Episode 233: Making the secondhand economy more equitable, with Valeria of Thryft Ship

Welcome to Clotheshorse, the podcast that is just so happy that spring has arrived.

I’m your host, Amanda and this is episode 233.  So…it’s 2025.  We’re almost halfway through this year and there are literally so many things happening right now that are scary, tragic, and rage inducing….sometimes it can feel overwhelming to choose what you want to process and react to first. Because, wow, we have our hands full right now! Yet social media is still full of myths about reselling, thrifting, and who “deserves” secondhand clothes. 

Yeah, people are still fighting about who can buy, wear, and sell secondhand clothing on social media. I’ve been tagged in numerous posts over the past few weeks.  And last week I rolled my eyes so hard they practically fell out of my head when I scrolled past a post on Threads that said something like “I guess we’re going to see more gentrification of thrift stores now because of the tariffs,” followed by lots of hand wringing about resellers “stealing” clothes from “poor” people.

I’m bored with it.  Online squabbles about who should have access to secondhand clothing and where they are “allowed” to buy it are distractions from the larger issues facing the world right now.

Furthermore, these battles take the focus off of the real villains: the fashion industry and its overproduction of low quality clothing made of synthetic fibers.

Also: it’s super divisive in a time where we need like-minded people to work together, not against one another.   And yes, I do sometimes wonder if SHEIN and Temu are paying people to start online arguments about thrifting… because fighting  about this  only benefits fast fashion! With tariffs and the end of the de minimis loophole, these companies are feeling worried…I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more “anti thrifting” messaging on social media. Keep your eyes out for it!

While I’m bored and tired of fighting back against these kinds of messages, I also know that the future is secondhand…or more specifically: we need to collectively cut our consumption of new clothing by 75%. Which means we need most people buying secondhand clothing most of the time.  And that means that the circular economy–the secondhand economy–needs to grow and flourish.  Right now we live in a “golden era” of shopping secondhand…if you’re the customer! But the infrastructure as it exists right now for the people doing the work of finding, repairing, cleaning, and selling secondhand clothing is…not perfect. It’s not equitable. It has a long way to go to be better. 

I receive a lot of emails from people who want to make a career shift into sustainability.  They reach out to me for advice, to see if I have any connections, etc.  And I generally don’t know what to say to them because there isn’t much to say.  I also steer them towards the Conscious Fashion Collective, which has a jobs board and other resources for sustainable fashion professionals.

But really, what i should start telling them is…look for ways to help make the secondhand supply chain more efficient and equitable.  Brainstorm and develop tools that can grow this essential part of our economy. Think more about circular solutions beyond even clothing.  Because a better future requires a better secondhand system!

That’s all a long introduction to this week’s guest: Valeria, CEO and founder of Thryft Ship, a company that uses technology to make it easier for secondhand resellers to ship affordably and efficiently, particularly if they sell on Instagram and Facebook Marketplace.  And as Valeria will explain in this episode, often these platforms make the most financial sense for resellers because they aren’t dealing with the high fees of the other platforms.  But organizing shipping from these platforms is really difficult.  So Valeria developed a tool to make it easier!

And in this episode, we are going to dissect how and why the current state of secondhand resale isn’t equitable for the people doing the work:

• We will break down the reality of the fees that these platforms are charging (and how it makes running a financially sustainable business nearly impossible for secondhand resellers),
• We will talk about how the socially ingrained expectation of free shipping makes that even more difficult, 
• And we will discuss how this system could be better! Maybe it will get some of you thinking about new tools and systems for the secondhand economy!
• And also, Valeria will explain why the secondhand reseller community is so amazing.

Now, I’ll admit that we recorded this interview months ago, but I kept pushing out this episode due to a million other factors, not least of all the illnesses that made me miss a few weeks of episodes this year and the everchanging/chaotic state of the world right now that had me move things around and create new episodes.  So one thing I said in our conversation feels super out of date: I said that I hadn’t been seeing a lot of anti-reseller/arguments about thrifting online. Well that must have just been because we were all in collective shock about the election and the first few weeks of the Trump presidency, because wow, that stuff is back on social media in a big way.  I always just recommend that people take a listen to the episodes Alex of St. Evens and I did back in 2023 about the ethics of reselling, because I stand by them. They are the most comprehensive dissection of the secondhand economy that I have encountered.  Not-so-humble brag, I guess!  I would also recommend that you–if you haven’t already–check out Alex’s incredible Substack, 1-800-Vintage. I’m going to share a recent piece she wrote about how she no-longer calls herself a “reseller,” rather she uses “vintage dealer.” It’s a great read!  It also raises the question: what should we call secondhand resellers who are selling contemporary clothing, rather than vintage? I agree that it’s time for a name change because “reseller” applies to just about anyone selling something out there that they didn’t make with their own hands.  And when you’re selling secondhand, it’s very specialized and speaks to a list of important skills and tasks involved in finding, curating, repairing, cleaning, and selling secondhand items.  I don’t have an answer here….but I want to hear from you! What do YOU think we should call “secondhand resellers?” Send your answers my way!

Okay, with all of that, let’s jump into my conversation with Valeria!