How Did Thrifting Get So Bad?

Culture Study Podcast

Anne Helen Petersen

Fashion & Beauty, Society & Culture, Arts

4.6 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thrifting has a smell, but it also has a feel. For me, the feel is of thick, almost indestructible rayon weaves; of dense, mothbally wool; of slick, ancient crinoline; of stiff and generously cut denim. It was the feel of handstitching on a dress made from a pattern, or a cracked logo on a company picnic shirt from 1975. It was not the feel of shopping at Forever 21, even though the prices were approximately the same. Like so many of you, at various points in my life I’ve relied on thrift stores for resilient everyday clothes and delightful dress-up/costume accoutrements.

But thrifting has changed dramatically over the last fifteen years — and it’s never been more popular. In this episode, Kelsey Vlamis and I break down all the reasons for its its transformation, from the rise of fast fashion to influencers making haul videos. Plus: there’s a thrifting mystery we’d love to solve; listen and see if you can help us!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Anne, coming to you with an update on the shows we're working on. And guess what?
0:05.7	We need your questions for all of these. I have regretfully abandoned my dream of a Paul
0:11.6	Mascall episode and we're broadening it out to the general Irishification of pop culture.
0:17.5	We have a very special guest for this one, who obviously is Irish, and I cannot
0:23.4	wait for it. She's the author of a book that is highly recommended in all of the culture
0:28.6	study threads. So let us know your questions and hot takes on the Irishification so that we
0:33.7	can talk about it. We're also recording an episode about contemporary ideas of
0:37.7	self-care, how it gets talked about, what gets missed, what you're totally sick of hearing
0:43.2	about self-care, especially over the course of the last four years. I know you all have
0:47.4	lots to say and lots to ask. And we've also got an episode in the works on dad culture.
0:52.4	Media representation of dads the chosen
0:54.6	identities of dads our guest for this is someone who's teaching a class on the history of
0:59.3	dad culture going back to the 19th century so it's going to be amazing and the last one i want
1:06.2	to flag for now is our episode on getting into old movies. This one's with Culture Study Fave Margaret
1:11.9	Willison, and we've got some good practical and philosophical questions already, but now we need
1:17.8	your request for recommendations. This is how we're going to do it. You submit your three
1:22.0	favorite movies released in the last 20-ish years, along with any general likes and dislikes, if you want to add those.
1:29.4	And we'll tailor some classic Hollywood rex just for you. Oh, and finally, we need your questions
1:35.6	for the Ask An Anything segment. Nothing is too big or small. You can ask about, like, how do I
1:41.4	find good linens? I mean, we can talk about that. Or you can ask like big
1:46.7	philosophical questions. What matters is that there's something that you have been pondering
1:51.4	that you need advice on, either from me, the co-host, Melody. We kind of decide who's going to
	...

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