I’m sure if you’re a diehard thrifter, reseller, collector or just a young person in general, you have noticed an influx of teens and Gen Z at the thrifts. You’ve probably also seen an influx of teens making thrifting TikToks at the Goodwill Bins and other thrift store chains. With all these new people entering the vintage space, some looking to make money and others just to buy cool clothes, does this mean the end to vintage as we know it??

First let’s start at the beginning. Vintage in general had a large spike in the beginning of quarantine. People were stuck at home, Instagram Lives began popping off, and we had the 6k Genie tee make national headlines. People had extra money due to stimulus checks, and suddenly everyone wanted to own a bootleg rap tee. Prices skyrocketed and pieces were moving faster than ever. New people were joining the game as Gen Z influencers and TikTok users were documenting going to the thrift stores for the first time in search of cool clothes to wear/style. So what we are experiencing now with TikTok and vintage technically already happened in 2020. There was an influx of new people in the thrift stores and at the bins.

Why are people so upset that TikTok is making vintage a trend?

Well theres a few reasons for this. Whether we like it or not, vintage is something we feel like we want to gatekeep. Obviously not all of us feel this way, but if selling vintage is your only source of income, you’re going to feel some type of way when you see young kids taking all your inventory. We also have die hard collectors who feel an entitlement to certain pieces. I’m not saying that in a bad way, its just true. We feel like we deserve a piece over someone else because we would truly appreciate its value and meaning. A lot of these younger kids and new resellers may buy something just because it looks “cool”, which can be offensive to some in the vintage community. Think of it like buying a nirvana shirt because it looks cool, not because you like the band.

The bigger issue is the goodwill bins.

The bins have been resellers and collectors’ bread and butter honey-hole for YEARS because you buy clothing by the pound and its extremely cheap. But now, TikTok influencers have made it a trend to go check out the Goodwill bins to see what they can find. The influx of younger people means more competition, which means it’s going to be harder to find what you want at the bins. You also have TikTok-ers going to the bins specifically to shoot videos for TikTok that go viral and just repeat the cycle. So now more and more and more people are going to keep showing up at the bins trying to find vintage, and for someone who’s job it is to source vintage, that can sound really frustrating.

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Do we deserve to be mad?

I think yes and no. I think it’s perfectly understandable to be upset if your local goodwill and bins are flooded with 50-100 new people looking for the same thing you are. That frustration is completely normal. However, I think we shouldn’t be mad because even if there are new people coming out to thrift, you still know better than them and can still make money and find cool stuff. We always like to say that theres enough vintage for everyone. At the end of the day, these kids aren’t coming to the thrifts everyday, and you still have the upper hand. Also lets not pretend like thrift stores were hidden or a secret. The bins we can understand, but everyone and their mom knows about Goodwill thrift stores (shoutout oldclothesarecool).

Technically, there should be enough vintage for everyone, and we saw these same trends happen in 2020 when quarantine started. At the end of the day for a lot of these kids its just a TREND. They will not stick around; they will move onto the next thing. If they truly fall in love with vintage and want to make it a hobby or their full-time job, we should be accepting of that. Everyone started from somewhere, and the community and friends are what makes this job worth it.

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!