Hi, I hope all are doing well,
I have successfully curated another blog featuring 10 more thrift shops on Instagram. When I started writing about thrifting and thrift shops I was not sure if I would get the kind of response I was looking for but to my surprise, all of you love the first part and requested me to make more such blogs on Trip shops and here I am today talking about some more thrift shop that you should check out for sure. Since last month till now it has been a phenomenal journey regarding thrifting and everything related to sustainable fashion. The whole idea of thrift shops are changing over time and I am doing my best to let you all connect with such amazing shops that you should check out and shop from so without wasting more time I am here with 10 amazing people talking about why and how they started their thrifting journey. also if you haven’t gone over the first parts here is a link to it – 10 Instagram Thrift Shop That You Must Check Out
Thrifteshwari – This tiny thriftstore is a result of the creative bond that I share with my mother. The idea came to my mind when I felt my mother needed something to pep herself since her business is on the low side due to the pandemic. It’s so amazing and heartwarming to see her excited and busy with packaging and photography ideas. We both have always connected over our dressing sense so I knew it would be a perfect collaboration! We also feed community animals (cats and dogs) and get them sterilised and thought some extra funds could really really help. Thrifteshwari came to life on August 9th, 2020 and I hope we can bring some happiness to the world right now – for both humans and animals.
Thriftwlove99 – We are two best friends Amz and Prash from Bangalore, who have been studying together since we were 7. We would always wear each other’s clothes since we were conveniently the same size and end up wearing each other’s clothes all the time. One day we realised we don’t wear so many of our own clothes and our closets just keep piling up with lots of unworn stuff, in perfect condition, so we thought “Why don’t we just sell them?” Hence we started our page @thriftwlove99. That’s when we came across the world of thrifting and have been trying to be sustainable in all ways ever since. To create our brand, we decided that the way we pack and the love we put into sending the items should be just as much as they love the item gives to a customer. We put our sticker and different bits and bobs like charms, handmade cloth bag and a handwritten note to the customers thanking them for the purchase. (and of course, wrapped in paper!) We sell everything from clothes to shoes, to accessories to books! We also found that size inclusivity is something that is overlooked by large companies, so we sell from sizes XS-XL. We are just so happy when someone tells us they loved one of our pieces! We also love thrifting in general, and we’ve bought our fair share of preloved clothes from other stores and now we are never looking back. We recently had our first giveaway in August and that gave us a bigger boost to post more and work on our brand. Both of us being artistically inclined, we strive to maintain an aesthetic that reflects on the store and the people we are. We absolutely love the community, and we’re so excited to see where it can go from here!
My.freshstore – My.freshstore (Kanika Sethi) (@my.freshstore) am pleased to get in touch with a journalist who indulges in maximum levels of sustainability. The masses need more of you 🙂 Here below is why and when did I start thrifting – I am an artist of all sorts with the main motive to indulge content appropriation, historic & political relevance, eco-friendly, visual arts, environment-conscious behaviour with excess amounts of creativity. Currently a fourth-year fashion student I closely understood the insides of how the industry functions. A rebellious mind hence found the need to make amendments. I first thrifted a cosy jacket from a local man in North India at my early teens. Curiosity rose but 6 years ago minds of the masses didn’t find it favourable to reuse pre-loved fashion. I was recently reminded of thrifting by a batchmate which hardly took me an hour of thought to set up. My store ranges from hand-painted customised pieces of denim to books and clothes that I have bought over the years. I love communicating with people of different genres and to be able to promote thrifting amongst the folks has honestly been a cupcake with a cherry. So as to widen the community of my art and projects of air pollution, sustainability, creative waste usage, I recently started @daily_loco_motion!!
Aquamarine thrifts – I’m a 20-year-old college-going student pursuing Mass Communication and I single-handedly run this entire store. Growing up, I never really knew about the thrift culture. I grew up in places where it wasn’t really a thing people did. I was introduced to the thrifting culture quite late, almost over a year back, and I absolutely fell in love. The idea of having something that’s one of a kind and solely belongs to you, never knowing what gem you might find, it was like a treasure hunt. As I grew up, I became more cautious as to where I bought clothes from given the awful practices that were brought into light such as child labour, unfair wages, overworked labourers having terrible working conditions, all to get that piece you love at a cheaper rate from a fast-fashion store. It didn’t sit right with me that I was contributing and feeding these multi-million dollar businesses when there were small homegrown business such as other thrift stores that could’ve actually used my support, contributed towards a great cause as well and that’s when my thrifting journey started. I soon realised this was something I wanted to be a part of and I wanted to do some good too. That’s when AquaMarine was born. My store is only 4 weeks old, and I’ve seen it grow so fast. I target students like me, and offer them pieces they would find at a fast-fashion store as well, except it’s pre-loved, thrifted and much more pocket-friendly price. I hope to spread awareness of the thrifting culture, and eventually having people move from fast fashion completely. The future of AquaMarine would probably be switching up my demographic, and introduce some vintage pieces as well, and a clothing line for males as I want to be able to cater to everyone. I’m pretty proud of where the store is at right now and hope to spread the aim and awareness as far as I can.
Bombay Pitaara – Bombay Pitaara is run by two best friends – Muskan Mulchandani and Jeenal Ranawat. We’ve always wanted to start a venture together, Bombay Pitaara is born out of our entrepreneurial dreams and our love for going out on shopping adventures looking for unique, affordable pieces. We love the concept of garage sales and thrift stores, and always make sure to hit these spots when we travel. Vintage and thrifted clothing is a very popular concept abroad, but it is slowly gaining followers in India as well. There are only a few physical thrift pop-ups in a few cities across India, and we wanted to make the joy of thrifting accessible to everyone. Through Bombay Pitaara we have a three-fold mission – to educate people about the benefits of slow fashion, and the problems with the current ways of consumption. To help people access ethical, sustainable fashion that is chic and unique! We virtually transport thrift stores to any part of India and people have the convenience to shop any time they want! Finally, and most importantly, to create an inclusive and safe space for everyone to enjoy! It is human to derive joy from shopping, but we are killing the environment as we produce/consume fast and throw away faster. With Bombay Pitaara we try to actively do our part to bring a valuable change by promoting pre-loved pieces in great condition, using 100% reusable eco-friendly packaging and ensuring inclusivity. Jeenal and I both are strong believers that fashion is for everyone – hence we try to make everyone feel included and loved through our collections and even our representations. A lot of thought and love goes into picking out each piece to ensure we bring to you the very best and unique pieces. A thorough multi-step process is followed before any piece goes up for sale. Various criteria like quality, brand, customer preferences, sizing – are considered before picking out the pieces as we want to ensure that our customers never have a bad experience! We also plan to collaborate with local NGOs and contribute a percentage of the sales from our venture to support those who need our help! Join us in our journey to create a more sustainable fashion industry and look great while doing it! PS – we have something interesting for everyone and every size, even our furry friends! Stay tuned for the collections to drop.
Camellia.thrift.store – To begin with, I have always loved thrifting ever since I was in my teens. For me thrifting is like treasure hunting, I just cannot explain the excitement I feel when I find something unique and a throwaway price at that! But more than that, I think what’s important is the fact that I am actually contributing in my own small way by recycling items and promoting a sustainable lifestyle whilst totally enjoying the experience.
I started this thrift store in May 2020 as a platform to provide a new home to many of my unused/preloved items. I then started adding thrifted items whenever I got a chance to go out for sourcing so that I can also bring exciting unique finds to other people too. I manage this store by myself but not without the help of my sisters most of the time. The name of the store was chosen with a meaning behind it, ‘Camellia’ has its origin from a K- drama series called “When the Camellia Blooms” which showcases a female protagonist named Camellia who embodies a feminist and self- empowered character. She is someone I absolutely adore! So far, the journey of my thrifting adventure has been very exciting. I get lots of love and support from the thrift community, and I welcome everyone to come to be a part in the fun of thrifting. Be fashionable, Be mindful.
Snatched – Snatched is a project that was born out of our love for fashion and a neverending search for sustainable options that were to put it simply, Snatched 🙂 We’re a team of two, and with our instagram store, we’re seeing our stylish and sustainable dreams come true. We constantly launch edits of the most amazing preloved pieces we can find. Every edit is thoughtfully conceptualized and curated to help find new homes for once loved beauties! We’re super grateful to be a part of India’s slow fashion revolution. Our journey of changing people’s perception of thrifting from sad to snatched has been incredible and we hope to continue converting fast fashion addicts to slow fashionistas.
the_thrift.boutique – The Thrift Boutique is based out of Gujarat and is run single-handedly by a graduate student. My mother had to rely on hand-me-downs and thrifted clothes most part of her life growing up as well as after her marriage and even then, her fashion choices were loved by friends and family. When she started her own designer boutique ten years ago, it was only a hobby and today, she has inspired me and hundreds of others. Likewise, the lack of good clothes at an affordable range plus a taste for comfortable and cosy clothes over trendy fast fashion has led me to thrift my wardrobe during most of my teenage years. The idea of starting The Thrift Boutique followed much later, trailed by the growing concern to keep a check on sustainable as well as controlled spending habits. When I first checked out the online thrifting scene in India, there were stores you could count on your fingers. TTB is probably among the few first stores that started during the second wave of thrifting emerged in India during these last few months of hard times. Coming from a relatively smaller city in Gujarat; I’m so glad to meet, support and get inspired by fellow thrift obsessed folks from all over the country. The Thrift Boutique strives to cater amazing and affordable finds to all genders and sizes. We believe in the emotional strings attached to these precious finds and so we try to curate our collection with utmost love and care – be it thoroughly washed and sanitized items, recycled packaging or even memorable messages. The Thrift Boutique is proud to utilize 10% of its proceeds per month for the welfare of our local less privileged folks as well as our furry babies and pledges to raise that part furthermore in future.
Tiny Flares – First of all thank you for choosing me to be apart of your life and counting me as one though I’m nothing comparing to other stores. I have always dreamt to open an online store on Instagram by checking out other online stores, it always encourages and hypes me. I started my Instagram page *TINY.FLARES* on 12th July 2020, the kinds of stuff that I got were literally tiny and thought it was necessary for daily needs so I thought of selling and sharing it with other people. As days passed by many people were responding positively and started purchasing my tiny little kinds of stuff which encouraged me more. I never thought it would go so well. To my surprise, I got the kindest clients on my list who always supported me and gave me immense love. I never knew that creating this online store would mean so much to me. The amount of love and positive response that I receive from my followers is infinite. My thrifting journey started when my clients suggested me to try selling thrifted items, it was never on my planning list but to my surprise, it’s going pretty smooth. The most important thing in my list is to get the love from my clients and followers even if online store us a platform for selling but most importantly getting infinite love and support from my clients will be my biggest achievement. FYI – One of the first thrift shop I started to shop from. I love it.
Crush.India – Crush has it roots from the Textile City, Surat. Organic fashion was important for me since forever. It was difficult to be able to know about such fabrics in detail. Also, I am Disha and thinking of even starting this gave me goosebumps because I don’t belong to this fashion industry. I have always been a person who roams around wearing the most comfortable tshirt and a pair of jeans. The effort me and my team (family-they love to go by the word team*haha*) have put to gather the sustainable and organic fabrics , is alot. The other point we firmly believe in is to pay the adequate amount to workers putting their hardwork in between. We are soon launching our first collection focussing on us *BOSS WOMEN* for the warrior in you ! Crush is a thought , that believes and wants to experiment in organic fashion. Doing good to mother Earth is our duty . With the brutality faced by animals should not be acceptable. It may not be a trend , but we surely know that this is the future.
