First Rate Second Hand

Another score at the thrift store - a scooter (I've been thinking about since Christmas) finally popped up today.  The only problem I foresee is that we now only have one.  So, they will have to share.  Or fight.  If they both like it, I will have to keep my eyes out for another one. 

Speaking of shopping second hand - I again must ask myself, why doesn't everyone do it?  Especially clothes.  Seriously.  There are SO MANY clothes out there just waiting to find homes.  Ebay, thrift store, friends' closets.  And the variety is amazing, unlike retail stores where you basically just get whatever they tell you is cool right now.

Speaking of cool - I ran across this article recently where the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch talks about his company.

 "In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids," the clothing retailer explained. "We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong [in our clothes], and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

Puke!  I would like to contest the "great attitude" part.  The very nature of (literally) buying into this completely negates that argument!

And, if the perpetuation of a life-sucking, consumerist culture isn't enough to send you running from the malls, how about a factory of workers who sacrificed their lives so that we could purchase shirts for less than $15.
Do people even realize how much work goes into making a garment?  There is no way that $15 covers the raw material and labor value of anything that covers a body.

I just finished making a bunch of things for the school's silent auction.  I know what goes into fashioning a garment by hand.  Even high end retailers cheapen the process in order to maximize profits.  The answer lies in using the resources that are already available to us.  When a garment is quality and designed to last, it will have a benefit that extends well beyond the point of producer/consumer exchange.