Reader Marsha was reading my mind when she commented on yesterday’s post about complaining when you can’t find appropriate children’s clothing:

In addition to voicing your concerns . . . remember that thrift stores are a great option. Not only can you find good, affordable clothing, but by shopping at thrift stores you’re not supporting multinational corporations, sweatshops, unfair labor practices, fuel consumption from transporting goods thousands of miles, etc.

I had already planned to write about thrift stores, prompted by something I saw in Sunday’s comics (of all places). You Can with Beakman & Jax is a syndicated column for kids that appears in our local paper. Kids write in with a question and they are answered with an experiment they can do.

You Can columnist Jok Church took the high road when he answered the question: What is a good makeover for a teenager?

I think it would be best to pass on to you the teachings of a personal style expert, Quentin Crisp . . . who always said style is “being yourself, but on purpose. Fashion is advertising. Style is you, intentionally.

Church continues with a thrift store experiment: Take a quarter of your school clothes budget, go to a thrift store and pull out everything you like. Write down a couple words describing why you like that piece of clothing. Go back to the clothes you chose and put back everything with a logo on the outside.

Logos advertise for the maker of the item. You should not wear a logo that shows unless that clothing maker pays you an advertising fee.

Not only does Church expose the clothing industry’s marketing machine that profits at the expense of a teen’s fragile sense of self-worth, he’s encouraging recycling. I love this man.

My girls have grown up on thrift-store shopping. At first we shopped at our local Goodwill because the boys and girls clothes are mixed together. We didn’t have to deal with that’s a boy’s sweatshirt! Now we’ve expanded to others shops. I love knowing that we’re not putting money into any corporate pockets, we’re lowering demand by not buying retail, and we’re not adding as much to our landfills.

And saving a lot of money.

Read also: Waste Couture: Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry

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