A regular thrift shopper was left frustrated by what she kept finding at her local Salvation Army, and has gone viral for highlighting it online.
Paige Stamatis, 32, a fashion reseller who told Newsweek her goal is to “keep as much clothing out of the landfills that I can,” is a regular at thrift stores, shopping for deals to give clothing new life.
But in recent months, trips to the Salvation Army in Trenton, New Jersey, have left Stamatis feeling cold.
She shared a video to her TikTok account @the_thrift_paige on January 18, asking viewers if they “want to see something super, super ridiculous?”
Stamatis then entered the Salvation Army and pointed out rack upon rack of clothing rails filled with different clothing, and said every single item of clothing was “new, with tags, from Zara.”
She said every item of clothing that she pointed out was damaged, many “broken, stained or ripped,” but with an asking price of between $23 to $25, or essentially “half price” of the new, undamaged product.
“It has been months, maybe 4-5 months, and the store has just now started to ‘mark down’ the Zara donations. And there’s still racks filled with it, even after the markdowns,” Stamatis told Newsweek.
She acknowledged people might argue “it’s giving life to this clothing that is damaged, but with that I’d say I’d rather see it be given to a fashion school to ‘work with’.”
“Give it to students who are learning and creating, to give it ‘new life’,” she suggested.
A spokesperson for Zara told Newsweek that Salvation Army partners with “local design colleges to donate merchandise that is not sold, giving students resources for creative projects and learning.”
The Salvation Army did not respond to a request for comment.
Her video, viewed over 200,000 times, racked up hundreds of comments, including one who wrote: “I’m a sewist, I’d EAT UP a rack of damaged clothes if it was dirt cheap,” but said “those prices are ridiculous.”
Another pointed out “companies get write offs if they donate,” as one complained “if they marked stuff lower they’d sell more.”
“I saw that at one of mine too. I was pretty disgusted,” one user said.
And another said: “Things that don’t get sold should go in a free pile or for people who sew.”
According to research compiled by Statista, the global apparel secondhand market was estimated to be worth $211 billion in 2023, and is expected to rise to more than $350 billion by 2027.
The U.S. is the leading exporter of used clothing, home to the largest clothing market in the world.
Stamatis herself has been thrifting for over 15 years, and recently turned it into a job in fashion resale.
“My goal is to keep as much clothing out of the landfills that I can,” she said. “It’s shocking how much we throw out and how much we truly just waste.”
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