently there has been an enthusiasm for thrifting and vintage clothing, with people seeing thrifting as a fun and affordable way to shop more, especially with increasing prices. CBS news predicts that the sale of used clothes will exceed $77 billion by 2025, more than double the amount compared to four years ago. But how does this affect those who rely on thrifting as their only option for clothes? Prices at thrift stores have been rising, due to an increase in sales and resales, and we can see this even in Salvation Army at New Paltz – clothes that used to be only a few dollars are now over $10.
An employee at Salvation Army says, “I feel like in the past people actually used to thrift because they needed to, but now because it’s a trend people that could’ve gotten good clothes don’t get as many good clothes because people are just carelessly thrifting because it’s cute.”
As more people begin to thrift as a recreational activity or form of business, people who actually need the clothes aren’t able to get good clothes, the clothes just aren’t as available to them as they used to be.
This may be unimportant to teenagers who are already thrilled that a pair of jeans costs anything less than $80, but to families who depend on those low prices, this is critical. Depop – a second hand retail site – is notorious for its vintage items sold at an extremely overpriced rate after being bought straight from the thrift store. Sellers will buy large amounts of clothing to post on their pages, in order to make large profits, taking these clothes away from those who actually need it.
“It was like $60 because I got it on Depop,” junior Nya Pollard says, referring to the price of her prized Vivienne Westwood necklace bleakly.
“People are just carelessly thrifting because it’s cute.”
salvation army employee
Although thrifting is a great eco-friendly and budget friendly way to consume, and a great alternative to buying from places like shein or other fast fashion brands, the low prices can lead to overconsumption. People will buy something they probably aren’t going to wear just because it’s cheap – similarly to shein.
This pattern of trends coming from working class people is something that has existed throughout history – things like jeans, the little black dress, flannels, and now workwear all have similar beginnings, rooted in function and work. Many students at New Paltz reflect these trends – thrifting and buying secondhand, wearing workwear, ripped jeans, flannels, etc.
When asked where his jeans were from, student Josh Quinn responded, “believe me buddy, I thrifted them,” as though this was the obvious conclusion.
Quinn’s outfit was composed of pieces from thrift stores and Depop, and his accordance with current trends is shown when he claims the trends at the moment are “vintage, used clothing, [and] heavy thrifting.”
Many of these trends are propagated by the internet, with TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest being the source of inspiration. But with the internet being such a wide pool of people with so many niches, trends are not necessarily as universal as they used to be. Everything is more, bigger, better – there are more videos to watch, books to read, movies to see – experiences that used to be universal are now more individualized, with people experiencing the internet in their own personal bubbles.
Quinn remarks on this, saying “the thing with trends is that it’s so different person to person, and with the internet there’s so many different trends going on – you have gym fashion, vintage fashion, and everything in between.”
The important thing to take into consideration with trends is that, at the end of the day they are trends. While it is important to wear what makes you happy, making sure that your purchases reflect your own personal style instead of solely following trends that will soon be cycled out is essential for the environment and yourself.
As Josh Quinn wisely said, “If done with confidence, any style is good.”
The Maroon 