Written by: Phindile Le Bris Sithole-Spong
Who doesn’t love to look good? I know I do. But when it comes to staying with the trends, it can often times get expensive and bad for the environment. Which is why buying second hand has always been my go to. After spending the weekend looking for second hand furniture at a charity store this weekend. I stumbled upon the clothing section. Whilst my main purpose was furniture, I couldn’t help but want to check out what they had and I am so glad I did. Not only did I walk out with 4 pairs of jeans and a coat. But it all cost me €24.00 (about R400.00). Which is about what you would expect to pay for just one pair of new jeans.
And my husband found two pairs of shoes too, also for a steal. Whilst this is not the only way we shop. Recently we both vowed to buy less new clothes. In part because of how expensive it can get. But also because we discovered some cool second hand online shopping platforms that sold really great clothes at a fraction of the price. Places like Vestiaire collective and the Real Real to name a few. Which meant we could rest easy knowing we were not adding unnecessarily to land fills due to tons of unwanted and unused clothes. And whilst there are some products that we still buy new like underwear, this small change has made a big impact on our bank accounts but also we know we are helping the environment in some small way.
The cool thing is, we also started donating our clothes and reselling the ones that are more high end. This way we are also adding some money to our pockets so at the end of the month its as if we spent no money at all. So whether you are looking for a perfect date night dress, or a new pair of jeans. I would recommend checking online reselling platforms and charity stores first. You will be surprised at what you can find.
