I Wear Your Granddad's Clothes

Above: Jacked thrifted from Buffalo Exchange ($20) & velvet shirt thrifted from Recycle With Love (Prague) ($13)

... I look incredible. Now that I have the ever so catchy saxophone hook of Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" in your head, let's talk a bit about why thrift shopping is in my top five favorite activities. The thrill of the hunt fills me with predator-like excitement when I walk in to any thrift shop. After a few years of experience, was I able to master the rack scan to spot something unique and, hopefully, my size. Picking out the hilarious old sweater from the '80's or the Hawaiian shirt just for laughs with my shopping companions is always a killer way to spend an afternoon. The satisfaction of leaving the store with one-of-a-kind items all purchased at a third or less of what they may have been originally is borderline addictive. All of these reasons for thrift shopping certainly keep be coming back, but the sustainability of sticking to secondhand is truly what motivates me to avoid buying new.

Let's dive into the racks!!!

What To Do

1) Identify your targets. Have cool sneakers been catching your eye recently? Maybe an oversized sweater? I always like to have an intention for my thrifting, though going in hot with no plan can also be a fun time, but you may overdo it.

2) Search for a quality thrift store. There are a ton of terrible thrift stores out there - trust me, I've been to many of them. I recommend doing some prior online research to find reviews of various thrift and secondhand stores near you. Goodwill is a classic go-to, but my all time favorite is Buffalo Exchange. The Buff has locations all over the country and targets 20-something hip city types while sponsoring environmental and animal rights causes. You also have to purchase a reusable bag to carry your spoils home and they encourage you to keep bringing back the same bag. In short, they're sustainable superstars and some of my favorite clothes are from Buffalo Exchange.

Keep an eye out for pop-up thrift markets and flea markets. These were EVERYWHERE in Prague and are becoming more popular all over the US and Europe. Check city culture and event websites for these kinds of things. Some of the coolest stuff I got in Prague was from pop-up thrift markets.

Some online help: thethriftshopper.com can help you find thrift stores in your area, but if you want to be super adventurous, check out niftythrifty where you can get mystery thrifted clothes shipped to you. (In general, avoid online shopping if you're trying to stay sustainable, but this stuff is thrifted so....).

3) HIT THE RACKS! Though I do have some tips to keep in mind:

- Check for holes and stains. If you still really want the thing, you may be able to get a discount.

- Go during season changes, that's when people clean out their closets!

- Bring your phone to check brands and such to know if you're getting a good price.

More tips: LiveLoveDIY & HuffPost

Environmental Win

A ton of energy, chemicals, and water goes into manufacturing and transporting new clothes. Clothes need to be dyed, dried, resized, bleached, packaged, and transported to retail locations which has a massive carbon footprint and leaves behind waste and pollution. Not to mention cotton, a huge staple in clothing material, is the most pesticide intensive crop in the world.

Cutting down on buying new clothes will also severely reduce your water consumption. According to waterfootprint.org, on average, a cotton T-shirt requires 2,500 liters (660 gallons) of water to produce whereas pair of jeans takes over 10,000 liters (2,642 gallons) of water.

Economic Win

I think Macklemore said it best...

I am stuntin' and flossin' and Savin' my money and I'm hella happy that's a bargain, bitch I'm a take your grandpa's style, I'm a take your grandpa's style, No for real - ask your grandpa - can I have his hand-me-downs?