Thrifting, the practice of purchasing secondhand or used items from stores, either physical or online, has increased in popularity over the last few years.
This is reflected in the mushrooming of thrift shops in urban areas, which is excellent, except that a handful of these stores are not your traditional thrift shops with cheap bundle clothing.
These new curated thrift shops have carefully designed brick-and-mortar stores and often feature a smaller and pricier selection of fashion items, making thrifting in these stores less accessible.
For example, this Malaysian girl found a purple crop top sold at an extremely hiked up price at a thrift store in Taman Paramount, the once sleepy neighbourhood turned lifestyle hub.
“I went to a thrift shop at Taman Paramount, and I saw a top that’s also on Shopee, except that they put it up for RM70 ? WTF, I slowly walked out of the shop,” tweeted Dandey.
The top is sold for RM70 in this curated thrift store, however it retails only for RM16.80 on Shopee. That is more than four times the original price!
“It’s not thrifting anymore.”
In the comments section, netizens express disdain for curated thrift stores’ unreasonably marked-up clothing prices.
“Thrift shops in Malaysia are a scam. Especially if it’s the locals who open them.”
“While responsibly sourced clothes do validate an increased price due to labour and time, I also think it’s ridiculous to mark up a piece of clothing that has no sense of rarity, lacklustre when it comes brand & with limited origin information.”
Curated thrift stores indeed offer a lot more convenience. However, it seems like the cost of it should remain reasonable lest it beats the original purpose of thrifting, which is to spend money carefully and avoid waste.
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