As junior Gracie Baisa decides to go on a shopping spree, she is stuck between the choice of online shopping from the convenience of her home, or spending a day at the mall. For her, each option has its benefits, but deciding between the two depends on multiple factors.
Quality of clothes is an aspect that plays a large role in Baisa deciding what to purchase. She enjoys going to the mall, where she can feel product quality to determine whether it is worth her money.
“All of the clothes being made in recent years are being made with synthetics, like rayon and polyester. It’s rare that you see an all cotton or wool brand,” Baisa said.
Mall shopping also provides shoppers with diverse forms of entertainment that stretch past clothing, which Baisa believes contributes to the appeal.
“There’s a lot of places to go in the mall. You can go to Santana Row, get some food, check out all these shops, and I think the social aspect is bigger than the actual clothing buying aspect of it,” Baisa said.
Besides going to malls and specific name-brand stores, English teacher Annie Breger highlighted the unique aspects of thrifting that makes the experience appealing to her.
“You’re not spending money on mass produced things. You’re giving money towards a second hand article of clothing that isn’t producing more environmental waste, or adding to the mass production of clothes, which is a big problem,” Breger said.
Senior Priscilla Lei also agreed that thrifting can offer shoppers non-mainstream styles to select from.
“All the clothes are just together. It’s much easier to find stuff that you wouldn’t pick up in a store. It’s just like more opportunities to find something that I wouldn’t usually wear,” Lei said.
Lei highlighted the low-cost aspect of thrifting that attracts her to explore different styles.
“If I go to a (name-brand) store, I’m usually always looking for something specific. In stores, clothes are more expensive, so I don’t want to browse around for other stuff,” Lei said. “But when I’m thrifting, I don’t mind browsing around the other stuff because it doesn’t cost as much. There is really unique stuff there, and I like having stuff that nobody else has.”
Following the Covid-19 quarantine regulations, Breger observed that individuals continued to shop online due to comfortability and convenience even after regulations were lifted.
“A lot of that ramped up when Covid hit because people just didn’t want to go out, for obvious reasons. But then that kind of became the new routine and the new norm, and people have just decided to stay with that,” Breger said.
Along with the positives of online shopping, Lei has noticed an increase in small businesses because of the easy accessibility and cost effectiveness of online platforms.
“It’s much easier to create a store online anyway, so a lot of people are starting their own clothing brands. It’s so much easier than opening a physical store,” Lei said.
Through social media, junior Landon Madanes was introduced to one such small business, where he continues to shop.
“Social media has a good impact because I actually saw a website for a different small brand (Abakada) on Instagram and I shop from there now, so I think it’s really impactful ‘cause it shipped from different places,” Madanes said.
Lei also believes that online shopping creates accessibility for individuals who do not have the privilege to be located near malls and clothing stores.
“We live in the Bay Area, so we can go out and shop whenever we want,” Lei said. “Some people don’t have the privilege to do that, so it’s great because it gives people who live in more rural areas a chance to get clothes that are trendy.”
With the variety of shopping platforms available for students to learn more about their shopping interests, Breger mentioned the importance of staying true to one’s self and their preferred style.
“A lot of things are ‘trendy,’ and that’s great, but don’t be afraid to buy what you want to buy and wear what you want to wear, even if no one else is wearing it,” Breger said. “You could be the person to start the next cool thing.”