Thrifting isn’t just a niche hobby anymore. It’s blowing up like crazy across several nations.
While money is the driving force pushing people inside second-hand shops, those coming from high-income households are also leaning toward thrift to make their wardrobes more unique.
A recent poll of 2,000 American adults found that 66% of them are thrifting on a regular basis. And nearly one in six of them are thrifting as often as once per week, with Gen Z second-hand shopping more each week (28%) than other generations.
While 72% said they hit the thrift stores to save money, 51% of them said they enjoy the thrill of finding a good deal.
Most of them said they enjoy searching for unique, one-of-a-kind things, while 28% are on the lookout for collectible items.
Augsburg College Associate Professor Nancy Fischer tells Bored Panda that thrift shopping has been a marker of hip individual style since the 1970s.
Her perspective comes from both her academic research — including her article ‘Vintage: The First 40 Years’ — and her personal experience as an avid second-hand and vintage shopper since the 1980s.
“What changes is which decades' styles are ‘in’ — it might be 60s mini dresses one moment and oversized 90s blazers at another. While fast fashion is affordable, it is considered conformist. Thrift shopping requires a ‘hunt,’ and therefore marks the thrifter’s skills and personal style as unique. Even if what they are finding is the fast fashion of five years ago, when it's the one item on the rack or in the bin, it suddenly looks original.”
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Sustainability is another big part of why thrifting has exploded in popularity.
Shopping second-hand is a way for many people to give clothes and items a second life, keeping them out of landfills and reducing demand for fast fashion.
Research shows up to 40 % of all clothing produced never even gets sold.
About 99% of a UK clothing item's life is spent in the closet, only being worn for less than 5 days on average.
There’s even something called Second Hand September — a month‑long challenge started by Oxfam in the UK where people pledge to buy only second-hand clothes for all of September. The idea isn’t just to save money, but to actually make us think twice about how much new stuff we buy.
It’s a reminder that fashion is one of the biggest polluters on the planet.
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There’s something about going to a thrift store that also reminds me of my grandma’s house, and I know I’m not alone in this feeling.
The quiet and slightly dusty warmth where I can spend hours opening drawers and peeking into corners usually takes me back to my childhood.
Research shows that people who shop at thrift and second-hand stores tend to be more nostalgia‑prone. They’re more likely to be drawn to older items because of emotional connections to the past.
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There’s even a thrift‑shop mindset some people call catch and release. It’s that moment when you see a great vintage jacket or quirky ceramic cup, pause to admire it (or take a pic), and then put it back on the shelf because you aren’t actually buying it.
This practice satisfies the thrill of the hunt without cluttering your home.
It also makes you curious about the unhinged things that some people buy. Just like in this listicle, weird paintings, homemade art, or some of the craziest looking dolls are enough to make you laugh. You may also wonder what kind of stories these items could tell.
But Fischer believes that thrifting might be reinforcing consumer culture.
“People who thrift shop might actually buy more clothes than those who shop fast fashion because of the feeling that ‘I may never see this item again, I’d better buy it now!’”
“There is a psychological phenomenon called moral licensing, which occurs when we feel we’ve done something virtuous, such as purchasing second-hand, and then we feel morally justified in buying more. This helps support the ‘firsthand’ market by clearing out closet space for new purchases,” she says, adding that there is now a huge surplus of used clothing in the world, resulting in mountains of clothing in landfills worldwide.
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Over the past few years, thrifting has moved from bargain basement to mainstream.
Online resale apps like Depop, ThredUp and Vinted are part of the reason young people are embracing pre‑loved shopping even more.
They are turning what used to be an occasional treasure hunt into a lifestyle and a way to express personal style.
“The consumer mindset is transforming. The stigma around buying used clothing is slowly going away, replaced by an embrace of better product value and alignment with consumer ‘values.’ While alignment with their sustainability values is a key motivator, the current economic climate and rising prices on new clothing have made second-hand a critical financial value play,” says ThredUp’s chief strategy officer Alon Rotem.
According to a Forbes projection, the US second-hand apparel market is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2024 to $74 billion by 2029.
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Social media has turned thrifting into not just a smart and eco‑friendly choice, but a vibrant culture in itself. Finding a quirky vintage jacket or a weird lamp can make you feel cool and part of something bigger online.
The trend has also turned casual treasure‑hunters into online personalities who make a real impact on how people shop and think about clothes.
“I get DMs from young followers saying: ‘I really want to thrift, but my mom said it will make people think we’re poor.’ There are all these preconceived classist notions from our parents and grandparents. I feel like presenting thrifting in a way that aligns with how people digest typical fashion content has made it look more attractive and fun,” says Macy Eleni, known as the ‘Thrift Queen’ on social media and author of 'Second Chances: The Ultimate Guide to Thrifting.'
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Macy Eleni has over 500K followers on TikTok where she posts videos of her regular thrift hauls, stopping by estate sales and large second-hand shops and uncovering jaw‑dropping treasures along the way.
“Having voices showing younger people that this is actually cool and important. It’s not just cool because the clothes are stylish; it’s cool because you're not harming other human beings. You’re usually pouring money into local and small businesses and low-income people selling things at markets. It’s actually a beautiful thing,” she says.
