Reselling and upcycling: A unique thrifting business model

When Allison Demirjian, a graduate business administration student at Quinnipiac University, walks through the door at Plato’s Closet, she’s ready to be there for over three hours.

Sifting through racks and racks of clothing that have been passed on, Demirjian finds a few hidden gems. A red leather trench coat. A knit sweater. A pair of well-worn jeans.

Some of the items are kept for her collection, but the rest go to Demirjian’s inventory for her business, Al’s Articles.

The concept is simple. She finds unique pieces at thrift stores in the Hamden area and then her customers buy them off of her. It’s called reselling, but Demirjian also upcycles, altering and restoring clothing to make it more sellable.

Demirjian has been thrifting for years, but didn’t start Al’s Articles until thrift stores reopened following initial COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020.

“A couple of months into (the COVID-19 pandemic), I was shopping a lot because I love shopping,” Demirjian said. “I've always loved shopping, but I just didn't love the whole concept of fast fashion anymore. I educated myself on that. I was like, ‘It'd be really cool to start something and like selling clothing.’ Iit was about six months later that I actually set it up and started.”

In the two years that Demirjian has been running her side business, she has made around $4,000.

In the past few years, thrifting as a whole has exploded. According to thredUP’s, an online second-hand store, 2021 Fashion Resale Report, the thrifting market will be worth double the fast fashion market by 2030. What used to be brick-and-mortar stores and boxes at yard sales has turned into burgeoning online markets. Companies like Depop and Poshmark have millions of users buying and selling second-hand clothes while others use established social media sites such as Instagram or Facebook.

One such seller is Faith Ramadon, a senior entrepreneurship major at Quinnipiac. Ramadon uses Depop to share her inventory.

“I started as a little kid with my granny,” Ramadon said. “I grew up on that stuff and then, as I grew older me and my friends used to go … I started to develop an eye for some of the more eclectic things and I started looking at values and I started to see that there's more business potential to it than I ever realized.”

Ramadon focuses more on upcycling than strictly reselling clothes. While it is more difficult as a college student, she gives new life to pieces that nobody would buy otherwise.

“Most of the time I have to take things to get specifically dry cleaned because they say dry clean only,” Ramadon said. “I get nervous about deterioration so there’s so much sewing that goes into it … It’s so easy to just be like ‘Okay, I found something cute,’ but then there’s all the work that goes into fixing, up cycling it and then the uploading process is crazy. It’s a lot, but it’s fun.”

For many, thrifting starts as a hobby to practice sustainability, find cheaper outfits or find vintage pieces that are trending. Lauren Fletcher, a junior in the 4+3 physical therapy program, buys her clothes almost exclusively from Salvation Army and Goodwill.

“I thrift almost every time I shop for clothing,” Fletcher said. “This ends up being about four or five times a year, at the beginning of each season, to refresh my wardrobe at a lower price and get more unique pieces to wear.”

While some consumers thrift for ethical or entertainment purposes, many people rely on thrift stores and consignment shops for new clothing, particularly necessities.

“I’ve been shopping at Goodwill for as long as I can remember,” said Lance Vaughn, a 43-year-old customer. “I’ve gotten great pairs of shoes and jackets in the winter.”

Some thrifting practices are seen as controversial. For instance, a trend in oversized clothes can often lead to plus-size shoppers not being able to find clothes that they can actually enjoy wearing.

“It is a little harder to come by some of those sizes, so I do try to be mindful of when a selection is looking a little thinner than usual, but most of the time I’m not looking for something that somebody walking into the thrift store is also looking for,” Ramadon said. “I try to be mindful of the market, but at the same time I think people online …understand quite how often thrift stores are getting restocked.”

Fletcher sees resellers as harmful to the thrifting industry, citing that many thrift stores are nonprofits and try to keep their profits low to serve their communities.

“Resellers can take away income from thrift stores and make second hand clothing more expensive,” Fletcher said. “Thrifting is meant to be an easy, cheaper and more ethical way of buying clothing. Many thrift shops use their income to fund charities.”

Fletcher’s thought is based somewhat in fact. Goodwill Industries, the most profitable thrift store in the U.S has raised prices on their clothes and other wares since 2016. Some products have been marked up to double or triple the original price. Demirjian said that more-popular thrifting locations raise their prices because of their increasing popularity.

“It's become very gentrified and all that,” Demirjian said.

Fletcher worries that exploitative resellers may mar the sustainable message that thrifting tries to inspire.

“Resellers … can prevent people looking for cheap clothing from shopping second hand, and instead force them to shop from fast fashion shops, which are known to be destroying our environment,” Fletcher said.

However, some lifetime thrifters appreciate the skill it takes to upcycle and resell thrifted clothes. Vaughn praised people who take the time to find the hidden gems in thrift stores.

“If that's people’s hustle, that's their hustle,” said Vaughn. “I commend people that can find stuff here and sell it like it's brand new.”

Edgard Guevara, a 22-year-old employee of Goodwill, also saw that resellers and upcyclers help the thrifting industry overall.

“As long as people know their stuff and people are willing to buy it then I find it to be very beneficial,” he said. “It’s a win-win for us. We sell people stuff and everything goes to a good cause and they are able to turn a profit on the money they spend here.”