Tired of fast-fashion fads that empty your wallet and fill our landfills?
Looking for a more sustainable way to express your personal style?
Then this episode is for you! Today we’re diving into the world of thrifting and conscious consumerism with Macy Eleni –– the Internet’s resident thrift queen on a mission to reinvent the fashion entertainment space using secondhand clothing as a vessel for storytelling. Throughout our chat, Macy shares her journey from a teen in Ohio discovering the joys of thrift shopping to becoming a leading voice in sustainable fashion. We explore how to break free from the cycle of overconsumption, find incredible secondhand gems, and protect both your wallet and the environment.
You’ll come away with practical tips for spotting high-quality pieces, a new mindset on how to extend the life of your favorite finds, and plenty of real-talk about the intersection of privilege, ethics, and style. Let’s jump right into “How to Stop Overconsumption and Thrift Like a Pro” so you can shop smarter and live more sustainably.
Key takeaways
Shift Your Mindset About “New” vs. “Used”
We often think we need to buy items new for them to be high-quality or “hygienic.” Macy reveals that much of what we deem “brand-new” in stores is often tried on or returned, and not necessarily any fresher than secondhand finds.
Donating Thoughtfully Makes a Difference
Simply dropping off clothing at major thrift chains doesn’t guarantee it stays local. Macy encourages donating good-quality pieces to shelters and organizations that directly serve people in need.
Three Es of Fashion: Economics, Environment, and Ethics
Macy’s framework highlights how thrifting saves money, reduces waste, and supports fair working conditions by minimizing support for exploitative fast-fashion brands.
Tailoring and Repair to Extend the Life of Clothes
Finding a great cobbler or tailor can transform a worn-out piece into a wardrobe staple. Even with vintage or thrifted treasures, small adjustments can make them fit and feel brand-new.
Size Inclusivity in Thrifting
Macy and I discuss the challenges of finding plus-size clothing secondhand. She offers tips like searching online thrift platforms for extended sizes and looking to the men’s section for more options.
Community Mindset
Thrifting isn’t just a shopping strategy—it’s a community. Macy encourages everyone, regardless of income, to balance taking resources with giving back through donations, local advocacy, and mindful purchasing.
Notable quotes
“The industry doesn’t want you thinking about the women who make your clothes. They want them to be invisible, but they matter. If we say we support women, let’s really mean it.”
“Nothing feels better than wearing something that’s actually made to fit you, rather than you trying to fit into it.”
“I see this all the time in fashion: when it’s rich, high-fashion people doing it, it’s called ‘archival’ or ‘vintage.’ But if you’re at the Goodwill bins because you truly need clothes, people look at it differently—and that’s just not okay.”
Episode at-a-glance
≫ 02:02 The Underconsumption Movement
≫ 02:24 Thrifting tips, challenges & ethics
≫ 05:42 The evolution of thrifting
≫ 16:19 The Three E’s of fashion
≫ 20:39 De-influencing and conscious consumerism
≫ 28:48 Thoughtful donations and global impact
≫ 34:34 Influencers and fast fashion
≫ 35:20 The hidden costs of cheap clothing
≫ 41:54 Thrifting for all body types
≫ 53:04 Thrifting etiquette and community
≫ 56:49 Lightning round: thrifting tips and insights
Macy’s Links:
Youtube: Blazed and Glazed
Book: Second Chances
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Meet Macy
Macy Eleni is an LA-based digital personality, mental health advocate, and the internet’s resident “Thrift Queen” on a mission to reinvent the fashion entertainment space, using secondhand clothing as a vessel for storytelling. Raised by a single mother in Dayton, Ohio, Macy used thrift shopping as a way to express herself as she battled depression and childhood trauma, since, trading trying on her finds for her mom and sister in the Midwest, for sharing her sparkle with millions across the globe. Today, Eleni boasts hundreds of millions of views and nearly 900K dedicated followers with appearances on On Air with Ryan Seacrest and the CBS national evening news. As well as featured articles in NYLON Magazine, Vogue Business, The Los Angeles, Times, and many more, creating space for a more sustainable, ethical and inclusive type of fashion-based content. She has partnered with major brands namely, Coach, Moschino, YouTube, and Major League Soccer. Her debut book, Second Chances, a first of its kind ultimate guide to thrifting, secondhand style, and expressing your most authentic self, is slated with Simon and Schuster for Fall 2024.
Transcript:
Tori Dunlap:
If you’re looking to become an expert thrifter in 2025 and how to make your clothes last longer while protecting the environment, let’s get into it.
Hi, financial feminists. Welcome to the show. My name is Tori. I am a New York Times bestselling author. I host this show, which is the number one money podcast for women in the world and we’ve helped 5 million women save money, pay off debt, start investing, and start businesses. This is my favorite thing to do in the world is give you actionable resources to better your money. We know that you subscribing to this show allows you to implement this information into your life. Sharing it with friends allows you to talk about it. We really appreciate you subscribing and sharing this episode so that you can connect with your friends and get this information right into your brain. And if you are brand, brand new to the show, one of the best things you can do is take our free money personality quiz. It gives you a free personalized money plan for wherever you’re at in your financial life. You can go to herfirsthundredk.com/quiz. It is also linked down below in the show notes.
Today’s guest is a fun one. Macy Eleni is an LA-based digital personality, mental health advocate, and the Internet’s resident thrift queen on a mission to reinvent the fashion entertainment space using secondhand clothing as a vessel for storytelling. Macy boasts hundreds of millions of views and nearly 900,000 dedicated followers with appearances on On Air with Ryan Seacrest and the CBS National Evening News. She has also been featured in Nylon Magazine, Vogue Business, the LA Times, and more, creating space for a more sustainable, ethical and inclusive type of fashion-based content. Her debut book, Second Chances, is out wherever you get your books, it’s the first of its kind. It’s an ultimate guide to thrifting secondhand style and expressing your most authentic self. As you can imagine, we are getting into all things thrifting and conscious consuming.
I don’t know about you… No, I do know because this is how social media works. Feeds, conversations with friends, it’s been full of the underconsumption movement because it’s been a response to the hyperconsumption movement and I think in the face of extreme overconsumption, it is a great reminder that there are more sustainable and ethical ways to still shop and to still buy clothes and items you love without contributing to these exploitative practices and also to climate change. So in this episode we get into how to thrift. This is my biggest question, especially as someone in a not skinny body, where Macy finds her biggest finds and how she navigates the thrift store experience, how to make your clothes last longer, including how to find materials that are actually going to last more than a couple of wash cycles. We also tackle the frustration that I have, which is this lack of size diversity and how to make sure that we are finding clothes that actually fit us when thrifting because it’s slightly more challenging and by slightly I mean a lot more challenging.
We also chat about how to thrift ethically and to support your local community and this conversation of like, “If you’re thrifting, are you taking resources away from the people who truly need it?” So this is just a really beautiful, nuanced conversation. This is the kind of conversation of why I started the show period, because we get to sit down and actually dig in, give you really actionable advice, but also have a really interesting conversation about this in a way, environmentally, socially, et cetera. So really excited for you to hear this conversation. Let’s get into it.
But first a word from our sponsors.
The Von Dutch purse behind you all I think now is Charli XCX. She’s done a great job. She’s just, yeah.
Macy Eleni:
And I found this maybe a month after the song, the remix came out to it and I found this at a Savers thrift store for literally nothing, brand new, like dead stock from back in the day, and I made a TikTok to the sound, of course I had to.
Tori Dunlap:
As you should. Is it the best album of the year? That’s how I’m going to ask you. I’m going to ask you the hardest question.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, I mean I’m a brat through and through, but I’ve been a Charli XCX fan since Boom Clap. I’ve been riding with her.
Tori Dunlap:
Me too.
Macy Eleni:
So I’m just happy everyone’s catching up to the vibe.
Tori Dunlap:
What is the song? Oh my God, lavender Lamborghini. Do you know that song that I’m talking about? “On the West Side.”
Macy Eleni:
Yes.
Tori Dunlap:
What is it? Oh, fuck.
Macy Eleni:
There’s only one I can think of. Vroom Vroom.
Tori Dunlap:
Vroom Vroom. Thank you.
Macy Eleni:
Yes.
Tori Dunlap:
It’s a perfect song. “All my life.”
Macy Eleni:
“I’ve been waitin’ for a good time.”
Tori Dunlap:
I know, I know. I’m dead over all of the Gen Z girls coming to Charli XCX now and it’s like, yeah, she’s a millennial-
Macy Eleni:
She is.
Tori Dunlap:
… and very cool.
Macy Eleni:
She’s very cool. We’re very cool, actually.
Tori Dunlap:
We’ve talked already on this show about what a bloodbath the best album at the Grammys is going to be and it’s just going to be all women. It’s Beyonce and Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift.
Macy Eleni:
And Sabrina and all the girls.
Tori Dunlap:
Yes. It’s just going to be nuts.
Macy Eleni:
Literally my boyfriend’s whole entire playlist this summer has been all the pop girlies. He’s like, “That’s all I listen to.”
Tori Dunlap:
Oh yeah, I got in my partner’s car and he’s blasting Good Luck Babe. And I’m like-
Macy Eleni:
Oh, yes.
Tori Dunlap:
… attaboy, let’s go. Because he’s not on TikTok, I was like, “You know who this is?” And he’s like, “Yeah.” I was like, “Great.”
Macy Eleni:
He’s not either. He has no social media platforms at all and he gets it all through me and through the universe.
Tori Dunlap:
Yes. Literally. He’s like, “Oh, I’m on Facebook or Instagram Reels,” and I’m like, “Yeah, I saw that three weeks ago, but I love that you’re seeing it now.”
Macy Eleni:
They’re always on a delay.
Tori Dunlap:
Always. I’m just so excited to have you. This is going to be a really fun conversation. We’re talking about thrifting today. We’re talking about de-influencing. You learned about thrifting from your mom when you were a teen living in Ohio and actually, fun side note, I was just in Cincinnati. It was lovely. That was my first time there. Where in Ohio are you from?
Macy Eleni:
Oh, for the Forbes thing?
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah, yeah.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, yeah. I saw some of my friends at that. I’m from Dayton, which is only 40 minutes away from Cincinnati.
Tori Dunlap:
I thought it was really cute, Cincy was very unexpected. I was like, “Oh, she’s kind of cute.” She’s got the bridge.
Macy Eleni:
They actually have really, really good thrifting. I was just there recently because I did a little pre-book tour stop at my hometown Plato’s Closet I used to sell at. I took a little drive to Cincinnati and the antique mall game there was out of this world craziness, so would recommend to anyone.
Tori Dunlap:
I am not shocked by that. All right, I’ll have to go back and bring an empty suitcase. What really sold you about thrifting, especially once you decided to talk about it professionally?
Macy Eleni:
I mean what really sold me on thrifting was just that it was how I got the clothes that I wanted growing up. I really started falling in love with fashion when I was 15, 16 years old. I was just obsessed with every piece of physical fashion media that I could get my hands on. I plastered my bedroom walls in the basement of my mom’s house in every page of Nylon and Teen Vogue, and I loved that it was a place that I could go and escape my less than sparkly reality of my home life and just go and be one with the clothes and buy things that I could afford and recreate these outfits that I wanted to recreate so badly.
And it just gave me this escape. It gave me this place to really build myself up at a time when I felt like a lot of things were stripping me of joy, whether that was at home or at school, it was my safe space and I had no clue that I was manifesting everything that I do now back then, especially I even look back to putting those pages of those magazines all over my walls. I was literally vision boarding before I even knew what a vision board was, because those are the same magazines that now I’ve been in for thrifting and it’s really crazy to look back on those old things because I literally would record my thrift trips back in 2010 on a flip cam for my first ever YouTube channel, Fashion Outsider 09, before we knew if it was okay to put our real names on the internet, type of vibes, and it was just my safe space and I had no idea that it would turn into what it has now because obviously at that time, thrifting was not cool. The girls at my school did not think it was cool and it was just looked at in a completely different way than it is now.
And when I started sharing about it, I mean my TikTok is what took off in 2020 and that’s when I really started making a ton of videos about thrifting and estate sales because I saw such a lack for that in the fashion community. I’ve always watched fashion YouTube and anything I could get my hands on and my eyes on fashion-wise, and I always felt like there was this drought of people talking about used clothing, which has always been my path in fashion. Fashion’s never really existed for me without recreating it through used clothing and I didn’t feel like there was any content for the girlies like that, that related to the same things as me. So it felt like something I had to put out because it’s my only lane and avenue I’ve ever known in fashion.
Tori Dunlap:
You just mentioned, I want to talk about, because I feel like I guess girls is the thing I’m thinking about. You would never see Regina George in secondhand clothing, right?
Macy Eleni:
No, that was the time of the mall girls, like fully.
Tori Dunlap:
Right. So can we talk about that transition? Because I do feel like thrifting is now the cool thing to do, or it’s fun to find a piece that no one else has, or that feels unique, or that is sustainable, but back in the day, lik, ew, gross.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, I mean even honestly, I just did my first book signing in New York two days ago and I had girls coming up being like, “My mom still thinks it’s so gross and thinks that-“
Tori Dunlap:
Oh, interesting.
Macy Eleni:
“… thrifting equals that you don’t have enough money, equals being poor.” And I think for a lot of people, I feel like our society’s just done that in general, it’s very, if it’s new and fresh and young, it’s good. And if it’s old and used, it’s bad. And I feel like people have this really classist idea that goes back so far and has probably been from their parents and their parents on who buys used things. And for a lot of my followers, I’ve had people reach out being like, “I want to thrift so bad, but my parents think that that equals we’re not doing well enough financially,” or these things, these ideas that have been put in our head.
So it’s been really crazy to see the shift, which I think has honestly come from all of the access we have to how our clothing is made, all the access we have. When I was growing up, the blinders were very on because I feel like how our clothing was being made and what it was doing to the environment that was kept under very tight lock and key because we didn’t have TikTok and YouTube to the extent we have now on Instagram and all these podcasts and people really lifting all the blinders and showing people what is really going on. Even when I was still shopping at Forever 21 for really cheap things in high school, I feel like we all just thought these things were being pushed out of the back of the mall in mass quantities and we just had no idea where it was coming from and it was this very out of sight, out of mind mentality, which obviously a lot of people still use, but I think it’s getting a lot harder to claim ignorance on where all of our clothing comes from.
Tori Dunlap:
Well, and I literally wrote thrifting equals poor, which is what you said right out… The belief, I think about this a lot as someone who talks about money of, there are certain things that are cool if rich people do it and bad or gross if poor people do it. And I feel like thrifting could be labeled as one of those things. It’s like either-
Macy Eleni:
No, it totally is.
Tori Dunlap:
… yeah, I’m rich and so I have the time and the luxury to find those pieces and to curate my closet and I’m so cool because I have this limited edition whatever, or because I’ve put together this outfit, versus poor people, this is the life. You don’t have the option of going to the mall and buying something new.
Macy Eleni:
No, it’s almost looked at like, I see this all the time in fashion, too. It’s like when it’s rich, high fashion people doing it’s like archival, vintage, it’s amazing.
Tori Dunlap:
It’s curation.
Macy Eleni:
Oh my God, how did you get that? How did you curate that? And it’s like, oh, but if you’re doing it at the Goodwill bins or the Salvation Army just because you need your clothing, it’s looked at in a different way. And it’s like, where do you think all of that other stuff came from? Those people got them from thrift stores and put them into these high-end spaces and presented them then to these people this way because yeah, certain people need secondhand clothing presented to them in certain ways to understand the value of it. I mean, every time I get one of those messages, it makes me so sad. I mean, I had a girl at my sign and literally buy another copy of the book for her mom, and she’s like, “I’m going to show her this and make her read every page to understand what this actually is and how cool it is and how important it is for so many different reasons.”
Tori Dunlap:
Well, and let’s talk about those reasons because why do we feel like it’s more in vogue now? Why do we feel like it’s more socially acceptable? It’s definitely from folks like you and the access to information about this, I imagine it’s definitely part of the sustainability factor here. So what are the reasons that thrifting has become cool?
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, like you said, I think it does go back a lot to the blinders being lifted. And when I started making TikToks, I felt like in 2020 it was reaching all of these younger people that actually were giving a shit about our planet and it literally being on fire and the fashion industry being one of the biggest contributors to that, just pumping out shit at an astronomical level. And then when you bring in, at that same time in 2020, the TikTok influencer boom, that was like, “Buy my Amazon shit,” and link, link, link, link, link. Because I am someone who’s, I’ve been watching YouTube since it started and I’ve seen this influencer rise and what that is. And it definitely, TikTok brought in this new boom of how many views and numbers could come in on a video versus a YouTube video. So it did give these fashion influencers just so much more access to people and their buying powers and it’s blown up so many fast fashion brands into another dimension.
And so I feel like people like me trying to combat that and make fashion content that’s almost similar to what those people do. I’m still doing a fashion haul. I’m still showing you the new trends, but I’m showing you a way to do it in a more sustainable way that’s accessible to you because sustainable brands are great and it’s great that brands are taking very tiny baby steps to be more sustainable, but at the same time, they’re still making new clothes, they’re also really expensive and they’re also oftentimes not size inclusive.
So these small sustainable brands, as much as it is great to support them, there’s really just still so much out there. And so I try to, because talking about sustainability and stuff like that, it can be so daunting, overwhelming, and intimidating. And I’m not someone who really learns that way, or ever has connected with information that way. I connect to it through a person, like a lot of us do, we connect to people before anything else. So I feel like me making almost similar content to what influencers do that make fast fashion hauls and are always showing new stuff, but showing that you can do that 24/7 completely with used clothing, I hope. I do feel like that’s contributed a lot to people getting a different idea of what thrifting looks like.
Tori Dunlap:
And one of my favorite examples too is when we see A-list actors rewear their dresses at award shows or I think… Who was it recently that literally wore the exact same outfit, just two different ways? Oh, it was one of the Bridgerton women.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah. She was great.
Tori Dunlap:
She was photographed in the morning for a press junket and then went on Colbert, I think, and had the exact same outfit but just styled it slightly differently. And I think that that is one, really just great that people are doing that in general, but two, that the media is covering it in a way that’s great and not in a way that’s hot or not from the 2000s of, “Ew, she rewore.” Like, you know.
Macy Eleni:
And that’s how it used to be. You’d read about it and it would be like, almost like a side eye like, “Can she not afford a new dress? What’s going on here?” And now, I mean sustainability and thrifting and used clothing is talked about in a completely different way in the media. And I think that’s also due in part to younger, newer voices coming up in the editorial space and having different opinions and different insights on clothing and that it’s cool to rewear things. Oh my God, I was already obsessed with Bridgerton, obsessed with her, and then that took me to another level.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah, totally. I want to talk about your three Es of fashion and how that developed throughout your story. Switching from fast fashion to sustainable options.
Macy Eleni:
The three Es are pretty much my personal pillars of sustainability and I wanted to use it in my book as a way to walk people through these three key pillars to sustainability for me, but also it really encompasses my journey to not shopping fast fashion at all because I was thrifting when I was growing up, but I also was, I worked at Forever 21 in high school and I was, at that point, it was all about the first E, economics. For me, it was just like, I can get the things I want cheap. I was a teenager, I was in a very me, me, me mentality, like a lot of teens are where I was thinking about myself all the time and what I could get for cute and what I could get for cheap. And I would just come home from Salvation Army with literal trash bags of clothes and be like, “I got all of this for $10.”
And it was just amazing and it was a great way to play with style and find myself through style. But it really was the first time it started to show me that the thrift store could really blur the divide between what people can afford and what they can’t. I think the fashion industry in general has always wanted to have this exclusive divide on who can afford what and who can’t touch that. And so when the thrift store can provide you with… I mean, I will never forget my little sister finding me Prada kitten heels for $4 for my birthday when we were younger and losing her mind, they were zebra. I still have them. I’ve had them cobbled multiple times, because I will never get rid of them. But those sitting there at Salvation Army and giving someone that couldn’t afford that, the chance to own them, and to wear them, and to enjoy them, I feel like that’s just amazing and that’s everything.
And also shopping at local thrift stores and stuff, it’s just pouring money back into your community when it’s like a local mom and pop shop. And then we go from economics into the environment. And for me, that was where in college I started to really start to understand the global climate crisis. And I always say thrifting for me did not start, I didn’t care about the environment. As bad as that sounds, it’s so true. It was so just about getting cute clothes. And when I realized that the fashion industry was such a polluter, I had held it on this pedestal for my entire life. Living in Ohio, I was like, “Oh my God, this industry is untouchable. It’s fabulous, it’s fantastic. Everything they’re doing is amazing.” And then when you start to realize actually everything they’re doing is bad. And then when you start to realize on the ethics level, my third E, that’s what really did it for me. Like I said, I connect to people first before anything.
And when I started to wake up to the conditions, a lot of women, especially women of color in all of these places around the world and here in America, not making a living wage, working in terrible conditions, to what? Make us new, random, cheap shit? It’s so crazy to me, and especially in the fashion industry, it’s so cool to be like, “I’m so for women, I support women.” And I hear that 24/7, when we’re talking about any reproductive rights, anything. And I’m like, “Yes, we support women, but why not those women?” You wouldn’t want these working conditions. We’re always all talking about advocating for ourselves and advocating for what we should have and what we should be making, what our sisters, our moms, should be making. And we wouldn’t want this for them. So why are we so disconnected from this stuff happening to the people that make the clothes we claim to love so much?
That’s me, I guess, really talking to people in fashion. And I feel like even when I was writing the book, I was in the three Es chapter really thinking about a lot of fashion influencers I know personally since I’m really in that space and how much it does really pull at my heart and bother me to see everyone just being like, “Yeah, I support you guys. My audience, women, women, women, women.” And that’s amazing, but it’s like that needs to extend past the women just in our direct circle, women that look like us, women that are like us.
And I feel like the blinders are just still on in a sense in that way for people. And when I was writing that chapter, that was one of my favorite chapters to write in the whole book because I was just like, I feel like I haven’t really been given the opportunity to talk about this in this way. And so the book was really my place to do that because I feel like it’s just so important. I mean that part of it, I was just like, I can never look at new clothing the same way again.
Tori Dunlap:
And I’d love to break those down even further. Let’s talk about the economics first. Pretty obvious, but you save money when you don’t go out and spend money buying brand new things. And I think this is where I would love to talk about de-influencing because we are barraged every day, before even social media existed, right? Advertisements and TV commercials and billboards, we were pressured all the time, even Teen Vogue, all of these places, to buy more things. And now, I mean the stats are crazy the last time I read them that it’s like we’re fed hundreds of ads a day, as an average person. There’s a constant feeling that you need to be buying something. You can buy this thing to fix your life, you can purchase this thing on TikTok Shop and all of your wildest dreams will come true. So it’s just so expensive in general with inflation and everything else, but I feel like there is a pressure constantly to have new things to buy more. Talk to me about that.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, I mean, like you said, it’s been going on forever. And I remember being a teen just bombarded by all of those ads and feeling like I needed those new things, going into the mall and feeling like I needed those new things. For me, because I couldn’t afford those new things in the first place, I would go into the mall and I would literally take photos on my digital camera of mannequins and things that I loved, and I would take those to the thrift with me, which is now what I really encourage people to do because we have so many different mediums now to just, like you said, be bombarded with ads of like, “You need this to look good, you need this to be cool,” and all this stuff. And I am always encouraging people to just take a second before pressing buy now, take screenshots of the stuff that you love and build out a thrift manifestation board of what you can go find in the secondhand world because you can actually find all of those things.
I still get hit by it. I will see something from a new collection from a designer or a brand and be like, “Oh my God, I love that. I want to play with that trend.” But when you pause for a minute and don’t press buy now, you give yourself the time to think on it first of all and be like, “Do I actually need this? Because maybe I actually already have something in my wardrobe that I can make this trend out of, or maybe I need to go check my cabinet to see if I actually maybe have an old kettle that probably does the same thing as this new thing I’m being bombarded with that I need to buy.” And then it also gives you the chance to then maybe go to the secondhand world and find something that touches on that trend, that touches on that thing that you love, that maybe has the same silhouette or color or evokes the same vibe, but it’s actually something that will fit into your personal wardrobe better.
Because a lot of the times people will like, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy these things, and then they’ll get it, and they’re like, “Oh, I really wanted this trend. I wanted to play with it, but it actually goes with nothing in my personal wardrobe and actually doesn’t speak to my personal style at all.” And then they donate it, and it goes back to the thrift store, and then it goes into the landfill, because no one wants it because it’s crap quality. So it is then this cycle of just like, “Oh, then I need to buy another thing.” And so I feel like the thrift store just really provides you that space to take the inspiration from all of these things and all these beautiful shoots you’re seeing and things you’re loving and go find something that is one, cheaper, and two, you’ll probably keep longer.
Because I remember even I’m looking at these polka dots behind me. The polka dot trend has been blowing up again and I haven’t seen them as crazy as they are now since 2011. And for me, I was like, “Oh my God, I’m getting into polka dots for the first time in 10 years again.” And I was like, “I need to go to the thrift and find these things that really work for me instead of buying new.” Because all of a sudden I was just seeing polka dots everywhere again. So I think taking a breather, and then hitting the thrift, it’s going to save you in a lot of ways.
Tori Dunlap:
I have a confession for you and maybe you can take me to thrift therapy. I’ve realized, and I know other people are feeling this way too because I see posts about it. As you’re talking, I’m realizing I’m guilty of buying something and not just fashion, but just buying something new so that it’s more aesthetic, or that it’s cuter, when the thing that I already have works fine. I think about this, and I’m happy I bought it. It was a good purchase, but a couple of years ago, I bought the beautiful aesthetic suitcase when my old black Samson suitcases worked just fine, but they weren’t cute.
Macy Eleni:
The suitcase one is big because-
Tori Dunlap:
I know.
Macy Eleni:
… I can relate because my mom is someone who we’ve had all our suitcases for 100 years, and when I moved to LA-
Tori Dunlap:
From Costco.
Macy Eleni:
… I’ve been using the same suitcases for literally ever. And she’s still now, when I was back home in Ohio and need an extra suitcase, she’s like, “We’re going to Salvation Army, we’re going to get one, please.” And even in my mind, because I live so much in this influencer world and bubble and all I see is everyone with their new CALPAKs and Aways and all these brands that everyone works with, and because they look so chic when you’re traveling, but I feel like it’s just getting over an ego part of your brain, which I’ve also had to do as well, of like, oh, people are going to look at me a certain way. And it’s like, no one’s even looking at you.
No one’s ever even thinking about your suitcase or what you’re doing, but I get it because I have felt that way a lot too, especially when I was younger and I was like, “I just want something new and cool that everybody else has.” And I think it’s really about switching a part of our brain that’s thinking about the aesthetics of how we look, and letting go of a bit of our ego of needing to look a certain way, because that even goes back further to what does that mean? You know what I mean? What do I think people think about me for using an old suitcase? They think I am poor? I don’t know, these things that are just so silly and that no one’s even thinking anyway because they’re just thinking about themselves.
Tori Dunlap:
I’m just realizing how much I’ve done it recently in my life, especially as I make more money now of like, “Oh, this thing is still functional.”
Macy Eleni:
That’s a big part of it, too.
Tori Dunlap:
This thing is still functional and it works, but it’s not cute, so I’m not going to use it. And it’s gross, I don’t need more stuff. I can just use the thing until it doesn’t work anymore.
Macy Eleni:
Until it falls apart. But I think that’s a lot of what I was raised on and was my mom just being like, “Use it until it breaks.” Then we’d go thrift something else and it’s fine. And especially with suitcases, they last so long, they last so long.
Tori Dunlap:
I love its… I can say the brand, because everybody knows what it is. I love my Away suitcase. I don’t think it was a bad purchase. I think it’s great. I’m just realizing I bought it.
Macy Eleni:
No, and you use the shit out of it-
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah. Oh, I use it literally almost every week. It’s just the realization that I bought it because-
Macy Eleni:
Like the why.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah, I just wanted a cute little pink suitcase. And it also was a different kind of suitcase. It wasn’t a soft shell. I wanted the hard shell suitcase, but I’m just realizing that it’s just I’m very now susceptible, I think too, because probably, and we talk a lot about money trauma on this show because my parents were the, “I’m using this until I run it into the ground.” And so now I’m like, “Well, I have enough money. I don’t have to do that, so maybe I’ll go buy this other thing.” Yeah, interesting.
Macy Eleni:
I’ve had mixed vibes with that too, especially as I’ve gotten to a different place financially than I was before. I’ve literally had people ask me, “Are you going to thrift forever? Why would you do that?” And I’m like, “Yeah, because I always will forever have my mom’s voice in the back of my head,” even when I am thrifting fun designer pieces that I find. If I find something and it’s $500 and that’s still a good deal because it’s a $3,000 bag. I’m like, “Oh my God, my mom’s in the back of my head being like, ‘you can find that for $50. Please put it down. Put it down.'” But the money trauma can be very real of feeling like, I need to buy these things because I can buy them now.
Tori Dunlap:
Right. Yeah. I love it when I just end up reading myself for filth in my own advice, okay.
Macy Eleni:
But honestly, you’re still not alone. I feel like that’s so, so many people.
Tori Dunlap:
And again, it’s not aesthetic and aesthetic didn’t really exist. I mean, it did exist, but not in the same way until Instagram or TikTok where it’s like you had to perform your entire life. And so, oh, if you’re getting on a plane, you got to perform that now too, and you got to look the part.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah. And I even realized the thing about the suitcases just because I’ve been traveling more than I have ever in my life-
Tori Dunlap:
We’re just picking on the suitcases.
Macy Eleni:
… but then I’m also vlogging it for my YouTube channel and my TikTok, and sometimes in my mind I’ll catch myself comparing myself to these people that have all of these fancy new things. And I even was like, “Oh, I’m going to try a hard shell suitcase.” And then I was like, “Oh, wait, they weigh more and I can’t take as much clothes with me, back to my old soft one.”
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah. I want to talk about the environment because I feel like that’s a huge, obviously, focus of your work and you just mentioned, but something we found in our research is that even when people altruistically donate clothing, I think a lot of us, hopefully everybody listening, I still have… The John Mulaney quote is so true. I have boxes in the back of my car that still need to go to Goodwill, but I have always donated clothing. A lot of it doesn’t even make it to secondhand stores or racks, like 70% of it, about 70% ends up in other countries and then is dumped and burned, which has a huge climate impact. Obviously, it is us in a more developed country just literally dumping our waste into somewhere else. So what steps can we take to make secondhand clothing and shopping truly beneficial on a global scale without contributing to more suffering?
Macy Eleni:
I think when it comes to donating especially, it’s about having different avenues of donating, which I feel like we’ve all been very much so taught, like, okay, you have your clothes, you drop them off at the Goodwill, you drop them off at the local thrift. For me, I really like to break my donations down into different places. So I obviously do like to bring thoughtful donations that are in good condition to my local thrift store that I shop in because I’m taking some resources and I like to replenish those resources because I feel like that’s kind of how we keep our community and our circular vibes moving and grooving, and I feel like it’s good karma to the thrift gods as well. But I will say that I think people forget about the option of shelter donation, and especially since the pandemic, so many more people are unhoused, especially where I live in Los Angeles, the housing crisis is insane, and there are so many people without homes, without clothing, without… And that’s just an insanely terrible place to be.
And especially when you’re at that point in your life where you are in such a vulnerable position, you want to be able to provide people with clothing that’s cool and stylish and not just whatever. So I feel like finding places in your area that need clothing donations now, because I promise you, literally wherever you’re listening from, everywhere does. There are so many shelters you can take clothing to that then will be used right away. They are always in need. And so it’s great to take the donations to the thrift store, but like you said, so much ends up in landfills. So much ends up in other countries polluting it. So many less people are thrifting. Even with the boom right now where everyone’s like, “Oh my God, everyone’s thrifting. All the good stuff’s gone. All this stuff is gone. All the prices are going up.”
It’s like there’s actually not enough people thrifting at all. At all. There’s not enough people thinking of used as an option for when they need a new dress or when they need something. So there’s so much shit out there, especially because then we’re buying at this massive rate and we were talking about earlier, most of the stuff everyone’s buying so quickly is truly crap quality. It’s literally just terrible. And so it’s just going to decompose in a really shitty way and send methane gas into wherever it is. So being really thoughtful about where you take your donations is an amazing way to know that the clothing is going to people that really need it, people that are going to put it on and wear it to a job interview or wear it in their life, and they really rely on people’s donations. And it’s just obviously it takes a little bit more time to make a call and see where those shelters are, do a little bit of research, but it is so incredibly worth it on so many levels. It helps in so many different ways, and I just think it’s so, so important.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah. Well, and let’s talk more about your last point, which is just worker conditions and yeah, I mean we all know and have probably either sometimes knowingly shopped at companies because we feel like that’s an only option. Or, shopped at companies we had no idea are using child labor or very significantly reduced labor. Obviously thrifting is a great answer to this, but how do we actionably stop supporting these kind of companies and how do we inform ourselves to know how to stop supporting these companies?
Macy Eleni:
Like I said earlier, I think the blinders have really come off on a lot of these brands, and a lot of people have the idea that it’s just like a Shein, and are like, I don’t know, just these really fast fashiony online companies, but it’s also like a Zara and an H&M and all these brands that… And high fashion brands, it’s all of the brands, honestly.
Tori Dunlap:
I remember Gap’s big thing, well, gosh, probably 10 years ago now, and I think they’ve divested from it, but who knows, right?
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, because you don’t really know.
Tori Dunlap:
We don’t. We really only know unless there’s a documentary, or Gap comes out and says, “We don’t do this anymore.” And I guess you have to trust them.
Macy Eleni:
And you can’t really trust any of them because I’m sorry. All the information most of us are getting is on social and they’re all just going to make their icons green during Earth month and greenwash. I mean, I get reached out to by so many brands. I got reached out to by H&M recently, and I was just like, no, sorry.
Tori Dunlap:
I would love to take that money, but I can’t.
Macy Eleni:
No. And that’s such a thing for me with these brands that will reach out and be like, “But we really are making steps in sustainability.” But I’m like, “But you’re still making insane quantities of clothing even if you’re trying to reduce your carbon footprint,” or they have so many buzzwords.
Tori Dunlap:
And are you paying the people who are making your clothes a living wage?
Macy Eleni:
Exactly. And they don’t want to talk about that ever because most of the times the answer is no. And they don’t want you to think about those women. They don’t want you to think about that any of these, because it is mostly women making this clothing and they don’t want you to think about them as human beings. They don’t want you to think about them at all. They don’t want you to know they exist, but they do exist and they are making this clothing and they do matter and they are important. That completely just shifted everything for me. It made me see every brand because I was one of those people that, like I said, I was shopping fast fashion when I was younger, just it was so cheap, and I get it.
It is an accessible way, this is in no means me saying fast fashion for no one. It is not low income people shopping fast fashion that is contributing to this massive problem. It’s like, I’m sorry, but influencers with massive platforms getting online and being like, “Here’s my link,” to a million plus people, go sell it out. And then they’re not even thinking about the connection to any of that. Or maybe they are. I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t feel like everyone’s that ignorant. I feel like people know what’s up, people know what they’re doing, but again, out of sight, out of mind, I don’t see these women, they don’t exist.
Tori Dunlap:
I think it’s just, if I’m giving the empathetic, assuming positive intent thing, I think it’s just like there’s already so much suffering in the world and it’s just like-
Macy Eleni:
Yeah. And that’s just another thing.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah, if you sit down and really think about it, you’re like, “I’m never wearing clothing again. I’ll just run around naked,” because it’s just awful. And I am trying to remember, I think it was in a class at some point we watched a documentary about working conditions and how little they get paid and-
Macy Eleni:
Was it The True Cost?
Tori Dunlap:
Maybe.
Macy Eleni:
Or maybe it was another one.
Tori Dunlap:
That sounds right. But just also the safety concerns because they’re pressing clothes, they’re putting logos on things with really hot irons and they’re stitching fabric, and they’re getting injured all of the time, too.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, the chemicals in these clothing and they’re literally ingesting all of that and then we’re wearing it, which is another thing. People don’t even know what you’re wearing when you’re buying all this stuff on Amazon and TikTok Shop. You trust that and you’re putting it on. People think me thrifting a bathing suit and washing it is gross, but you don’t know what you’re putting on yourself when you’re getting it from TikTok Shop. People can do anything to your clothing to make it as cheap as possible. And they know that’s what people are looking for is as cheap as possible. And yeah, I think you’re right. People are just so bombarded with, everything’s terrible. Everyone’s doing terrible things, and so many people are suffering, but with clothing, we are the ones buying, so it is in our hands. It shouldn’t be completely up to the consumer to fix everything and make all of this better, but when you really do start to think about it as these women making your clothing and that they do matter, and if you support women, you should probably support them, too.
Their voices, I just feel like, are so silenced in all of these conversations and it really breaks my heart and all of this stuff has been going on for so long that all of this stuff exists. And so I think being able to go out into the secondhand universe and find it, I think it has started to shift some people’s… I mean, I have seen the messages I get from people who have completely converted from that way of shopping to thrifting. That’s why I wanted to present it in those way of the three Es, because I’m like, one of these pillars will hopefully do it for someone, for every person.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah. Well, and we love a good deal. I love a good deal, but I know enough about this where if a t-shirt is $4, I’m asking myself, why is this? There’s no way this t-shirt’s $4. And so I feel like there is the balance of I want a good deal. I don’t want to pay a lot sometimes for things. And also I think the option of buying secondhand thrifting, being more intentional about wearing things out, I think is great.
One thing that you mentioned that Kristen, my podcast producer, literally put in that we have to talk about, which I think is so important. You’re mentioning the Prada find which, killer by the way, but that you were recobbling the shoes so that you didn’t have to throw them out. I think tailoring is a lost art. I think adjusting our clothes to fit us. I remember I had a pair of boots in college that I loved so much that yes, I took them to get resoled when I wore them out. Explain that more to me and how someone listening can start thinking more strategically about reusing and reloving the clothes and making them, adjusting them to fit their life.
Macy Eleni:
I feel like I fall in love with these pieces and I never want to let them go. And those shoes meant so much to me that being able to get them put back together, I think we’ve all just been very, very conditioned to, if it breaks, we buy it again. If it breaks, we buy it new. And there’s all of these people out there, cobblers are literally magicians. I can fix your shoes, make the boot wider if it needs to be, and adjust them to your body and your life as it’s evolving. I think that’s incredible. And tailors, I thrifted my prom dress when I was younger, and the tailor was able to take it from being this long dress that definitely didn’t look like… Wasn’t the cool, hip thing I was looking for, into this dress that was so awesome and fabulous for me.
And it was super cheap and it was amazing. And I think you’re right, it’s such a lost art of even knowing that these people exist. I feel like younger people just don’t even know these people exist. And that’s why it was such a thing I had to include in my book because if it breaks, we can just fix it. There’s people that exist to do that, and not everything you buy in the thrift universe or in the secondhand universe is going to be the perfect fit always. And there are ways and people that can adjust that. And I think just having that information, and knowing that information, and being able to just call up different shoe repairers in your area, and tailors, and dry cleaners, and just talk to them about what they do and what you need. I have a box that sits up there on my shelf, and I try to do this new thing my sister and I came up with, instead of, even for me, buying a new thing equals me finding something fun on eBay that I want or something.
It’s always used, but new to me, when I have an accomplishment or hit a milestone. So we just started this new thing earlier this year where we put shoes that break, or bags that break, or things that need fixed, in a box. And when I hit those milestones, we take that to the cobbler or we take that to the tailor, or we take that to get fixed, so I can actually wear it again. Instead of-
Tori Dunlap:
So it feels-
Macy Eleni:
Even getting a new to me thing. Even though the things I’m getting are thrifted, I still have these things, so I still need to sometimes think about that. And that box reminds me to do that, and it still feels like a treat and something fun.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah, I got a custom tailored suit. I’ll shamelessly plug. It’s an incredible woman of color entrepreneur. Her company is called Dahlia, and because men have been getting custom suits for decades, she does this for women. I picked everything. I picked the buttons, I picked the color, I picked the fit. I picked where the stitching was. I’ve worn the shit out of this thing. And it also, nothing has ever looked better because it was tailored to my body. It was tailored to me.
Macy Eleni:
I know. We’ve been so convinced that clothing, there’s something wrong with us if clothing doesn’t fit us perfectly. And it’s like, yes, literally no. And that’s what has driven so many of us to so many eating disorders and body dysmorphia and all these crazy things that we have fallen into because the fashion industry and the clothing industry is like, “Oh, there’s something wrong with you if our stuff doesn’t fit you.” When it’s like, no, no, no, no, that’s not the case. Then you can actually shape-shift these garments and getting something… Nothing feels better than when something is truly, like custom fits your body.
Tori Dunlap:
Oh, it fits so great. And it fits you, rather than you trying to fit into it.
Macy Eleni:
And I am never about trying to fit back into old clothes. I always tell my followers, I’m like, if we grow out of something, our body changes. We pass it along to the next, and you can thrift something else. It is not about you trying to fit back into something or into something. We don’t need to be doing that. That’s a whole other thing.
Tori Dunlap:
So that was one of my questions because I am curvy. I have had my body change a lot in the past couple years, and when I do go and try to thrift, I can buy a jacket, but pants are really challenging. Definitely tell me if I’m not looking in the right spots. But I often can’t find pants in my size, or I’m nervous because especially if I’m outdoor at a flea market or something, I can’t go try those pants on. I can try a jacket on. I can’t try the pants on. And I feel like there are a lot of things, especially stuff that was made a couple of decades ago that is for smaller bodies. So talk to me about thrifting. As someone who’s curvy or as someone who’s fat, how do you do that? And also where should you look for pieces that are going to be great and fit your body?
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, I mean, it’s no secret that fashion has always prioritized thin bodies. And then when inevitably those things trickle down into the secondhand world, there’s going to be less pieces for people that are not in a skinny body.
Tori Dunlap:
Stick thin.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah. And it’s just true. And people get really riled up online, because I’ve talked about this in YouTube videos with one of my friends, Carrie Dayton, who also makes thrifting videos, but for more mid-size, plus-size viewers. And we made a couple videos together a couple of years ago, before I wrote my book, where we were going into LA thrift stores, and we were like, let’s see what she can find and I can find. Because when we started thrifting together, it really started showing me, oh my God, maybe the reason I’ve loved fashion so much is because I’ve always, even at the thrift store, been able to find stuff in my size.
And she, like you said, would always like, “Oh, I can find a jacket or an accessory or something like that.” People get really touchy about privilege in general, size privilege, and us trying to call people out on that and we’re like, “No, we’re just trying to open this conversation,” because people don’t think about it if it’s not about them, and if it’s not about their body. And that’s why in my book, I literally interviewed multiple creators that make content like mine, but for mid-size bodies, plus-size bodies because it’s different and it’s not my lived experience, but I feel like a really good place to start is the virtual thrift world because it does give you a place where you can put in your sizing on things, really look around for what you want and find, I think, a bigger array of options. But ones that are like tailored, you can literally put your size into all of these different secondhand selling sites.
And then I feel like that gives you a really good idea. And what I’ve heard from friends is they’ll do that and then it will give them a really good idea of the brands to then look for at the thrift store. So they’ll try to find their size and try to find these great pieces in the secondhand virtual world, take screenshots and notes of those brands, and then go specifically after those brands in the secondhand world. And even though it is a smaller pool, I have definitely seen, at least here in LA, I’m not sure everywhere else, but I’ve seen thrift stores starting to pop up with more, having an entire plus-size section, or literally just rows and rows and rows that are devoted to plus size. So that stuff is there and you can actually just look through it and know that your size is probably going to be there.
I always want to recognize, it is harder, it is more difficult, and it is definitely a privilege to be able to find your size and just be able to throw on everything in the thrift store. And that’s something that I didn’t realize as much when I was younger, and I had a friend that was a different size than me. We’d go thrifting together all the time in high school and she’d find nothing, I’d find so much. At that time, was dealing with my own eating disorder and my own mind, and I naïvely thought like, “Oh, she just didn’t find anything cute she wanted,” and I had no idea what she was going through in that moment. And I feel like now these other friends that I’ve now met as an adult and thrifted with, and we’ve really been able to open these conversations, and I feel like that’s a huge part of it too, is just talking about it. But tangible tip-wise, the online thrift world is an amazing place to find a much bigger array than what’s just in your local thrift store.
Tori Dunlap:
Well, yeah. And you mentioned online thrifting, obviously thrift stores in person. Where else are you shopping? Where else are you going?
Macy Eleni:
Oh my God, where am I not going? I am in every place you can find, anything. Estate sales, yard sales. I’ve recently been in my antique mall bag. I literally can’t stop going to antique malls. I’m so obsessed with them. I feel like people have a really big idea of them being for just furniture and knickknacks, but actually the fashion is insane because no one goes for it.
Tori Dunlap:
Interesting.
Macy Eleni:
And it’s so crazy to find these booths in these antique malls, especially because estate sales are really fabulous here in LA, but I understand they’re not as amazing everywhere else, but the antique malls in small towns, get your booty there right now because you will find the craziest stuff. But yard sales, I love yard sales. I love garage sales, and literally anywhere. Anywhere that I can dive into a bin and have a little peek into a drawer and pull out something crazy, I’m in the drawer. I’m in the bin.
Tori Dunlap:
Well, and you’re in LA I, oh gosh, probably a year or two ago, I went to the Rose City Flea Market. Oh my God.
Macy Eleni:
Oh, they’re crazy. I mean, we are so spoiled with secondhand shopping here. It’s actually amazing. But I still will always prefer my hometown in Ohio. The finds are unmatched. The vibes are unmatched. But you can find anything here.
Tori Dunlap:
I could not believe that flea market. I bought a jacket, and I still wear that jacket. If you guys are listening, you know, it’s a camo jacket. I fucking love that jacket. But the furniture was incredible, and if I lived in LA, I would’ve bought 12 things.
Macy Eleni:
That’s where we’ve gone to get so many of the pieces for our place. And then again, that’s another place. I’ll also go to flea markets a lot because I am always in thrift stores and estate sales and yard sales, and I know I can find everything for as cheap as possible. I’ll go to a more curated spot for just inspiration, and I’ll just, again, I’m always just taking pictures everywhere I go of anything that I find inspiration in, especially furniture when we’re at flea markets, and then I’ll take it to Goodwill with me, take it to Hope of the Valley or Value Value Center. It’s a really good way to manifest. I mean, I’m a big manifester in general for hopes and dreams and goals, but also clothing, you can truly manifest it. Obviously, it’s having it in your mind and then being able to really see it in the store.
And maybe if you didn’t have it on your phone, you wouldn’t have been able to spot it otherwise. There’s so many places I feel like people really do just think of thrifting, but really expanding your mind. So that’s why I’ve been making so many antique mall videos lately because I’m like, “You girlies all need to get out into your antique malls.” Because antique malls exist everywhere, even in just the smallest towns, they have antique malls, and I think people would be really surprised what you can find in them.
I just had one of the craziest, craziest finds of my life at the antique mall in Cincinnati. I think it was called Flamingo, Flamingo Attic or Flamingo something, and it was really cool, really small, women-owned, and I found these Miu Miu shoes from 2001 runway and they go for almost $1,000 online. They are so coveted, and I see them often in LA for so much money. Again, I can never, I just knew I would find them somewhere. They were $100 and I lost my mind. I lost my mind. And the woman that owned the store was so cute. She was like, “I know. It’s the most expensive thing in here.” And I’m like, “No, no, no, but I will have them. Give them to me.”
Tori Dunlap:
You’re like, I don’t want to tell you that these should actually be $900 more.
Macy Eleni:
I’m like, but I promise you I will wear them forever. She’s like, “No, I can tell by what you’re wearing you will love them forever.” And I truly will. It’s still blowing my mind. And that happened just a month ago.
Tori Dunlap:
Well, walk me through a typical thrifting trip. You’re doing a bit of that, but what are you looking for? How are you weeding out what isn’t for you? How are you determining the quality of something? I still remember the first time I went to an antique mall with my mom looking for furniture, and she could spot like, “Oh, because this drawer, this cabinet has the flimsy wood in the back, it’s not as well-made.” Then she could look at legs and be like, “Oh, that’s a well-made chair,” or whatever. What are you looking for?
Macy Eleni:
Oh my God, that’s awesome. Yeah, that’s good. No, yeah. When I will go in, so my thrift attack when I walk in is right away I’m going to the shoes and the bags. Just for anyone wondering, that’s where I like to hit first because those things are bigger and they stand out more than the stuff on the rack. So I feel like that’s the place where if there’s something amazing, if there’s a really great brand, if there’s just something crazy stand out, that’s going to get taken first because a lot more people will just hit those easy-to-see sections and then the racks after, because it’s much harder to go through every single piece and find the gem within there. So I’m always starting with my bigger accessories and then working my way through from shoes and bags to coats because those also stand out a bit more.
And then dresses, and then I’ll weed myself into the shirts and the pants, which is just a never-ending line of terribleness until you get to something amazing. And with clothing, I’m always looking for stuff made in the USA. Paper tags made in the USA and looking at where the clothing is made, gives you a good idea of how good the quality can be. You can also really feel it with clothing. You can feel something in the thrift store. I’ll literally, if I don’t have time to look at every single piece, I’ll just go through and I’ll tell people, literally just touch stuff. If you are digging the pattern or something, touch it and feel it and see how it feels to you, because you can really tell the difference between synthetic fabrics and really, really great fabrics like cashmere and wool and leather and denim and this stuff that is going to truly last a lifetime.
And that’s why I can spot the Shein a mile away. I will see a piece and I’ll be like, “I see an inkling of something cute,” and then I’ll see it and I’m like, “Oh no, this is literally paper quality.” So looking at your tags, and especially if you see a brand that you really like in the thrift, taking a photo of that tag, and getting to know what goes into the clothing that you like and how it’s made, the actual fabrics that they’re putting into it is really good to start getting an idea of what works for you and what’s really great. But you can feel, even if you don’t have the knowledge at all, you can touch the clothing and really get a good idea of if it’s well-made or not.
Tori Dunlap:
When I have thrifted, one of the things I’ve done, especially as a curvy woman, is I’ve bought men’s clothing, especially for my jackets.
Macy Eleni:
Oh, that’s my friend Carrie Dayton’s biggest tip. She loves the men’s section. And I mean I do, too, but the denim and the blazer.
Tori Dunlap:
I have a denim jacket that I actually wore on the cover of my book and I wear it all the time. That is a men’s jacket. The buttons are on the wrong side, or the right side for men, but the wrong side for us. And it’s oversized, which is what I wanted. My camo jacket too, it’s like a military jacket from I think Denmark. And that was the one I found, and that was easy, because I wanted an oversized look, I just bought a men’s jacket.
Macy Eleni:
And honestly in the thrift store, I really believe that because it isn’t like a traditional retail store where you’re being bombarded with ads of the boys are here and the girls are here and boys wear this, and girls wear this. I feel like it’s gender-wise, very fluid, and it’s just like shop where you feel pulled to shop. Take that out of your mind that this is for boys and this is for girls. Please throw that out of here. It does not matter at all. That’s all just made up shit anyway, and just shop where you feel pulled to shop. And I’ve always loved the men’s section. The t-shirts are better, the jeans are better, the blazers are incredible. If you’re looking for that very, very Instagram popular oversized blazer moment, the men’s section of your thrift store for $4, go there instead of whatever brand is remaking them right now at the moment. The men’s section is truly, truly a gem, especially for finding things that might fit your body if you’re not just a typical straight size. It’s so good.
Tori Dunlap:
One of my last questions for you as we round out, we talked about this, but for lower income families, this is their only option. This is not a fun thing to do necessarily. This is where they have to shop. There is no other option. So for folks who aren’t low income and who are trying to thrift more, how do we make sure we’re not cannibalizing the options available for people who are actually like, “Nope, this is my only option.”
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, I feel like there’s a lot of things to this one because I hear this a lot.
Tori Dunlap:
It’s a big question.
Macy Eleni:
When I hear it a lot on social media, people thrifting getting popular is driving up the prices and then people can’t get clothes. And again, I do… So there’s two sides to this. So I have to, in one place, be a myth buster of there’s actually so much out there. And yes, prices are rising in certain places on certain things, but prices are rising on literally everything. And I know from even speaking with my local thrift stores, they’re like, “We need to start paying our people working here more money. Our rent in these places, we are in Los Angeles, are more money.” So the clothing does have to cost a little bit more. You can still find all the deals in the world. There are so many places, the Goodwill bins, pay-by-the-pound clothes. There’s so much. And I think sometimes a lot of the people yelling, “Stop thrifting if you have money not to thrift,” are not these low income people and actually are people that are just seeing this stuff on social media and echo chambering it out.
And so I don’t love the idea of telling anyone not to thrift, honestly, even if you’re rich, I don’t love that. But I do think you have to be mindful of the communities that you’re thrifting in, that you’re going into to thrift. And like I said, you don’t want to be buying up all of these resources. And so that even comes down to just shopping intentionally. And we’re not thrifting to just mass consume. That’s not what we’re trying to do here. We’re still just trying to be thoughtful about the way we thrift and thrift what we need and what we think will work in our wardrobe. But yeah, going back into those communities and replenishing it through donating to thrift stores, but also donating to like we talked about earlier, people that do need clothes, I think, is an amazing way to be in the community.
I always say if you’re going to join the thrift community, it is a community and you can’t just take the resources. You have to give back the resources, too.
Tori Dunlap:
Right, pour back into that.
Macy Eleni:
And I think having that idea around it and really thinking of this as a community you’re stepping into versus just like, “Oh, I want thrift because I want cool stuff for cheap and I’m just going to take, take, take.” I think when you have that mindset that it is a community, you’re a more intentional shopper and you become a more intentional shopper. And I think that is really helpful for making sure we’re not taking up all of these resources. But like I said, I never want to tell people not to thrift. The virtual thrift world is a great place because obviously it can be a little bit more expensive. You can still find amazing deals, but you can find the fast fashion brands and all that stuff for cheaper that you want, and that’s a great place to go.
But I get so hesitant to tell anyone not to thrift because at the end of the day, I live in a bit of an echo chamber of the thrift community, and so in my mind, everyone thrifts and then I break out a bit and I’m like, “Oh, wait,” a video of mine will go viral on the wrong side of Facebook or Instagram or something. And people are just like, “This is disgusting. Like, oh my God, used panty, used everything,” I can’t. And then it re-reminds me like, “Oh, wait, no, no, no, not enough people are thrifting,” and we all actually do need to be in there. But yeah, thinking of it as a community because it is a community and communities only thrive if people are being empathetic, being compassionate, giving as much as they take. I feel like that’s what keeps the thrift world moving and grooving no matter who you are.
Tori Dunlap:
I got a lightning round for you. You ready?
Macy Eleni:
Oh my God, yes.
Tori Dunlap:
Okay. Best piece you’ve ever thrifted.
Macy Eleni:
It’s so hard and it changes every single day, but right now those Miu Miu shoes are pretty high up there.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah.
Macy Eleni:
But also, one of my favorite thrift finds ever are these Roberto Cavalli pants. I’m a Cavalli girl. They’re so expensive on the resale market, and I found a pair at Value Value Center for literally, I think it was $10. I’ll never get rid of them. They’re incredible. Perfect condition, too.
Tori Dunlap:
I love it. Best deal you’ve ever thrifted. Maybe you’ve already answered this.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah. Recently this blue furry jacket I have hanging here because I was trying to think about this because honestly, I thrift the deals on the daily, but I was driving past this yard sale in my neighborhood recently, and I live in LA so the yard sales can be very good. And I saw this blue jacket and I made my boyfriend stop the car, go around, and it ended up being the designer’s house. And this is literally a multiple thousand dollar jacket made in Paris that they were just trying to get rid of this stuff that they had from being the designer of this French label for so long.
Tori Dunlap:
What? That’s so LA.
Macy Eleni:
Literally $4. $4, $4. And she was just like, “Oh, I know you’re going to love it.” I was just like, “I’d never even heard of the brand.” And then I looked it up and I was like, she was like, “This is a really good deal.”
Tori Dunlap:
Holy shit.
Macy Eleni:
I was like, “Oh my God, it is a really good deal.” But it was just me seeing it and loving it without even knowing the brand and then finding it. And that’s the best part.
Tori Dunlap:
Renting clothes, yay or nay?
Macy Eleni:
I don’t do it, but yay, yay, yay if you’re doing it instead of buying new.
Tori Dunlap:
I love it.
Macy Eleni:
I think Nuuly and Rent the Runway and all those places are incredible.
Tori Dunlap:
Armoire is local to Seattle. I got to shout them out. They’re women of color-owned. That’s who I use.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, I think they’re incredible things for people to be doing, especially for events and stuff. All these new life events that we think we need new shit for and we don’t.
Tori Dunlap:
For me, I get photographed a lot because I speak and I reuse outfits all the time. And also every about six months, I’m like, “Okay, we’re going to rent new clothes,” because I’ve been photographed in those pants too many times and it looks like I’m at the same event over and over and over again.
Macy Eleni:
That’s super circular and super sustainable of you. So honestly, everyone needs to tap into that, especially people that don’t have time to thrift and curate for themselves and find things, that’s a great sustainable option.
Tori Dunlap:
Something you always buy secondhand.
Macy Eleni:
Leather and denim. 100%. No one should be buying those things new.
Tori Dunlap:
Capsule wardrobe, yay or nay?
Macy Eleni:
For me, it’s a nay, but that’s just because my style goes crazy.
Tori Dunlap:
This one’s spicy.
Macy Eleni:
So for some people it works, but for me, I need more options.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah. It is one of those trends that feels like so French cool girl, and I’m like, I wish I was that person.
Macy Eleni:
I am so not that person.
Tori Dunlap:
I’m not, either.
Macy Eleni:
I’m so-
Tori Dunlap:
I’ll say on vacation, I have become that person because I’ve been to Europe the past two summers and last summer I did it on a carry-on. I did three weeks. Now, we had laundry, but I did three weeks in a carry-on and it was four white t-shirts, three black pairs of joggers, and that was the outfit. And it also truly, as everybody says, it takes the guesswork out, but it was the nicest thing of just dressing in the morning.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah, I wish. Oh my God, I wish. And for me, I feel like people get minimalism and sustainability, they think they go very hand-in-hand, but I am just such a maximalist, but it’s like you can just do it with all used stuff. Yeah, I’ll never be able to get into it, but it is chic, I guess. And it’s cool. And you can build one at the thrift store. You can still build your capsule collection, your capsule wardrobe, at the thrift store, but for me, it’s never happening.
Tori Dunlap:
Finally, an underrated item you think more people should thrift for.
Macy Eleni:
Oh my gosh. So it’ll be a little controversial because it always is when I talk about it. But bathing suits and I am going to go a step further. Dead stock, undergarments. I can’t even tell you the amount of things in the thrift store new with tags that you get online. I have found so many dead stock, never worn before, bathing suits, underwear. And when you think about it in the way of you go to Target to buy underwear, you actually have no idea where that has been, either. You have no idea.
Tori Dunlap:
Yeah.
Macy Eleni:
Especially with bathing suits. I’ve been DM’d from followers that work at Target, the conditions that some people will leave bathing suits and things when they try them on at the Target-
Tori Dunlap:
That’s true.
Macy Eleni:
And then they put it back on the rack and you take it home with you and you wash it. You do the same thing with your things from the thrift store. And so many of these things aren’t used. Literally, my friend gave me for the PR boxes that I sent out for my book, I did all used things in them and vintage magazines, and my friend sourced me this crazy lot of dead stock Y2K, Powerpuff Girl thongs, all new with tags, never worn before, literally just sitting in a box.
And if they don’t get passed out and they’re going to go to a landfill eventually these things exist in the same mass quantities like they do now. And they’re just sitting in these places. And I think people would just be really surprised by the amount of dead stock, never worn things that exist. I’m not saying need to go all used, used panties and used bathing suits, but I’m just saying I think we need to retrain our brains a little bit to think about again, why we think that’s so much grosser than the stuff that everyone’s trying on at Target and at the mall and then just putting back on the rack for you to also try on and take home.
Tori Dunlap:
If your audio listeners, I had a full on just connection-
Macy Eleni:
I saw it, I know.
Tori Dunlap:
But then was also doing the Brittany Broski once you said, okay, yeah, because you know there’s people trying on swimsuits and they’re not keeping their underwear on.
Macy Eleni:
I’ve been DM’d from… Because I’ll talk about it and anytime I talk about it, I always know when I make a video, like thrifting underwear, people go crazy, all the comments and I get DMs from my followers. They’re like, “I work at Target. You would just be so surprised by how disgusting what some people are leaving in the fitting rooms that then we have to put back out on the floor and then people buy.” So it’s really like you just actually never know what’s going on with any of your stuff, so you might as well just get it secondhand. And this stuff, I am saying, you can find a lot of really, really cool, especially swimwear, all my swimwear. I found this amazing yard sale recently, or it was not recently. It was a year ago. And this woman had a swim shop in Miami in the ’90s, and she had all this leftover stock and I got all the bathing suits I own now are from this yard sale.
I bought 20 of them, all new with tags, never worn before. Where are they going to go if they don’t go on my hot little bod in the summer? Where are they go to go? They’re going to pile up in a landfill somewhere just because we were too precious to touch them.
Tori Dunlap:
Right. Well, and really quick, you’re saying dead stock. Can you define that for us?
Macy Eleni:
Dead stock is pretty much just stuff that was made but was never sold.
Tori Dunlap:
Got it.
Macy Eleni:
So it’s kind of like what you will find at a Marshalls or a T.J. Maxx sometimes.
Tori Dunlap:
That was my final question and I lied. Is T.J. Maxx thrifting? I know it’s not, but is it closer?
Macy Eleni:
It’s definitely stuff that is on its way to the thrift store or the landfill.
Tori Dunlap:
If T.J. Maxx is thrifting, I am a peak thrifter, baby.
Macy Eleni:
No, and my mom is very, she is a Marshalls/T.J. Maxx woman.
Tori Dunlap:
Oh. Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, Home Goods.
Macy Eleni:
Yeah. If she’s not at Salvation Army or American Thrift, she’s a T.J. Maxx or Marshalls. And that’s the other option.
Tori Dunlap:
My parents go to any T.J. Maxx in any city they’re in. They fly to New York for a vacation and they’re like, “Where’s the nearest T.J. Maxx?”
Macy Eleni:
My mom was just in New York with me for my book pub and we were at T.J. Maxx, we had to go. She was like, “I need to see what’s in the New York City T.J. Maxx.” So we had to go.
Tori Dunlap:
No, literally my parents-
Macy Eleni:
And I’m like, this is our destination. This is our tourist destination, is this T.J. Maxx? But it is all overstock stuff and overflow stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff. So you might as well get it there so it doesn’t go somewhere else bad. So it’s not exactly thrifting, but it’s definitely that in between area, between your traditional retailer and the thrift.
Tori Dunlap:
Macy, this was so great. I learned so much. I am so excited to get out there and be more intentional. And also I’m usually just a Goodwill donator and I’m going to look at other options, especially like shelters that need clothes because our Goodwills in a great way are overrun here in Seattle. And so I think my clothes can be going to something else that’s better. So that was a great takeaway. Thank you.
Macy Eleni:
And especially if you have those business clothes. There’s so many women’s shelters for women that need clothing for job interviews and stuff like that, and they deserve the cute stuff that we’ve also been wearing, not just our stuff with tears and rips that are broken. So it’s really great to take the good quality pieces to those people because use it right away.
Tori Dunlap:
Totally. Where can people find your book and more about you? Plug away.
Macy Eleni:
My book is Second Chances: The Ultimate Guide to Thrifting, Sustainable Style, and Expressing Your Most Authentic Self, literally came out two days ago on September 24th.
Tori Dunlap:
Congratulations. Where can you find it?
Macy Eleni:
Thank you so much. I feel crazy. Anywhere you can find books, you can find it. You can find it at the link on my Instagram, Macy Eleni. I’m on TikTok, Blazed and Glazed. I’m on YouTube, Blazed and Glazed. I’m everywhere talking about thrifting and being your fabulous self all the time.
Tori Dunlap:
I love it. Thank you. Thanks for being here.
Thank you so much to Macy for joining us. You can find her debut book, Second Chances, out now, and you can also follow her @macyeleni on social media. Thank you so much for being here, as always, financial feminist, we appreciate your support of the show and if you haven’t subscribed yet, whatcha doin’? We appreciate it. Your brain will appreciate it. Hit that subscribe button. Thank you.
Thank you for listening to Financial Feminist, a Her First $100K podcast. Financial Feminist is hosted by me, Tori Dunlap, produced by Kristen Fields and Tamisha Grant. Researched by Sarah Sciortino. Audio and video Engineering by Alyssa Midcalf. Marketing and Operations by Karina Patel and Amanda Leffew. Special thanks to our team at Her First 100K, Kailyn Sprinkle, Masha Bakhmetyeva, Taylor Chou, Sasha Bonar, Rae Wong, Elizabeth McCumber, Claire Kurronen, Daryl Ann Ingram and Meghan Walker. Promotional graphics by Mary Stratton. Photography by Sarah Wolfe. And theme music by Jonah Cohen Sound.
A huge thanks to the entire Her First $100K community for supporting the show. For more information about Financial Feminist, Her First $100K, our guests and episode show notes, visit financialfeministpodcast.com. If you’re confused about your personal finances and you’re wondering where to start, go to herfirsthundredk.com/quiz for a free personalized money plan.
Tori Dunlap
Tori Dunlap is an internationally-recognized money and career expert. After saving $100,000 at age 25, Tori quit her corporate job in marketing and founded Her First $100K to fight financial inequality by giving women actionable resources to better their money. She has helped over five million women negotiate salaries, pay off debt, build savings, and invest.
Tori’s work has been featured on Good Morning America, the New York Times, BBC, TIME, PEOPLE, CNN, New York Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, BuzzFeed, and more.
With a dedicated following of over 2.1 million on Instagram and 2.4 million on TikTok —and multiple instances of her story going viral—Tori’s unique take on financial advice has made her the go-to voice for ambitious millennial women. CNBC called Tori “the voice of financial confidence for women.”
An honors graduate of the University of Portland, Tori currently lives in Seattle, where she enjoys eating fried chicken, going to barre classes, and attempting to naturally work John Mulaney bits into conversation.
