"A Closer Look" with Laura Oakes: Why everyone is shifting to thrifting

In this month's installment of "A Closer Look" with Laura Oakes , we take a look at the burgeoning thrift and reuse culture. These days, it's a whole movement, with some staggering statistics.

Secondhand shops like Music Go Round are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reuse culture.

"Why is this a good option for a 5th grader trying the flute for the first time?," asks Oakes.

"It's a good option because you're not spending a ton of money on something," says the franchise owner of St. Paul's West 7th store Jeff McAllister.

"And who knows if that kid's going to stick with the instrument," Oakes says.

"Right? And if they don't, you can always sell the instrument back," McAllister said.

And this is exactly the point. Whether it’s musical instruments, sports gear, clothes, school uniform swaps, books, or kitchen supplies for a new apartment, people are reusing more than ever.

THE UNIVERISTY LEADS THE WAY

In other words, finding another use for something instead of just throwing it out. Or maybe buying used to save a little money while keeping stuff out of the landfill. That is what the University of Minnesota’s massive Reuse Program Warehouse is all about.

Todd Tanner manages the U’s Zero Waste Program.

"The primary goal of this program is waste stream diversion," says Tanner. "So we take all of this material that comes from all around campus and we ask ourselves, 'what can we do with it, alternatively, to just throwing it away?' So we're trying to give this material an opportunity to either be reused on campus by a university department, or sold to the general public."

In fact, Tanner says the program handles a million pounds of material per year: computers, lab supplies, sports equipment, all kinds of furniture.

"Chairs, we get in staggering numbers of chairs," he says. "You figure with millions of square feet of space on campus and lots of people sitting down at desks and in classrooms, this material gets turned over, some of it on a regular basis. Some of it when the employee no longer works here, retires, this material will come here. We'll get anything from random unmatched office chairs to, sometimes we've had close to 1,000 identical chairs show up at the same time."

With so many items and so much unpredictability as to what's coming in, organization isn't exactly a top priority.

"We don't put things out in like a housewares section or a kitchenware section, we put stuff on the shelf where we have space," Tanner explains. "So it's kind of a treasure hunt. When you come through here to look for something, sometimes people will come in and say, 'do you have an X Y Z?' And I'll be like, 'you know, I've definitely seen one but I'm not sure where it is.'"

"I see test tubes, I see a coffee maker, janitorial cleaning supplies, a DVD player," observes Oakes. "What's this?"

"This is an incubator, so, lab equipment," Tanner says. "So, like large test tubes would go in there. We don't test the equipment. We don't know if it works or not. But you know, this particular item here, it looks like it was $120, it's past it's cycle so this would be discounted to $24. Now, if somebody was into refurbishing lab equipment, for $24 they could buy this, even if it's broken, and they could spend a few hundred dollars refurbishing it. And this might be a $2,000 or a $3,000 piece of equipment refurbished."

Next to that incubator, a dentist chair. Bikes left on campus that will be fixed up and sold for an annual bike sale. Bleacher cushions from the football stadium. A treadmill, and piles and piles of office supplies.

"I have a volunteer that does wonderful work for us, she just loves office materials," Tanner explained. "So she comes in and she puts paper clips in containers she finds around here, and we sell these. I mean, here's a lifetime supply of paper clips for $3. And actually that's discounted to 80% off of $3, so 60 cents."

If this just feels like such a hidden secret, you might be surprised about how many people know about it.

"This is surprisingly busy here on our public sale days," Tanner said. "When we're open right now on Thursdays and Saturdays, our traditional sale days, there'll usually be a line at the front door. Anywhere to a dozen to sometimes 30 people deep waiting for us to say 'we're open' and they all just come charging in."

GROWING TREND

Shopping secondhand is nothing new, but it is something that is growing by leaps and bounds.

According to the online marketplace Offer Up, the secondhand market could reach $291 billion by the end of the decade. A 2023 national survey showed respondents reported buying at least one item secondhand in the past year.

The most popular way to shop secondhand is for clothes, whether that's at a larger outlet like Goodwill, Value Village, or Savers, or a local vintage or consignment shop, of which there are many in the Twin Cities.

Molly O'Keefe owns Encore Women's Consignment Boutique in St. Paul, a career path she knows was meant to be.

"Even as a kid, I would make all my friends play store with me and I would play store owner and they'd have to buy my stuffed animals," says O'Keefe. "So it was always a dream to have my own store. And then again, working in retail my whole life since I was 16 and being a buyer and loving fashion and going to school for clothing design. It's always been, you know. Also, I grew up going to Ragstock's Warehouse when that was a thing, and that was where I got my back to school clothes. I always bought second hand and vintage. So when the opportunity to buy Encore came about, it was kind of like meant to be. I feel like it was exactly where I should be at the right time."

Does O'Keefe think that this is kind of the wave of the future for shopping? She is seeing more of an increase of people not doing the department store thing anymore and focusing more on shops like Encore.

"Absolutely, yeah. I think, I feel very fortunate to be in the business that I am because it is I think growing a lot," O'Keefe says.

IT'S GOTTA BE THE SHOES

Across town in Hopkins amid racks of colorful, highly-sought-after tennis shoes, Joel Steinberg is trying to build his business after opening Duality Sneaks in mid-August. It’s all about the hot sneaker resale market.

"Talk to me about sneaker culture before we get into what you're actually doing here. Explain this to me. It's a big deal," Oakes asks.

Yeah, so you know, obviously (Michael) Jordan kind of helped initialize the sneaker world," explains Steinberg. And, you know, it has its up and downs for sure, but it always has kind of stayed. A lot of people just like to express themselves through what they wear on their feet, especially. The thing I like about sneakers is that there's so many collaborations and there's so many ideas behind sneakers that you can really be unique. And it doesn't always have to be about what's hype or what's trending, but it could just be like, 'hey, that's special to me.'"

Joel’s kicks typically sell for between $100 and $575 dollars. The higher the demand, the higher price. Some of them come with special names too.

"You call this the reverse Grinch," says Oakes.

Correct. Yeah, the original Grinch was mostly green, like the Christmas character," explained Steinberg. "Well, this one is a reverse which has the laces that are green. But if you watch enough basketball games you'll see it on the court."

And it doesn’t stop there. Nike even makes a “thrifting shoe” capitalizing on the thrill of the hunt for deals.

"So it's supposed to be like a lot of things that you would find in a thrifting store, different materials, it's got, kind of like the burlap kind of look, and then also on the inside it has a thrifting tag in it," Steinberg says.

"Oh, so that is not your tag?" Oakes asks.

"No, that was Nike (that) put that on there," he adds. "And it even has almost like a grandma's, I don't know, knit doily kind of thing," he laughs.

Without a doubt, there's a clear and undeniable king of sneaker culture. You will hear the name "Jordan" a lot.

"Tell me a little bit about the significance of Michael Jordan when it comes to tennis shoes and why everybody wants his name," Oakes asks Steinberg.

"So I mean, he basically started the whole sneaker revolution. I would say, I think before it was much more like comfort runners just like everyday shoes," explained Steinberg. "But when Jordan released his first shoe, it kind of changed everything. And sneakers really became a fashion statement and not just something that you wear for utility necessarily."

Shopping thrift continues to gain traction not only among Gen Z, but also among Baby Boomers, and the design world is taking notice. Brands like Diane von Furstenberg and Burberry are active in the resale market. Even athleisure powerhouse Lululemon offers gift cards in return for their gently-used athletic wear.

DOING SOME GOOD TOO

Buying secondhand is also climate-friendly. Statistics show the fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of the world's water supply, and produces 10 percent of all carbon emissions .

Figures from online reseller ThredUP show buying used extends the life of a piece of clothing by more than two years, and reduces its carbon-waste and water footprint by 73 percent.

Then, there's simply the style factor and the opportunity for self-expression. Why look like everyone else when you too can experience the thrill of the hunt, and assemble an outfit or a whole room for that matter that shows off your own, unique, personality?

But in the big picture, and according to those in the biz, it just may boil down to doing the right thing.

"People are very aware of how to take care of the world now, and their pocketbooks," says Encore's O'Keefe.

A list of popular secondhand online and retail outlets:

Online:

Depop

Vinted

The RealReal

ThredUP

Poshmark

Ebay

Offerup

Mercari

Tradesy

Kidizen

Etsy

Facebook Marketplace

Physical stores:

Goodwill

Savers

Arc's Value Village

Play it Again Sports

Music Go Round

Buffalo Exchange

Plato's Closet

TurnStyle

MORE: See all of Laura's " A Closer Look" stories here .