Getting Thrifty!
Former Whittier Poet Shakes Up Denver’s Thrift Scene With Sustainable, Budget-Friendly Style
At 11 am, the front door of Loop Littleon: Thrift and Consignment, located just outside of Denver, swings open and in walks the day’s first customers: two young girls who appear to be best friends. Their eyes are wide as they hunt for secondhand deals to spruce up their spring wardrobe.
The door slams loudly behind them and Adele Cardenas, who sits behind the cash register attempting to relax after completing the opening shift duties, snaps to attention. The two friends head to Loop’s athletic-wear section in unison and right away Cardenas knows exactly what brand they are looking for.
As she moves out from the cash register her baby pink skirt gently brushes the worn-wood flooring while her black Asics high-tops peek out. Various shoes sit atop of the circular racks that form a distinct path through the store. The pair splits up and Cardenas waits patiently to see if her help is requested. She hears one girl say to another, “OMG this is so cute and only $10! You for sure need it!”
If you haven’t gone thrifting before, respectfully, what are you doing? Buying second hand is giving retail shopping a run for its money as customers are looking to save money while trying to consume more conscientiously. In fact, 82 percent of Americans are buying and or selling second hand items. The popularity of thrifting skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic as people looked to switch up their quarantine wardrobes on a budget. Social media also plays a role in bringing the idea of second hand shopping to more people as users create “thrift hauls” on TikTok and wait to go viral The hashtag itself has around 3.1 billion views.
While secondhand and consignment shoppers are usually perusing the racks for their own closets, some have started reselling the items they thrift to make a profit. One company that makes this process easy is Depop. Sellers on the site can post their items with an attached description and buyers can conveniently purchase through the site. While some shoppers are satisfied hunting through thrift stores such as Loop, others would prefer to hunt from the comfort of their own bed and companies such as Depop and ThredUP provide that experience.
Still need a nudge to go out and try secondhand shopping? It’s also an environmentally friendly way to participate in some retail therapy. With fashion trends changing at the speed of light, fashion production has increased to the point where over 100 billion new garments are being produced each year. Since trends are constantly on the move, consumers are quick to switch out their closet, contributing to fashion waste. As a result, 73 percent of apparel ends up in landfills, when the majority of it should actually be reused or recycled.
Seventy-three precent of apparel ends up in landfills
ThredUP, which is known as the largest online thrift store, will measure your impact on the planet as you buy. For example, the site calculates how many miles of driving emissions are avoided and how many glasses of water are saved based on how many purchases you make. This encourages consumers to be more mindful with their shopping habits. If you’re looking to start thrifting locally, check out Melrose Vintage and Rag House located right in Uptown Whittier!
During her slower shifts at Loop, Cardenas often thought about what it would be like to start her own vintage business. After inquiring with her boss about the behind-the-scenes of the business and growing a small collection of delicate items she had sourced, Cardena decided to apply to have a booth at a market called Fourth Place Block Party. This was back in September in 2022. The market opens on Saturday and the night before, her nerves were running so rampant that she almost forgot to give her business a name. This is the Kit Thrift origin story.
At the heart of Kit Thrift is Cardenas’s love of finding unique vintage pieces. After her shift at Loop, she heads out to one of her favorite thrift spots to see what she can find. As she sorts through the blouse section her hands move carefully, feeling first for the right texture and then checking for a vintage tag or something that indicates age. Cardenas is unapologetic as she skims through and passes on the majority of what she sees.
Suddenly her eyes grow wide, and her hands freeze as she pulls “the one” out of the crowd. This top is what she would describe as her bread and butter. It’s got dainty lace details and it’s a neutral color. To her, sourcing for Kit isn’t about what will appeal to everyone or what is most likely to sell. It’s about curating a selection that is a reflection of her own style.
With the addition of a handful of gently worn items, including a blouse from the 70’s, Cardenas makes a few more stops on her way home to fluff up her collection for the upcoming Tags n Tats monthly market. When she returns home, greeted by loud barking, she retreats to her room to start pricing her most recent finds so they’re ready to go in the morning.
It’s about curating a selection that is a reflection of her own style.
At Mullen High School, a private Catholic school in Denver, Cardenas enrolled in her first drawing class. In that classroom, what started as something she got into for fun turned into a subject with homework she actually looked forward to doing. Through the completion of unique assignments, she found a way to express herself creatively. It finally clicked for her when she completed a portrait of Cara Delevingne, a famous model, during this class. It was so phenomenal that her chunky Newfoundland named Kona ate it in one bite!
While Cardenas started with physical forms of art like drawing and painting, after the start of her freshman year at Whittier College she began finding her sense of style. This was the first time she did not have to wear her uniform to school which began her shift from drawing and painting to expressing her creativity while getting dressed every morning.
As a Whittier College Poet she focused on psychology courses until spontaneously enrolling in her first graphic-design class. Professor Brody Albert created the perfect storm where she felt encouraged to try new ideas without pressure of harsh critique. She found fulfillment in this form of art. When the Covid-19 pandemic keeping people at home, Cardena decided to transfer to the University of Colorado, Denver and pursue design, leaving psychology behind. Keeping her love of fashion and thrifting alive during this time, she realized that she gravitated towards finding ways to incorporate aspects of clothing, textures, and fashion-week content in her projects.
This past March’s Tags n Tat’s, a monthly event that encourages “spontaneity and sutainability, according to 303 Magazine,is extra special because it celebrated its one-year anniversary. Given how competitive the thrifting scene is in Denver, Tags n Tat’s founder Sydney Swing jumped on the opportunity to bring it to life just six months after her moving to the mile-high city from Saint Louis. She envisioned having a little bit of everything, from second-hand clothing vendors to jewelry and pottery. One thing she knew for sure is that tattoos had to be involved because of the added element of spontaneity.
She explains that having the ability to get a random tattoo allows people to “let their guard down and be vulnerable.” Because her vision is specific, she meticulously picks vendors who truly care about what they’re selling. For the many customers who stop by and come back month after month, she hopes to convert them to shopping small and shopping second hand through appreciation of unique vendors.
Swing has been able to make this part of her full-time job and hire people such as Cardenas to help her out. In the hunt for a sidekick and assistant, Swing says Cardenas stood out because of her eagerness to learn and the authenticity behind her intentions. What started as looking to hire some extra help, turned into a fun-loving friendship where they can learn from each other. Everytime they do a pop-up market together, Swing says they’re “talking life, smoking a j and having fun.”
The instrumental of “Oh! Tengo Suerte” by Masayoshi Takanaka plays loudly on repeat in the background. On Cardenas’ dresser, a forgotten can of Diet Coke has lost its carbonation and remnants of sugar cookies covered in translucent green sprinkles have been nibbled to crumbs. She emerges from her closet and goes straight for the mirror that leans gently against her wall. As she checks her appearance she tucks, then untucks her shirt. She rotates in a circle trying to get a view from every angle without getting dizzy.
Layers of chunky necklaces arranged in the most imperfectly perfect way might be the answer, but when she takes a second to evaluate her potential shoe options she finally exclaims with a laugh, “That’s it, I’m not going!”
She has to be at the Tags n Tat’s venue in 20 minutes, yet her mind wanders elsewhere as she strips back down, tosses the rejected items into a pile on the floor and retreats into her closet for a second try.
This time, as she starts to pick at her lips, deep in thought, Cardenas reflects back to the bubbly besties that popped into Loop the other day. She quickly pictures one of the girls who wore an eye-catching pair of kelly green sneakers that added a pop of color to her rather neutral outfit. She decides to run with that as some extra inspiration and throws on her trusty Adidas Sambas, a pair of muted pin-striped trousers, a quirky graphic baby tee and a bright pink scarf.
Wary of the time crunch, she snags one last bite of sugar cookie and gathers her newly tagged items and some extra pink felt hangers. Before she heads out she spins quickly, tosses the items on her bed and laughs, “I have to take a fit check before I go!”
