Turning Duds into Dimes — REFINE Magazine

By Kelly Thompson

When we get rid of clothes, we usually see them as a lost cause. They’re stained, they’re ripped, or they’re no longer in style. The women at Thrift and Flop, Temple’s newest club for thrifting and rejuvenating unwanted clothing, are changing that notion one pair of old denim jeans at a time.

And if you’re one of those people that are convinced you’ll find nothing when you thrift, don’t worry. These girls have your back. I myself am pretty artistically inept, and that extends to fashion. But after getting some words of wisdom from club members, the concept of thrifting doesn’t seem so foreign to me anymore.

“A lot of it is just going to thrift shops and shuffling through the racks and looking to see what looks like a canvas,” said Audrey Lee, an undecided freshman at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture.

Audrey led the day’s activities—acrylic painting on thrifted clothing.

Simplicity was the most common advice I got from the club members. The word “canvas” came up several times during their explanations. The promise of a white tee seems to be that it can become anything. Most of them were painting on thrifted denim or plain t-shirts. Lee and some other members were painting thrifted shoes.

“I love denim. Like, I only do denim,” confessed Miyalani Wagner, the club’s founder.

Wagner, who created the club last semester, is a sophomore communication studies major who sees Thrift and Flop less like a college club and more like a close-knit circle of friends.

“I think that our club is unique because we offer something that people aren’t going to for, like, for their resume,” she explained. “This is more of a club for people that genuinely want to be here … I feel like people actually are excited to be here.”

As it turns out, the club does really fit Wagner’s description as a close-knit group of friends. Inside the IDEAL Lounge—found on North Broad Street across from Johnson & Hardwick halls—where Thrift and Flop holds its meetings, you can expect to find a group painting old denim jeans and giggling with one another while a playlist of throwback jams plays in the background.

If the image of folks getting together, laughing, and painting clothes isn’t enough to make you want to join, then I don't know what is.

Julia Cheresko, a freshman photography major, expressed something similar.

“I love everyone in [Thrift and Flop] ... It’s still so new, but I can’t wait to establish, like, good relationships,” she said.

While Thrift and Flop is mostly about fun and community, there is also a more serious side to thrifting, Claire Ireland, a freshman at Tyler, explained.

Ireland got into thrifting for sustainability reasons.

“I read online that buying clothes and fast fashion are really bad for the environment,” Ireland said. “And so I think probably my freshman year of high school I just started by going to Buffalo Exchange and thrifting my clothes.”

Dina Clark, also a Tyler freshman, thrifts because of the strenuous labor fast fashion usually entails.

“Yeah, I think it’s so much better. You hear about the Chinese sweatshops,” Clark said.

Clark’s concerns are understandably well-founded, but happening way closer to home.

The LA Times reported, “The U.S. Department of Labor investigated 77 Los Angeles garment factories from April through July of 2016 and found that workers were paid as little as $4 and an average of $7 an hour for 10-hour days spent sewing clothes...”

The popularity of clubs like Thrift and Flop, which boasts about 50 members, and the widespread recognition of the problems of fast fashion seem to signal that times are changing. The rise of thrifting as a viable alternative to fast fashion is revolutionary, but club members made me aware of problems with thrifting in big cities.

Cheresko, who is from Scranton, expressed her disappointment in the Philly thrifting scene.

“Thrifting at home and thrifting in Philly are two different things … Everything is already picked out for you … I can totally appreciate it here, because all the vintage clothes are so beautiful here, but, it’s just so much,” Cheresko said.

Regardless of the scene’s atmosphere, it seemed like everyone in Thrift and Flop was able to find some really awesome pieces. Cheresko was painting a pair of Nike Air Force Ones that she got for $6! I found a similar pair for $95 online. I think that’s a hustle we can all appreciate.

Wagner’s mission is to make thrifting a fun social event, and from the meeting I attended it seems, she accomplished her mission.

“Our main goal is to create friendships, to create community,” she said, “and that’s what I hope that everyone gets out of it.”