Secondhand Clothing Shop-log | When A Teen Goes Green

Once every while I go through my closet, to see if I still love every item that’s in there. And with love I actually mean love. Clothing should make me feel beautiful, great and sexy in my opinion. So I can rock each day with some new fresh energy! So, I took out some items that didn’t make me feel like that anymore and brought them to my favorite secondhand store. When I’m there, I always sneak through the clothes. And yes, I have found some great new items I’m in love with! Want to see them? Here’s my secondhand clothing shop-log.

You should feel beautiful honey

And again, I really want to emphasize that clothing is there to make you feel beautiful! Yes, you should feel sexy and great! That doesn’t mean that I don’t have a comfy sweater and pants for Netflix-in-bed kinda nights… But, even those should make you feel good! Confidence is everything in my opinion. With confidence you should make yours dreams come true. So, every once in a while I get rid of the clothes that don’t make me feel beautiful any longer. And also, I take in some ‘new’ clothes, which do give me that feeling.

No. Fast. Fashion.

As much as I love clothes, I do not want anyone else to suffer for it. Nowadays, it is almost standard that any clothes you buy in ‘regular’ shops are created by children or adults who are paid way less money than they need to live. It is not uncommon that people in Bangladesh die of starvation. The conditions they work in are horrible, so I urge you to watch The True Cost, so you can see it for yourself.

For me, I have made the decision to buy no new clothes at all (for as long that this is possible), because also Fair Fashion takes up resources. Secondhand clothing does not! It has had a previous life, but got thrown away. It’s basically someone’s trash. And even though that sounds a little gross, it’s not. People get rid of beautiful clothes (unfortunately). Today I want to show you what I found in this secondhand clothing shop-log.

My finds

I bought a grey cotton shirt and polyester (yes, I’ll talk about that later) blazer. Because I usually bring the clothes which I want to get rid of there, I got a discount. If the owner sells the clothes I bring in, I get 40% of the total price. Great deal, right? So, when I got there I still had 14.40 euros on my account. The blazer was 14 euro en the shirt was 9.50 euros. So, I only paid 9.10 euros for those two items. Secondhand clothing is usually cheaper than new clothing, that’s a win! The fact that these clothes are hanging in the store, is proof to me that they last long. And also, I try to look for good materials. I’m in love with both! I bought both of them at Vindiets in Enschede.

The materials

I really have gotten more strict when it comes to buying second hand clothing than I was before. I try to avoid plastic, so polyester, nylon, PVC, Acryl and Viscose are a no-go. When you wash plastic clothing, micro-plastics come loose. These are not filtered by our purification systems and so they end up in our drinking water and oceans. So, I saw a few more items today which I didn’t buy, because they were plastic.

But, as I told you my clothes do contain some plastic. ‘Why!’ is probably what you think. Well, the answer is quite simple, but at the same time it’s not. It is the fact that I’m not perfect. And so, I got weak for the beautiful blazer and shirt I got. The shirt is 100% cotton but has some buds on the sleeves which are probably plastic. And the blazer is 100% polyester. I must tell you, I was fooled. I thought only the inside was partly plastic, but the outside is as well. Stupid. But, now that I’ve got it I will keep it.

Minimalism

As you can see, the colors are quite basic. This is what I love and also, it is easy to combine. With basic colors you can combine endless. I am not saying that I’m a minimalist with clothes. Far from, I think. But I do thrive to having a closet full of clothes which are secondhand, no plastic and loved by me. So, I am not perfect. But perfection isn’t the goal for me. I do as much as I can. It is supposed to stay fun, and by sometimes crossing the lines a bit it stays fun. Right now, I am happy. I didn’t look at the brand to be honest, because I chose to buy this secondhand. I did not choose to buy it at H&M or whatever fast fashion store the person before me did, that’s not on me in my opinion.