Living in a city like Helsinki, one is bound to hit a thrift store when looking for rare pieces of clothes or décor. Heading to the thrift store rather than hitting the mall is surely a more sustainable and budget-friendly way of making purchases. But there’s so much more to the experience than meets the eye. To me personally, thrifting turned out to be a lot more fun that I’d imagined.
My first trip to the thrift store happened spontaneously a few months ago. What struck me the most during a few hours I spent wondering between the stores is how different I felt in the process. At the thrift store, you don’t have trends thrown into your face, neither do you feel pressured to buy something from the new collection or on major sale (buy now before it’s too late!). Faceless mannequins don’t command you to style a piece in a certain way – you can be original and create interesting outfits to your own taste. In addition, items don’t come in multiple colors or sizes, so every one of them is truly one of a kind. So now you probably understand why I say that the feeling I got at the thrift store was that of liberation.
It seems to me that when you go thrifting, you get much more freedom than you would at the regular store. It felt so good to escape the rows of similar clothes, avoid flashy fliers and glossy atmosphere. Suddenly, I looked at the items I would hardly even consider (or notice), thinking of ways to style them. It’s truly amazing how many options we get once our mind is free from displays and stimulation.
Thrifting is like a treasure hunt between the racks and the shelves that truly keep a lot of valuable objects. Instead of passively flowing through items, you intentionally browse through them, almost making a connection of your own. I wonder who was wearing that shirt before. These vintage jeans look really cool! That vase would be perfect for my kitchen.
Buying home décor stuff at the second-hand store is by far one of my favorite things to do. As someone who likes their home to be simple yet special, I love buying vintage things that add authenticity to my space. A cute pot, a hand-made jar, a beautiful candle holder. The items that will be meaningful to me throughout the years.
Thrift stores always make me think about our obsession with newness. Why do we let the value diminish with time? Do we really believe that things are worth loving only as long as they’re new? For some reason, we put expiration date even on things that don’t necessarily have one. Just because something was created decades ago, doesn’t mean it’s less significant now. Thrifting is a perfect example of the simple fact that so many beautiful and useful items can have a long life, bringing joy to one person after another.