A Guide to Thrifting in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the Benefits of being a Thrifter.

Zane Vanderhorst-Sewell
Apr 3, 2018
6 min read

Thrift store-Google Images

Having been a successful Thrifter in Winnipeg for over 8 years now I learned the ins and outs to this city’s best spots to acquire affordable designer clothing, and why thrifting is great for the environment

Thrift Shop Google images

Somewhere in between all the Old Navy, Gap, and all the horrible graphic t shirts is the shirt you’ve been looking for, and when you find it you can finally be at peace for your search has ended.. but another quest for an article of clothing has already begun.

Finding the perfect piece of clothing that you’ve been looking for at thrift store is an irreplaceable feeling. A sense of relief fills your spirit like you haven’t just wasted your day driving across the city to root through some old clothes, you actually feel some sort of accomplishment.

More often then not while out scavenging the local thrift stores I come to find myself wondering who is buying some of the garbage that continues to get put out on the racks and if no one is buying it why they would continue to put out the same useless, undesirable disposable clothing from stores like Urban Heritage, Bluenotes, or Stiches, Urban Planet. I also find myself asking how stores like value village can justify charging upwards of 20 dollars for a pair of pants that they received as a donation. I did some more research into this as to not just accuse the corporate store of being a money grubber that almost tries to appear as non-profit organization with their policy when every company that they associate with is a non profit and for a cause. I wonder where the money goes from every overpriced article of used clothing goes. If you take into account the matter of paying rent and paying their employees there is still a large sum of income that just goes straight into the pocket of the company. In my research I also discovered that Value Village claims to donate money diabetes Canada for every pound of clothing that gets donated, which is great to hear that when I donate my clothing not all of the money they raise from it goes into the pocket of the American corporation Savers.

Upon further research I discover Savers to be owned by an investors group that also own many of the popular chain stores where disposable clothing originates such as J-Crew, Topshop, Topman and a couple others I was a little less familiar with.

You might remember a time when you would buy a pair of jeans and if you were lucky enough to have that same pair fit you for a few years, they began to fade and become your favorite go to pair of denim, having shaped around your figure fitting you perfectly. It is because of Chain stores that continue to push out cheap clothing of the worst quality that we don’t get to experience this anymore. I hadn’t even had this pair of pants from stitches for 6 months and I could literally pull the pants apart with no effort. This was quite a disappointment after thinking I’ve found the perfect pair of acid wash jeans, only to have them fall apart in my hand. They market this type of clothing as ready to wear affordable clothing but it is a detriment to the environment and quality fashion industry. Since then I have learned to avoid stores such as anything starting with the word Urban (with the exception of Urban Outfitters), Stitches, Bluenotes, H&M, or just any store that has continues new trends every week and produce their low quality clothes at alarming rates and low prices due to the mass quantity being produced they can afford to sell these clothes at a fraction of the cost of what a typical quality garment store would be able to. These stores are ruining the fashion industry and forcing some of the brands we’ve come to know to produce quality clothes to follow suite.

I will always have a loyalty towards brands that refuse to conform to these standards dragging the fashion industry to the ground, that continue to produce high quality clothing at a price that may not seem to affordable to some, but when you consider the quality of the garment and how much longer one pair of high quality pants will last you compared to a few pairs that will fall apart after a few months it will make more sense in the long run and be much better for the environment.

A study done by Pennsylvania State University in 2014 uncovered that it takes almost 2,000 gallons of water to grow the cotton to make one pair of Jeans. It is because of this that I started thrifting, besides being on a budget and wanting to find affordable designer clothing; I tend to stay away from Value Village these days having been fed up with their ridiculous pricing. Thrifting not only saves the water from the pair of jeans you would have bought, and some may argue that the jeans/ clothing have already been created, but you refusing to purchase their disposable clothing and dampens the demand so we may work towards a future where this ceases to exist. When I have explained this to people in the past the reaction I usually get is but how am I going to make a difference. You as an individual might not to be able to single handedly but it is progress towards a future without disposable clothing.

So not to harp on the single issue but next time your out shopping for clothes take this into consideration and maybe consider spending closer to one hundred dollars on a nice quality pair of Levis instead of that 30 dollar no name brand pair at Urban Planet, that’s going to end up in the trash in a couple months. Save The Earth!

To get back to thrifting, below I will share some of my favorite finds from local thrift shops and a link to my Thrift account on Instagram where I sell clothing to make some extra cash in the summer.

https://www.instagram.com/thriftplanet/

Recent Weekly Finds.

A couple more Recent Finds.

Thrifting can be a great pastime and an great way to find affordable clothes from your favorite designers and brands, if you are able to differentiate between the junk and the hidden gems. I always leave the thriftstore with something whether I came to find something specific or not I usually leave with a record or two and some interesting props for a photo shoot I want to do but I always have a debate on whether or not I’m making a mistake leaving something behind, like your favorite childhood movie on VHS. My system for deciding whether or not to leave something I’ve picked out is if I can live without it or if id even remember finding it if I don’t buy it and take it home. I have found this system to be very effective and helpful.

Yesterday I came across a pair of Supra High top sneakers from 2011 that were in amazing condition at Value Village almost convinced to buy them just for the nostalgia they gave me after not having seen them since when I had a pair a few years ago, that is until I saw the price they wanted for them. They were asking $70.00 for these used shoes that had in no way gone up in value since they’re release. This being another reason why I tend to avoid Value Village stores or any store owned by the Savers Company or the Leonard Green investment group.

I find that stores like the Goodwill and Salvation army have not set out on a singular goal of generating income being non profit organizations, they put all of their profits towards donating to charities and paying their staff, which is what in my opinion is what a thrift store should be all about. Thrift stores like Salvation Army and Goodwill also tend to be less popular than other similar stores and I tend to find that I have better luck acquiring pieces that I want to buy or take home and sell as they are untainted by the likes of hipsters and other thrift store goers.

I feel like when you buy a shirt from a thrift store, you are not only helping your community but also acquiring something that connects you to the story of that article and its life, whether that be the previous owner or the journey it has endured.

This factor makes thrifting extremely special for me and it excites me to think about the prior stories that a shirt I’m wearing may have.

Another great thing about thrift stores is that, if you’re a photographer like myself, or some sort of artist, you may be in need of some type of display for your work and thrift stores tend to have a fantastic range of frames and other art related displays such as easels.. ect.

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