Secondhand, Shopping, Sustainable Fashion

St. Vincent De Paul Review

Alysha Hartung
Image result for st vincent de paul lake mills wi
Photo Courtesy of MapQuest

*This review is of the St. Vincent De Paul of Lake Mills exclusively

Yes, I am fully aware this place doesn’t look like much from the outside and you may have some preconceived notions. But if you’re into labels this is your place!

I always find name brand items here, and sometimes they even still have the tags attached. I have even picked up some vintage Gap jeans that had all of the tags attached and they were only $10. I know that may sound a bit pricey, however, $10 compared to brand new jeans elsewhere is still a pretty damn good price.

I also come here for the books, so if you’re still into reading paper copies, I highly recommend looking in their book corner.

Here are the pros and cons of St. Vincent De Paul in Lake Mills:

Pros:

  • Clean- I think we all know by now that I only shop at clean places. Nothing new.
  • Selection- As I mentioned above, they have a decent selection of name brand items in both men and women’s clothes.
  • Student and Senior Discounts- On Tuesdays, you can receive a discount on your purchase if you are a Student or a Senior Citizen. I believe the discount is between 10-20% off.
  • Sales- They normally have a colored tag sale per week where you can get items with the selected tag for a discount.

Cons:

  • Pricey- I hate to say it, but this place has gotten a bit overpriced in the last couple of years. I can understand charging a bit more for brand new items with tags on… but charging $10

*except for the jeans I mentioned above, after all, those were at least vintage.

Secondhand, Shopping, Sustainable Fashion

My Favorite Thrift Store… of All Time: Twice Is Nice!

Alysha Hartung
Image result for twice is nice jefferson wisconsin
Photo courtesy of Pinterest

By far I would have to say this is my absolute, all-time, favorite thrift store! I love coming here and find the best items here. I couldn’t even tell you how long I have been coming here, but a close guess would be all my life.

The clothes are a bit more vintage in style and cheap in price. Seriously, it’s hard to find an item over $15 and that’s usually for a brand new coat. Speaking of coat, this is where I found that like-new L.L.Bean suede coat for only $12! One of the best things about this store is that at the end of each season, they have a $5 bag sale on ALL of the clothes and shoes. There isn’t a time when I go thrifting that I don’t stop here.

Here are the pros and cons of Twice Is Nice:

Pros:

  • Selection- As I mentioned, the selection of clothes is more vintage-y. Which I feel can add more personality to any outfit. I feel like the tops and jackets are their strong suit. I feel like I always find tops no matter what size I’m at- they carry petite to plus size.
  • Clean- I feel like this may be a must now. I don’t think I’d ever go anywhere that was gross. I really don’t.
  • Prices- This may be the best part of the whole store. The prices are dirt cheap. Any broke college student would be able to pick up some new clothes.
  • Sales- They do the occasional sale for holidays and such, but the real treat is when it’s the end of the season. At the end of every season when it’s time for the $5 bag sale which includes clothes and shoes. You can literally pile all your items into a bag for $5! You will see me there at every sale!

Cons:

  • Cash Only– This may be the only downfall. Twice Is Nice is cash only. Oh well.
Secondhand, Shopping, Sustainable Fashion

My Favorite Thrift Store Chain: Goodwill

Alysha Hartung

I have been shopping here since I was a little kid. My grandma was the person who originally got me into thrifting and here is where we would go on Saturday or Sunday mornings. I loved being able to pick out my own clothes, searching through the aisles for best piece and for an awesome price.

As I have grown up and found out more about the organization and how it is actually run and its practices, it is not a place where I choose to spend a lot of my money at. However, I do still occasionally shop here and if you are just getting into thrifting it a great place to start. I recommend setting aside a few hours to sort through the racks, a bottle of water, a fully charged phone and a pair of headphones.

Here are my pros and cons of Goodwill:

Pros:

  • Accessible- the one thing I enjoy about Goodwill is there are numerous locations that make them easy to shop at. One key thing to note about Goodwill is the clothes you find in each Goodwill usually reflect the area they’re in. For example Goodwill in a “rich” town/neighborhood=better name brand and labels.
  • Selection- Goodwill typically has a wide selection of clothes and the one in Janesville even color codes and organizes them by size *not all Goodwills do this.
  • Clean- I am beginning to see this is a trend of the thrift stores I choose to shop at, is that they are clean stores. There is nothing grosser than finding a pair of dirty underwear amongst a pile of clothes. There just isn’t.

Cons:

Prices- Over the past couple of years, the prices have significantly increased. I am not saying in no way that they are more expensive than shopping fast fashion. However, for secondhand clothes they’re starting to get a bit steep.

The organization itself- I would love to say how wonderful they are but I can’t or at least I don’t know. There are conflicting articles about Goodwill especially in the last couple of years, unfortunately, I feel like the bad parts are easier to believe. *I may do a blog post diving deeper into this topic.

Secondhand, Shopping, Sustainable Fashion

My Favorite Online Thrift Store: thredUp

Alysha Hartung
Image result for thredup
Photo courtesy of thredUp

https://www.thredup.com

As I mentioned in my previous post, is there anything better than being able to sit in bed, on your phone, and thrift? Imagine… it’s Saturday morning and you’re having coffee in bed with your cat and you’re able to shop without having to leave your house or put on real clothes. I swear, there’s nothing better.

I know there are other sites and apps for thrifting or buying secondhand like Poshmark and Depop for example, but thredUp runs like a store where you can return items that didn’t work for you whereas a lot of sellers don’t allow you to return garnments.

Here are my pros and cons of thredUp:

Pros:

  • The selection of clothes- my favorite thing I would say about thredUp is their selection of clothes. You can select your sizes and search the whole website/app from them going through every brand or category of the type of garment. They carry sizes XXS to 5X and shoe sizes 4 to 12.
  • Clean- I have yet to receive an item that smelled terrible, was dirty or heavily wrinkled.
  • Customer Service- their customer service is AMAZING. They are knowledgable, quick to answer questions, and are wonderful problem solvers. I have been in some terrible pickles- needed to cancel my order because of some money complications and even had to have my package rerouted because it was being sent to my ex-fiance’s house. Yup, that was a fun one, but they were able to fix it. Thank goodness.
  • Returns- making returns are super easy, you can choose how you would like the return to be issued- merchandise credit or back to the original form of payment. They also take care of a shipping label for $8.99, free for merchandise credit returns, or if you’d like, you can make your own return label.
  • App- long gone are the days of having to only online shop on a computer; they have an app. I actually prefer the app, it’s super simple to navigate and use.

Cons:

  • $1.99- there is a restocking fee of $1.99 per item should you return any items.
  • Measurements- some of the clothing has measurements attached to the description of an item. Occasionally these measurements are not accurate.
  • Not labeled- even if a pair of jeans has a label in it saying “highest rise skinny jeans” they do not list it, making it frustrating if you like a certain style of pants a brand makes.

Overall, I spend way too much money on thredUp because I absolutely love the company.

Fashion, Secondhand, Shopping, Sustainable Fashion

Where Do I Shop?

Alysha Hartung

It comes to no surprise that I shop secondhand for the sustainability aspect but also because I am a broke college student and it saves me a lot of money that I don’t want to spend in the first place. Here is a list of places where I shop secondhand from: 

*all stores are in Wisconsin, unless stated otherwise

thredUp– thredUp is the largest ONLINE THRIFT STORE, yes online! Hello to scrolling and sorting through clothes in your pajamas, curled up in bed. Is there anything more perfect? I don’t think so.

Goodwill– Janesville- The Goodwill in Janesville is my favorite, although the one in Oconomowoc is a close second, but I haven’t been there in a few years. The Janesville Goodwill is clean, decently priced, and often has Target’s clearance goods with tags on throughout the racks.

Twice Is Nice– Jefferson- This is probably my all-time favorite thrift store in general. The store is clean, organized and the prices are dirt cheap. I once got a like-new L.L.Bean suede coat for $12. I know, I was shocked too. The only con is that you need to bring cash.

St. Vincent De Paul– Lake Mills- I don’t shop here as much as I used to, just because the prices have gone up several dollars since a few years ago. However, they have a good selection of name brand clothes and their book selection is awesome. Yes, I still buy physical books.

Agrace Thrift Store– Janesville- This place kind of has a boutiquey feel and the clothes are more curated, but you will find a lot of like-new items. The prices are a bit higher, but again, like-new items and the ladies who volunteer their are super nice.

Castaways Thrift Shop– Janesville- Castaways is a tiny little thrift store with a lot of charm– very similar to Twice Is Nice. I feel like here as well as Twice Is Nice, the clothes are a bit more vintagey but you can also find some adorable knick-knacks too. You also need to bring cash here.

Maybe I’ll see you out and about thrifting too! Happy hunting!

Secondhand, Shopping, Sustainable Fashion

My Favorite Sustainable YouTubers

Alysha Hartung

I haven’t always shopped sustainably, especially when I was younger. I can’t even say sustainability was on my radar until some of my favorite YouTubers brought up the issue or explained why their content would be changing to more sustainable options. How many times can I say sustainable in this blog post?

Many of my favorite YouTuber’s weren’t always sustainable either, I actually found most from watching their fast fashion hauls–especially ones on Forever 21.

So here they are, my top 5 in no particular order…

dianachamomile

This Diana, from dianachamoile. She has a very girly vintage style and her videos are like little art pieces.

HellaJam

This is Jamie or Jam, from HellaJam. She’s a very funky momma that finds one of a kind pieces- all the time.

mademoiselle

This is also Jamie, from mademoiselle. She has a very chic and classic style and has amazing lookbooks.

Sarah Hawkinson

This is Sarah, from Sarah Hawkinson. She has an edgy style and makes really interesting “no makeup Monday” videos.

Wear I Live

This is Jenny, from Wear I Live. She has a very eclectic style and a really laidback attitude.

All of these ladies have done an awesome job at influencing me to make the change to a more sustainable closet so make sure you go check them out!

*Sidenote: most of these badass women have videos explaining their sustainability journey and are worth watching too!

Secondhand, Shopping, Sustainable Fashion

So I Finally Watched “The True Cost” Documentary…

Alysha Hartung
watch “The True Cost” documentary here

Oh… my… goodness… I’m not quite sure I have ever been so disgusted and saddened by humanity in my entire life. I won’t lie, this documentary was hard to watch, but it is vital to understand just what the fast fashion industry has done to not only the environment but also to humanity.

Many of us are fortunate to be able to afford basic needs as well as indulge in shopping fast fashion brands but at what cost?

“The True Cost” documentary, published in 2015, is about what the fast fashion industry has done to the environment and humanity in a lot of third-world-countries. The documentary reveals in the first fifteen minutes about some of the humanitarian disasters the fast fashion industry is responsible for such as several factory fires and the collapse of the Dhaka factory that killed over 1,000 people. It then follows a few people’s lives that have been greatly impacted by the fast fashion industry, such as a factory worker, an ethical fashion designer, and an organic cotton farmer to name a few. The documentary also focuses on how the fast fashion industry ruins the environment from pollution and how this affects people in nearby villages such as how the runoff contaminates the drinking water causing cancer and birth defects for many children. It may seem that this documentary only focuses on the doom and gloom, but it is more so trying to bring the reality of this industry to life and put faces and stories to the $5.99 shirts and $20 jeans that we wear.

I feel that we often justify the sweatshops by saying “well, those people need a job anyways” but those people also deserve a living wage and safe working conditions too. They’re people, just like us… which is why I am even more dedicated now to not buy fast fashion. Hopefully, if enough of us boycott the fast fashion industry because of the impact it has on the environment and more importantly, the effect it has on humanity we can make a difference. For all of us.

Secondhand, Shopping, Sustainable Fashion

Why?- Why Does Sustainable Fashion Even Matter?

Alysha Hartung

I know what you’re probably thinking… “Alysha, why does this even matter… like, who cares if fashion is sustainable” Well, it does matter, a lot actually.

As many of us have heard from some source or another, global warming is happening right now and it’s happening fast. The second worst contributor, only to oil companies, is the fast fashion industry. Yup, it’s true. Our need for the consumption of clothes is reeking havoc on our environment.

How you may ask? How could clothes possibly be the second-worst offender of contributing to global warming? Easily.

  • INTO THE GARBAGE IT GOES— Many of the clothes we donate or toss in the garbage end up filling landfills. According to the EPA, the average American alone throws away 81 lbs. of clothing a year. YES, 81 POUNDS PER PERSON.

  • 52 MICRO SEASONS— The fast fashion industry has 52 micro seasons a year. That averages out to 1 season per week. Ridiculous, I know. This encourages us to buy and buy some more when there are new things every week or even every day.

  • One word: POLYESTER— Polyester, may quite possibly be one of the worse fabrics ever created. Every time it’s washed it releases 700,000 micro-plastic fibers into our water. 700,000 FLIPPING FIBERS.

  • LET IT INTO THE AIR LIKE WE JUST DON’T CARE— It probably comes to no surprise that the fashion industry releases millions of CO2 emissions into the air. 1,715 million tons in 2015 in fact. In simple terms, this damages the air we breathe and causes the earth to warm up (greenhouse effect).

  • PARCHED— The amount of water it takes to create just one garment is horrendous. 715 gallons of water, just to make 1 t-shirt. For reference, even if you drank 1 gallon of water a day, it would still take you almost 2 years to drink that much water.

I have attached below the sources where I gathered this information if you would like to continue to read more:

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/07/microplastic-pollution-revealed-absolutely-everywhere-by-new-research

http://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/how-many-gallons-of-water-does-it-take-to-make-a-single-pair-of-jeans

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/01/ready-waste-americas-clothing-crisis/

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/jun/23/five-ways-fashion-damages-the-planet

Welcome

Welcome!

Alysha Hartung

Hi there and welcome to Secondhand September!

My name is Alysha, I am a 25-year-old college student who is interested in how I can help the environment by shopping sustainably instead of supporting fast fashion.

To be honest, I have been thrifting all of my life. I first grew the love for it when I was little from my grandma and never really stopped. It wasn’t until I started watching my favorite YouTubers and reading other sustainable fashion blogs that I realized the fast fashion industry was such a huge issue to the environment. It is because of their influence and inspiration that I have/am making the move to shop secondhand or shop from sustainable fashion brands.

Throughout this blog, you will find resources, articles, videos and everything you need to become educated and a simple place to start because I know this sounds daunting. I’m with you on that. Trust me. I want this journey to not only be educational but to also be enlightening and fun.

So please come along and join me in making the switch the simple way!