Can someone please explain to me how thrifting/buying second-hand is considered by some to be a privileged activity?

I made an unexpectedly controversial post where I asked why more people in  don't buy high-quality clothes used at thrift stores, on online thrift stores (Poshmark, eBay, Realreal, threadup, craiglist...etc) and I got (am still getting) a lot of hate for it. One of the most prevalent comments was that I was being judgmental and even "privileged" or even "classist" to have this opinion because apparently thrifting your clothes is a privileged activity?

As someone who grew up always wearing second-hand clothes (while my friends wore expensive brand-new clothes), I don't understand how thrifting/buying second-hand is "privileged"? Historically, buying second-hand has always been considered something that people with less privilege do. As I kid it sometimes bothered me that my parents rarely ever bought me new clothing, but now as an adult (and having access to awesome online thrift sites that make it extremely easy to buy amazing brands for 1/5 the original retail price) I enjoy it and see the wisdom in doing so.

Other people said it's a privileged take because it's hard to find items of unusual sizes. As someone who is an unusual (and often challenging to find) size, I've still managed to find almost everything I want for a great deal second-hand.

Some say it's a privileged activity because it's time-consuming. I recently just purchased a good quality $280 silk blouse in my size (which is an unusual size) from Eileen Fisher for $20 on Poshmark. It was not hard to find or purchase and it took me all of 5 minutes - probably even less time than it would take shopping retail online.

I do understand that not every country has access to great thrifting sites and that for those outside of the US, shipping prices (and distance/environmental impact) can make it unreasonable. So I'm mainly talking about thrifting for people who have easy access to it (in the US/Canada, for example).

I'm really not sure why I got so much hate or was called privileged/classist to engage in thrifting.

Submitted August 17, 2024 at 02:17AM by anonykitcat https://ift.tt/JXANGor