Stigma to Sustainability
The rising popularity of second hand shopping and changing attitudes towards charity shops
With the hashtag #charityshop having a total of 516.1 million views on TikTok, it is no surprise that the Office for National Statistics reported that shop sales have risen by 1.7% in the last month alone, thanks to second-hand stores.
The growth of second hand shopping is largely down to the younger generation, with online videos showing students trawling through their local Oxfam for hidden gems.
However, as the country struggles with the cost of living crisis, a factor the ONS acknowledges as people become more spending conscious, nearly three-quarters of UK adults are now comfortable to be seen in a charity shop.
With a boom in business for these shops, the retail landscape has undergone a recent shift, and new territory is forming in whether shopping sustainably can ever be unethical.
Teresa Nelson, 52, is the shop manager of Sheffield’s Scope on Division Street. She said their shop is near constantly busy with people from all walks of life.
“We get everybody in here: students, middle-age, your working mums. I always say it can go anywhere from 9 months to 90 years-old.”
Scope gets donations from big, fast fashion brands such as ASOS and Marks and Spencer, who give away the clothing at the end of a fashion cycle. Mrs Nelson said that moves like this show evidence of the end of stigma around charity shopping.
“When I was young, these shops were seen as smelly, musty, full of your grandma’s clothes. Nobody wanted to get your clothes from in there,” she said. “Now, only good quality clothes go out on the racks, stuff you actually want to buy.”
Any clothing items that aren’t suitable for resale go into a “rags” pile, which is collected by an external company to be reused rather than sent to landfill. Scope receives money for the rags, which Mrs Nelson said goes back into the charity.
“There is no way that you can’t be ethical if you’re shopping second hand. I don’t care if people come in here to sell it on for money online - I do see it, you know, the checking of labels, the Google lens."
“We’re a charity at the end of the day. The income we make goes into our disability funds to help real people. Any small donation makes a difference.”
Daisy Ward, a trainee teacher from Conisbrough, agreed with the sentiment that there is no way to be unethical in your second hand shopping. She has made £120 reselling her old clothes, the majority charity shop buys, on the app Vinted since January 2023.
“Vinted is quite nice because the money you make goes into your Vinted Wallet so you can rebuy second hand on the site or withdraw it,” the 22-year-old said.
“I usually do a mixture of both so it turns into a cycle. I’ve never bought anything from a charity shop specifically with the aim to resell.”
Ms Ward said that she has experienced negative reactions to her charity shopping, specifically when a work colleague told her she “shouldn’t tell people” she shopped second hand.
Part of the appeal of charity shopping is the hunt to find something good, according to the trainee secondary school teacher. She said the ability to find something that no one else has because it’s not produced by fast fashion makes the search interesting.
“Charity shops are more work because you’ve got to flick through a lot of things you don’t like to get to what you do. In high street shops you will most likely see something you definitely like, but in charity shops you might come out with nothing.”
Ms Ward acknowledged that money and her financial situation also shaped her decision to start charity shopping and selling on Vinted.
“I stopped buying fast fashion because of money. Now it actually pains me to buy something for full price in the shops,” she said.
“It does make you feel better about what you’re buying. You feel better because you’re saving yourself money and giving back to a good cause. I can’t afford to splurge like that now I’m not a student.”
Image courtesy of Daisy Ward
Image courtesy of Daisy Ward
Ellie Martin, or The Vanity Case, as she’s better known online, is a content creator and self-proclaimed vintage and second hand shopping enthusiast. She has 45,000 TikTok followers and 2,000 followers on Instagram.
The Bath local has noticed an increase in similar content in the last few months alone, and agrees that charity shopping is becoming “trendy”.
“I’ve copped many a beautiful Zara piece from Oxfam and that’s a big appeal because it encourages young people to give money to charity for something they would have bought at full price three months ago.”
Ms Martin believes that it is possible to be unethical in second hand shopping, and that content creators like herself have a responsibility not to promote overconsumption.
“You’re obviously supporting the charity, but I think the place where it becomes an issue is the Depop and Vinted reselling culture, which is rife. The point of buying something in a charity shop with the sole purpose to resell it for literally five times the prices takes out the moral aspect.”
“I think there’s a heavy weight on the content creator’s shoulders, actually. I absolutely despise the word influencer - I think it’s manipulative. But as a creator, if I’m being conscious in every other aspect of my life, I’ve got to be conscious of the content I’m creating and setting a good example for people.”
Image courtesy of Ellie Martin
Image courtesy of Ellie Martin
The appeal of charity shops is unique. People can be aware of their money and sustainability, while still looking good and donating to charity in the process.
Second hand is moving into the mainstream, with the popular reality show, Love Island, being sponsored by eBay instead of the fast fashion giant Pretty Little Thing. Pop-up second hand stores are also becoming commonplace in shopping centres across the country.
This shift in attitudes has pushed “second hand” from being a sign of financial insecurity, to a conscious fashion choice.
Built with Shorthand