I Can't Afford To Thrift Anymore

It’s hard to find well-made, quality products. Whether it’s clothing, furniture, or common kitchen appliances, most of the items sold at big-box stores or online are mass-produced and cheaply made. Apart from the fact that most of them have very little aesthetic charisma, they’re often prone to break quickly. For example, most modern appliances, such as refrigerators, stoves, and washing machines, have a lifespan of about 10 to 15 years; if they need repairs, those can often cost around 70 percent of the appliance’s original price. In the 1970s, appliances typically lasted for 30 years, and could easily be repaired with a few cheap mechanical parts. The same principle applies to clothing, as the large-scale introduction of cheap fabrics has significantly reduced the likelihood that an item of clothing will last more than a few years. The lifespan of furniture has also had a similar downward trajectory.

For many reluctant buyers, the solution to the flaws of modern objects was the thrift store. Shops like Goodwill and the Salvation Army reliably had tons of appliances, furniture, and even clothes that were well-made, reliable, and, best of all, cheap. For the creative consumer, there was a lot of life left in the relics of a bygone era. If you were willing to add some stitches to a sweater, buff out the scratches in a set of dining room chairs, or change the bulb in a lamp, you could get quality, secondhand products for cheap. Often, the pieces were imperfect, with minimal scratches or dents, and they were usually a little outdated. However, these slight quirks gave them character, that certain je ne sais quoi that can only be found in something you discovered on a quiet afternoon browsing a secondhand shop. Plus, you got the bragging rights of returning every compliment with a well-timed, “Thanks, can you believe I thrifted this?!”

One Goodwill employee claimed that over the course of a single year, she saw her store raise prices “four to five times.”

Unfortunately, thrifting has changed in the last few years. What was once a relatively cheap way for people to find hidden gems has become far more expensive. Anyone who has been visiting thrift stores in the past few years can tell you that there’s a noticeable difference. Items like CDs and chipped mugs, which would once sell for under a dollar, now cost $5-$10. Shirts can easily cost $20, and blue jeans can cost as much as $50. Furniture pieces, especially those that are in good condition or made with solid materials, can rake in hundreds of dollars. Of course, inflation can account for some of this, but the pricing of these items often outpaces their value even when adjusted for inflation. One Goodwill employee claimed that over the course of a single year, she saw her store raise prices “four to five times.”

Certain items have become drastically more expensive in recent years as consumers began realizing their value. In the early 2000s, Pyrex was practically everywhere. It could be found in your grandparents’ kitchen cabinets, at church potlucks, and stocking the shelves of thrift stores around the nation. The international symbol of leftovers, Pyrex containers could be bought for a dollar or two up until fairly recently. As the demand for quality containers has grown, Pyrex has now become a collector’s item. In the current year, certain Pyrex pieces can regularly expect to be bought and sold for between $800 and $1,600. In 2015, the brand’s rare “Lucky in Love” dish, a pink and green casserole dish that was initially sold in 1959, was purchased at an auction for $4,000. In 2017, a lucky Goodwill store in New York discovered a coveted “Lucky in Love” dish had been donated. They immediately put it up for auction, where it received just shy of $6,000.

Goodwill’s “Lucky” find is a clear example of how certain thrift stores have begun plucking rare, expensive, or uniquely desirable items out of their general retail operations. In the past few years, many chain thrift stores have opened online retail websites. Sites like ShopGoodwill, ThredUp, and The RealReal have taken the gamble out of thrifting, giving people the chance to comfortably thrift from their phones. However, this means that many thrift shops are taking their best items out of circulation to attract online shoppers. While there is still value in buying the item secondhand as opposed to brand new, the retailers often understand the value of the purse, watch, or leather sofa, meaning they aren’t necessarily giving consumers a bargain anymore. The chance to “score” a great Dior bag or Smeg toaster has drastically diminished. Additionally, these online platforms can tack on huge shipping and handling fees that further lower how much you can save.

Thrifting has also become something of a cultural phenomenon. Ask any Gen Z girl what she's doing this weekend and she's likely to tell you she's going thrifting with her friends after grabbing an $8 iced latte at the specialty coffee shop next door. Since 2018, the market value of thrifting has increased by 143.5 percent and is now worth about $56 billion. One factor accounting for thrifting’s growth can likely be attributed to Gen Z’s passion for thrifted fashion. Eighty-three percent of Gen Z either currently thrifts or wishes to. In the past, buying items from a secondhand store had a social stigma. Gen X and baby boomers preferred big-box stores and malls, where purchasing brand-new items was part of a luxury experience. However, the rise of social media and online shopping changed consumer habits. Now, young people are less interested in the prestige of buying new items and more interested in finding items that are distinctive. They want to find a vintage dress or pair of sneakers that nobody else has.

Secondhand clothing has itself become a trend in recent years. Forty percent of all apparel items purchased in 2023 were secondhand, which was 15 times the growth of regular retail that year. Projections indicate that by 2029, the secondhand apparel market could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The most popular (and expensive) items are usually vintage rock T-shirts, but almost any clothing items from the ’80s-’00s are in high demand. In 2025, a vintage Superstar Steve Austin shirt sold for $3,200, a Björk shirt sold for $3,659, and a Ride Nowhere bootleg shirt sold for a whopping $5,000. Resellers are scouring thrift stores for valuable items that they can turn for a profit on websites like eBay, Depop, or even Instagram. This has made it harder for people to find interesting, high-quality vintage clothing at thrift stores, because they’re usually quickly snatched up.

This leaves most thrift stores filled with junk. Fast-fashion clothing items from places like Shein are turning up in more and more thrift stores across the country. Sometimes, they're even priced higher at the secondhand store than they initially were bought for. A thrifter on Reddit recently reported that “We have a local thrift store that will sell items that still have the original price tag for more than they were previously sold.” In other threads, people have shared images of thrift store price tags beside an item’s original price tag, revealing that the thrift stores are charging more. For the people who have relied on thrift stores as reliable ways to save money, this raises real affordability problems.

Projections indicate that by 2029, the secondhand apparel market could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

When thrifting hit its peak growth in 2022-2023, many people saw it as a creative, cost-effective alternative to typical consumerism. In the wake of excessive online shopping and the pandemic lockdowns, it was a way for people to discover quality, quirky products. Now, thrift stores have become wildly expensive and picked over. For the people looking to find band tees or, heaven forbid, some retro Pyrex, I fear there is little hope left.