It’s been 4 years since our last family trip to Calgary, and what a difference 4 years can make. This visit turned out to be as “on brand” as I had hoped, but it also highlighted our changing family dynamics. The kids are growing up, which means the way in which we all relate and interact with one another is evolving too. The thing that makes me incredibly happy is that we all still love spending time together; I hope that never changes. I say that because it hit me recently that, as the kids get older and become adults, they won’t be legally required to hang out with us. It will be entirely their choice. It’s a surprisingly hard mindset to adjust to after years of feeling like the kids were, in many ways, just an extension of myself (everywhere I was, so were they).

We approached this trip very much as a team and with a “say yes to everything” motto. That means that anything we saw and wanted to do/try/eat/buy, we did. I wouldn’t say that we are super strict parents at home, but this was definitely a change for our kids, and they enjoyed it to the max. And it was precisely this attitude that shaped our trip from beginning to end … including the (unanimous) decision to come home a day early. It wasn’t because we didn’t have fun; in fact, the opposite. We had a jam-packed 2 days of Doing All the Fun Things and had checked off most of the items on our must-do lists. Our remaining plans were up in the air thanks to the heat warning in effect for the rest of the weekend (which meant that our outdoor time would be limited). Everyone agreed that being home a day early was preferable to being cooped up in the hotel, so rather than force ourselves to stick to the original itinerary, we said “yes” to what we really wanted to do — go back home.

Luckily, we were able to visit the Zoo before temperatures became intolerable and a good thing too, because both the kids swore up and down that they didn’t remember their last visit at all.

We also celebrated my son’s birthday by taking him to eat at all his favourite places. If my son has a love language, it’s definitely food. Although, to be fair, we are a family that enjoys eating, haha! The “yes to everything” motto meant extra stops for desserts and trying new things like bubble tea. They were able to burn off some of the sugar high at the hotel pool, one of the most popular “destinations” on our trip.

We also had a lovely time in Inglewood. As planned, we stopped in at Fair’s Fair Books and went on a little book shopping spree. And by “little”, I mean that everyone shopped to their heart’s content.

My other must-see store, Cody & Sioux, was more of a disappointment; I didn’t find any of the pieces on my shopping list so, alas, it’s back to thrifting and Poshmark as far as that goes. Can you believe that none of these cowboy boots spoke to me?

After that, we stumbled on a few more fun places, including an arcade bar open to kids (much to my kids’ delight), a mid-century modern furniture store (much to my husband’s delight), and another bookstore (much to my delight).

Yeah, I bought more books. In fact, I bought nothing but books on this trip (and one random pair of jeans). I even persuaded the whole family to join me for quick stops at a couple of Value Villages, and all we came out with was … more books. I’m not mad about it. My To Be Read pile is about to get LIT!

We did go to the CrossIron Mills premium outlet mall outside Calgary as well, which was a big hit with the kids — we almost never go to malls at home, so there is a novelty factor. I think the prices were a bit of a shock to them, used as they are to mom’s thrift shopping, but they did enjoy a taste of shopping autonomy, not to mention the food court. For me, the mall was a bit of a disappointment, which is not unusual. I’m so used to thrifting that I find myself bored by the limited selection in regular stores; the only one I tend to enjoy is Winners/HomeSense because it has that same chaotic energy as thrift stores. The Polo outlet store was the biggest disappointment of all. There were only a few pieces that looked interesting and really had that Papa Ralph energy for me, and even those weren’t sufficiently “wow” to justify the retail price. The rest of the store looked very generic; I blame it on the fact that this was a “factory” store not a regular retail establishment. What I did find interesting is that they were selling both the Polo AND the Lauren Ralph Lauren brands; I thought that the latter was owned by a different company these days, and not under the same umbrella as Polo. I guess I was wrong.

All in all, it was a nice mini getaway, and it has us all hyped for our next summer adventure.

Details: Revel tulle overlay (thrift), Margiela skirt (swap), vintage jacket (gift), Marsell shoes (swap)

Thoughts: It’s been a while since I’ve done a “goth” look, and it felt nice to change it up. I would call this more of a “dark romantic” vibe than anything, which nicely fits in with my general aesthetic trends these days. The jacket was a gift from a dear friend on Instagram, who found it at her local thrift shop and thought it seemed very “me”. She wasn’t wrong! I love how a black background can transform a pattern — whether paisley, as here, or florals, for example — and give them a totally different feel.

Details: Diesel top (thrift), Margiela skirt (swap), Marsell shoes (swap), necklace (thrift)

Thoughts: This is an edgier look for me, but I was inspired by the two recent finds: this layered tank top (silk!!) and chunky necklace. I had been looking for a large, architectural, black necklace and this one fits the bill really well. I think it’s resin, so it’s much lighter than it looks. But in some ways the key piece here is the knit column skirt. It’s such an incredibly versatile piece — I’m wearing it in the first outfit as well. It works with a lot of different aesthetics and can be layered easily as well. Plus, being a knit, it’s super stretchy and comfortable.

Details: Toni T dickie, Susan Bristol vest, Ralph Lauren jacket, COS pants (all thrifted), J. Crew shoes (consignment)

Thoughts: A little RL-inspired outfit – this formula always works for me. But I decided that I didn’t love the jacket as much as I thought I would when I bought it. Whenever I’m thinking about purging an item from my closet, I like to give it another shot before I make my final decision. I liked this outfit, but not because of the jacket, so it confirmed that it’s time to move on. I passed on the jacket to a friend to see if she’d like it (and she can donate it if she doesn’t).

Details: Vince top, LizSport jacket, Everlane pants (all thrifted), Coach bag (ebay), Mia shoes (retail)

Thoughts: I’m so glad that I rediscovered this bag — look how the red makes this subtle pattern mix pop! I chose black (rather than denim) because I think that sharp contrast also makes the colours of the jacket and top stand out more. After pondering my options, I decided that a geometric pattern would be the best match for the southwestern pattern; I tried circles before, and now stripes.

Details: Gap dress (Poshmark), Aspeth coat (thrift), Brave belt (thrift), J. Crew shoes (retail)

Thoughts: Here is last summer’s fave dress … still a favourite this year. It’s so comfy and easy to wear, and I love the colour. I chose this terracotta coloured jacket to complement the turquoise and it works really well.

Summer is my peak thrift adventure season, so it’s a good time for a check-in about the State of The Thrift. What’s new, what am I seeing, what’s happening? Well, a few things; let’s unpack.

By now, I assume everyone knows that the parent company of Value Village (Savers in the US) is the Walmart conglomerate. What you may not have heard is that the Savers Value Village company, as it was recently renamed, issued its own IPO and is now trading on the stock market. And doing well, it seems. What this means for thrifters remains to be seen. The linked Globe & Mail article talks about plans to expand “boutique” stores in Canada, which is a concept I hate. Goodwill already jumped on that idea years ago, and their execution has been abysmal; thrift stores simply don’t have the knowledge and quality control to offer a well-curated secondhand shopping experience. They’re thrift stores, not consignment stores, and should stay in their lane.

As far as impact of the IPO on VV prices, who knows? I always assumed that, even before going public, the profit motive was strong at VV because of its connection to Walmart. It’s probably even stronger now because they have their own shareholders to please. I did notice a general price increase trend at VV a few years ago, but prices have actually been coming down (in my experience here) in the last year or so. Contrast that to Goodwill, which seems to be aiming to take their prices to the moon. That’s not to say that VV doesn’t thrift grift – i.e. arbitrarily jack up prices on some more “desirable” items – too, but it’s not as egregious as Goodwill, in my experience.

I think it comes down to this: thrift stores have to find the right balance between getting as much money on each item as they can, and moving a lot of inventory quickly (because so much stuff gets donated all the time and there is only so much space in a store). Price too high, and things sit too long. Price too low, and your profit margins shrink.

My sense – and this is just my gut – is that VV tends to favour volume of sales over price margins a little bit more than Goodwill. I find this especially true for housewares. Books, on the other hand, are an infinitely better deal at Goodwill currently; they are flat-priced at $2 a book, whereas VV prices books individually and often for more than they sold at retail (you can still see the original stickers sometimes which annoys me so much). Clothing-wise, 6-7 years ago, Goodwill offered much better deals than VV; now, they are generally on par except when it comes to Goodwill’s list of “premium brands” that are priced individually and way too high without regard for actual condition, quality or style. It’s also worth noting that, in Edmonton, Goodwill’s prices now start at $7 per item (tank tops, regardless of brand) and go up from there. At VV, it’s possible to find clothing items as low as $3-4.

So, yes, it will be interesting to see what happens with thrift prices over the next year or so. Increasing prices have been a trend across North America, if thrifting sub-Reddits are any indication. I am hoping this trend starts to reverse (or at least stabilize), particularly given what I am also seeing as far as the quality of inventory. Let’s talk about that next.

2018-2020 was peak Thrift Times in Edmonton. The amount of high end designer clothing you could find on a regular basis was INSANE. All of my best thrift scores are from that era. Nowadays, designer stuff is vanishingly rare and what can be found is generally a tier or two down from premium. Think Nordstrom Rack, not Neiman Marcus. Moving down the scale, even nicer mall brands in good condition – Anthro, Aritzia, J. Crew, etc. – are getting rarer. Zara and H&M are now some of the “best” trendy pieces to be found on a regular basis. Meanwhile, Shein is becoming more and more ubiquitous. Some of this can be attributed to what I call the Poshmark Effect – more people are selling their nicer pieces rather than donating – and some of it just reflects the clothing retail market. Shein and its ilk are suffocating the fashion industry (not to mention the environment).

Right now, the best bang for your buck, IMO, is the vintage 90s and early 2000s stuff that can still be found from time to time, assuming that suits your aesthetic. The quality is phenomenal when compared to current day items pretty much across the brand spectrum – and I am talking about non-fancy stuff like Gap, Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne, and so on. But this won’t last. I think we are seeing the last of these vintage remnants. In a few more years, people will have run out of 90s clothing to donate. The problem is that the quality of clothing started to go down beginning in the late 2000s, so what will get donated will be lower and lower quality as time goes on … until thrift stores will be nothing but racks of Shein.

This applies to housewares too, by the way. Lots of boomers are currently downsizing, so there is a steady influx of mid-century modern stuff making its way to thrift stores. Furniture is harder to come by, mostly because I think that gets sold on Facebook Marketplace or snapped up at estate sales (always worth checking!). But, again, as time goes on, I think we will see a trend of mass produced, cheap goods replacing the quality of yore.

Am I being too pessimistic? Maybe. But my advice right now is: get out and thrift while you can.

Aja Barber recently made a post on Instagram where she talked about how luxury fashion is more sustainable simply because people treat their expensive purchases differently than cheap ones; they buy less, wear more and take better care of the “nice stuff”. Yes, this is inherently classist. But the point is that anything can be more sustainable if you treat it like it. Decent quality can be found at various price points (including fast fashion brands like H&M) but you need to be able to recognize it and, once acquired, to know how to take care of it so it lasts.

You might think that thrifting contributes to an everything-is-disposable mindset, but in my experience that hasn’t been the case. I appreciate the clothes I thrift because it takes more effort to find them than walking into a retail store and picking something off the rack. In a way, each item is a “one off”. Even though I spend comparatively little money on each piece, I take a lot of care to maintain them in good shape so that, if and when they no longer serve me, I can donate them back knowing that they can be used again. My goal is to donate things in a condition where I would not be embarrassed to offer them to a friend. I think people who treat thrift stores like a garbage dump tend to be people who don’t actually thrift themselves, and that’s a shame.

And that’s my pitch for why thrifting is a great way to increase the sustainability of your closet: it’s not only a form of recycling, but it can encourage an attitude shift that also contributes to circularity. Win, win. So, what are you waiting for? Thrift, baby, thrift!