When I was fifteen years old I got my first job. It was a pretty fun job too. I remember on my very first shift being a little nervous and twiddling my thumbs in the front seat of my mom’s suburban. I was not really worried about the work part, but more about the embarrassment of having a job. Looking back now that sounds ridiculous, but none of my friends had a job; aside from a select few. I had also just turned fifteen, but I needed this job. I was blowing through money I didn’t have, and constantly wanting all the new items my friends had.
About a week before being hired, I had gone over to one of my friend’s pool parties and every girl to show up was wearing these bright white Air Force 1’s. This was also the era of COVID mandates being lifted slightly so I hadn’t really seen these girls in a little while. I vividly recall sitting there with my brand new Adidas wondering when they went out of style. Last time I checked they were what we were all wearing. Now I didn’t actually care for these new shoes, but I cared that I was the only one not wearing them. After the pool party, I ran home to my mother begging her for some money to buy these shoes. She also did not understand the hype around these shoes and refused. She told me that if I wanted these shoes so badly, that I could earn them myself.
So about a week after starting my job in hopes that I could buy these shoes, I got my first check. I immediately made her rush me to the bank to deposit it, got on Amazon, and bought the shoes. The excitement I felt was honestly laughable. About a week later my friend hosted another pool party. I was excited to show up and not feel like I wasn’t as trendy as them. Being the good friends they are, they never cared what I was wearing, but I did. However, when I arrived some girls had the shoes on, but some were wearing a brand new pair of Birkenstocks. These shoes were more to my taste, but I once again was a little disappointed that I did not know they were in style.
I wish I could say that I quickly realized I did not need to follow in my friends’ footsteps with every purchase they made, but that did not happen until college. I spent the ages of 15-18 working shifts every day after school, and every day of summer just to be seen as “trendy”. Instead of putting my money to good use, I was wasting every paycheck. By the time I had received the product, a new one was rolling out. This habit became mostly bad when I turned 17 and became a server at a local restaurant in my hometown. In this part of my life, I was making way more money than I ever had before. I would be coming home with nearly $100 most nights, and I worked every day. Sadly this money would not last me more than a week. My friends were my fashion inspiration, but with TikTok outfit checks becoming popular my senior year, these became a new obsession as well.
I blew tons of money on high-rise Zara jeans, platform Converse (which I still adore), Brandy Melville, and Urban Outfitter graphics. I truly believed that I had to buy directly from these stores to get the newest trendy look. That was until I got onto “ThriftTok”, which ultimately saved my bank account. One day scrolling through my phone endlessly, I came across a video of a girl rummaging through a thrift store and finding tons of clothes that mimicked the ones I so desperately wanted, but the best thing about it was that no one else really had it. It was similar, yet unique. Also instead of completely copying outfits from her Pinterest boards, she was only taking certain styles, and then adding her own personality to it. I was completely infatuated with this idea and drove my car to the nearest Goodwill store. Now I had shopped at a thrift store before, but never found exactly what I was looking for, but that was because I was going in with a small mindset. I was looking for exact copies instead of an item I could alter or layer to be what I was looking for.
I came home that day with many pieces and a brand-new mindset. I threw together a more bold outfit than I was used to wearing, but felt confident in it. I felt more confident than I had in my expensive copycat outfits actually. I was still nervous to wear it to school, so I folded it up and let it rest in my closet. I never wore the outfit. I stuck to my same ways, but would still often go to the nearby thrift stores and find items I wanted to wear, but was a little too timid to do so. By the end of my senior year, I got a little more confident and comfortable and would occasionally wear one or two things out of my comfort zone, but never to school. The real progression started in college.
When I moved to College Station, I was excited about the idea that no one here really knew me. I had a clean slate for the most part. On my very first day of class, I reached into my new closet and put on the outfit I had once tucked away my senior year. Still feeling weary about it, I walked to class and sat down. Class began, and a very kind girl sat next to me. The very first thing she said was, “Hey that’s a cute skirt,” and grinned at me. I smiled back and told her it was thrifted. She immediately claimed that she loved thrifting and listed tons of different stores here that I needed to check out. This interaction really brought out my confidence, and made me continue to push past my comfort zone more and more. To this day I am thankful for thrifting and the money it has saved me, while still making me feel on trend. I feel more confident altering an outfit to my exact preference and being unique as well. With the constant feed of social media we get a day, it’s nearly impossible to always keep up. This is especially true with the TikTok shop epidemic constantly filtering in new products and pushing ads in your face. Ultimately, finding your own style and saving a little bit of money along the way feels much more rewarding.