<div class='bc_element' id='bc_element1' style='width:auto;padding:5px;max-height:100%;'><span><p class="isSelectedEnd">Walk into a thrift store on a Saturday and you are just as likely to find someone looking for a good work blazer as a college student hunting for vintage Levi's. Secondhand shopping has moved into everyday fashion in the U.S., especially for Gen Z and Millennials. ThredUp's 2026 Resale Report found that the U.S. secondhand market grew nearly four times faster than the broader retail clothing market in 2025, and expects Gen Z and Millennials to drive 71 percent of its growth through 2030.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">The interesting part is what happens when that shopper goes home. Bring a thrifted jacket into some Indian households and there is a decent chance somebody will ask, “Why would you pay for something another person already wore?” The jacket has suddenly become a cultural conversation.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><br></p><h3>When Buying New Meant You Were Doing Well</h3><div><br></div><p class="isSelectedEnd">For many immigrant parents, the hesitation around secondhand clothing makes sense when you consider the world they grew up in. New clothes could mean something. They were bought for birthdays, festivals, weddings or the beginning of a school year. As families became more financially comfortable, being able to choose something new rather than make do with something already used could feel like progress.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">That does not mean Indian households were wasteful with clothes. Quite the opposite. Clothes were routinely passed between siblings and cousins. Children's clothes went to whoever could wear them next. A good saree might stay in a family for decades. Clothes were altered, repaired, stored carefully and brought back out years later. The difference was often <strong>where the clothes came from</strong>. Your older sister's dress was one thing. A stranger's dress from a secondhand store was another. People working in India's thrift industry have described this exact attitude. Vogue India spoke with founders who said secondhand clothing could carry a stigma because families associated buying something already worn with not being able to afford something new. One founder recalled her own family initially questioning her decision to buy secondhand for this reason.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">Take that attitude into an immigrant household in the U.S., then put it next to a teenager or twenty-something growing up around Depop hauls, vintage stores and friends proudly announcing that their jacket cost $12 at Goodwill. They are looking at the same purchase through very different experiences.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><br></p><h3>Their Kids Grew Up With a Different Idea of “Used”</h3><div><br></div><p class="isSelectedEnd">For younger shoppers, secondhand clothing often arrives without the same social baggage. A worn-in pair of Levi's can be desirable because it is old. An oversized Ralph Lauren shirt from the 1990s may be more interesting than the current one hanging in a department store. A secondhand designer bag gives someone access to a piece they might never consider at full price. There is also the simple pleasure of finding something that does not appear on twenty other people. That was one of the ideas behind our original MySilsila carousel. Younger shoppers are not necessarily trying to build wardrobes entirely out of vintage clothes. Sometimes they simply want one jacket, shirt or bag that makes an otherwise ordinary outfit feel like theirs.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">And this does not disappear once college ends. The 19-year-old searching for an unusual jacket can become the 27-year-old checking resale stores for a wool coat, a good leather bag or a blazer for work. The motivation changes. You may have more money than you did in college, but paying $400 for something new becomes harder to justify when you know a good version may already exist for considerably less.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">Thrifting also feels much more ordinary because the places where people do it have changed. <strong>Goodwill</strong> still offers the traditional experience of walking through racks without knowing what you will find. <strong>Buffalo Exchange</strong> and <strong>Crossroads Trading</strong> curate what they buy from customers. New York has stores such as <strong>L Train Vintage</strong>, <strong>Beacon's Closet</strong> and <strong>Housing Works</strong>. Then there are <strong>Depop, Poshmark, eBay and ThredUp</strong>, where secondhand shopping looks much more like regular online shopping. For someone who grew up associating “used clothing” with necessity, watching all of this become a desirable retail category can feel slightly surreal.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><br></p><h3>Indian Families Already Know How to Keep Clothes Alive</h3><div><br></div><p class="isSelectedEnd">There is another reason the generational divide is worth looking at more closely. Some of the habits behind today's resale culture are actually very familiar. Vogue India writer Jyoti Kumari described growing up with hand-me-downs from siblings, cousins and parents long before she thought of any of it as “thrifting.” Indian American climate activist Denali Sai Nalamalapu has similarly spoken about growing up around women in her family who kept meaningful clothes from mothers and grandmothers for decades, an experience she connected with her own appreciation of secondhand fashion.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">A saree does not become worthless because it was worn at somebody else's wedding twenty years ago. In many families, its history makes it more valuable. So the idea of extending the life of clothing was already there. What younger shoppers have changed is the boundary of whose closet they are willing to take from. Instead of your cousin's cupboard, it might be a rack at Goodwill. Instead of your mother's old jacket, it might be somebody else's old jacket on Depop. That is a meaningful cultural shift, but it is not quite as far removed from older habits as it first appears.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><br></p><h3>Of Course, You Can Still Buy Too Much at a Thrift Store</h3><div><br></div><p class="isSelectedEnd">There is one part of the current thrift craze that deserves a little skepticism. A $7 shirt you never wear is still a $7 shirt you never needed. Secondhand shopping can easily become another excuse to buy more because everything feels cheap and temporary. That is why a few of the practical habits from our carousel are worth keeping. Go in knowing what your closet actually needs. Ignore the size on the tag if the garment looks promising because sizing varies enormously across brands and decades. Check the fabric, seams, lining and zipper before deciding that something is a bargain.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">This becomes particularly useful as you get older and start caring more about what something is made from. A good secondhand wool coat may make more sense than a new synthetic one at a similar price. An older leather bag in good condition can be a better purchase than buying another inexpensive bag because it happens to be new. Resale has also made it easier to move clothes out of your wardrobe. Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads Trading buy selected clothes for cash or store credit, while platforms such as Poshmark, Depop and eBay let people sell directly to another shopper. The carousel called this giving your wardrobe an “exit door,” which is a useful way to think about it.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">You can wear something for a few years and decide that somebody else will probably get more use from it. Clothes do not have to move in only one direction, from store to closet to trash.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><br></p><h3>The Gap Between Generations May Be Smaller Than It Looks</h3><div><br></div><p class="isSelectedEnd">This is probably where the thrift-store conversation gets most interesting for immigrant families. A parent may still dislike the thought of their child buying somebody else's clothes. That reaction comes from somewhere. If buying new was once connected with financial security and moving forward, deliberately choosing used can sound like going backwards.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">Their child may be thinking about something completely different. They found a jacket they genuinely like. The fabric is good. It fits. Nobody else they know has it. It cost a fraction of what a similar new one would cost. Whether another person wore it five years ago barely enters the calculation. Both reactions make sense once you know the history behind them.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">And perhaps the generations are not quite as far apart on this as they sound. Indian families have been keeping good clothes in circulation for a very long time. They repaired them, altered them, handed them down and kept the best pieces for decades. Younger people are taking that instinct into a much larger marketplace where the next owner does not necessarily have to be a sibling or cousin. Your grandmother may have kept a saree for twenty years because it was too good to throw away. You might buy a twenty-year-old jacket for exactly the same reason.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd">So when a parent looks at your thrift-store find and wonders why you would pay for something someone else already wore, the answer may be simpler than it sounds. You found something well made, you liked it, it still had years of life left in it, and buying it made more sense than walking past it simply because it was not new. Seen that way, thrifting may be a new shopping habit for younger generations, but the instinct behind it might feel surprisingly familiar at home.</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><br></p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><br></p><h3>Sources</h3><div><br></div><p class="isSelectedEnd"><strong>ThredUp / GlobalData</strong><br>2026 Resale Report, including U.S. secondhand market growth and Gen Z and Millennial trends<br>thredup.com</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><strong>Vogue India</strong><br>Every Concern You Have About Thrift Shopping, Answered<br>vogue.in</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><strong>Vogue India</strong><br>Thrifting Isn't Really Sustainable Unless You're Following These Rules<br>vogue.in</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><strong>Vogue India</strong><br>Why Young Shoppers Are Investing in Sustainability<br>vogue.in</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><strong>Goodwill Industries International</strong><br>Secondhand retail and thrift-store network<br>goodwill.org</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><strong>Buffalo Exchange</strong><br>Buy, sell and trade clothing stores<br>buffaloexchange.com</p><p class="isSelectedEnd"><strong>Crossroads Trading</strong><br>Fashion resale and buy-sell-trade stores<br>crossroadstrading.com</p><p><strong>Housing Works, L Train Vintage and Beacon's Closet</strong><br>Secondhand and vintage shopping in New York</p> <span></div>