Can shopping make the world a better place? As the planet seems to spiral more and more out of control, some people are choosing to support local institutions concerned with contributing positively to society.
The fashion industry is known to have a negative effect on the environment. According to Earth.org, it “produces 92 million tons of waste each year.” Vintage stores are far more environmentally friendly than those selling new products. They resell items that might otherwise be added to the waste stream. But some vintage shops go a step further. They give to important causes, making the shopping experience that much more altruistic.
With shoppers spending less money on luxuries and more on necessities, socially responsible businesses – those concerned with creating an ethical business improving the communities around them – provide a way for shoppers both to get what they need and to feel good about it. What easier way to be charitable than to shop in your own community at a small business that supports a good cause?
Here are four local vintage stores that are more than just fashion-focused. They support good causes as well as offering some of the best thrift finds around.
Thrift 2 Fight
48 Broadway, Tivoli
This donation-based community thrift and vintage shop mobilizes second-hand fashion to amplify the work of local grassroots social-justice initiatives at the intersection of racial, disability, and queer justice. It offers a combination of thrift and vintage at affordable prices. Unique features include its abolitionist lending library, a Mitzvah wall (meaning “good deed” in Hebrew) filled with customizable, anonymous gifts. Flash deals, and a room full of items priced at eight dollars and under.
Thrift 2 Fight features work by incarcerated artists and hosts clothing swaps, film screenings, and carpooling opportunities to support Release Aging People in Prison. It answers community calls for emergency items needed both in our community and in Gaza.
While the thrift is always great, the true brilliance of Thrift 2 Fight is the work of co-founders Masha Zabara and Jillian Reed. They recently gave a TEDx talk with their alma mater, Bard College, on how to combat all-or-nothing thinking through activism based on their experiences.
Since opening in 2020, Thrift 2 Fight has donated over $80,000 in social-justice initiatives hosting more than 40 pop-up sales in various states, in-store and online sales. It prioritizes, acknowledges and honors the knowledge that the land under its store is Munsee-Lenape territory.
Each month, it donates ten percent of proceeds to a local grassroots organization. This month, it’s funding the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network, which supports immigrant and refugee families in Ulster County.
Thrift 2 Fight partners with other organizations on workshops on community organizing, fundraising, and sustainable fashion – changing the world one piece of clothing at a time.
Rewind Kingston
612 Broadway, Kingston
Previously a used-book store that opened in the 1990s, this multi-generational family-owned thrift shop in Midtown Kingston rebranded in 2022 as Rewind Kingston, adding a combination of thrift and vintage clothing, vinyl, local art and gifts to the many used books that still line the shelves.
Rather than a donation-based inventory, Rewind Kingston’s stock is curated to keep up with current fashion trends and classic styles. Most of the items in the store are priced between $10 and $25, and new items are added every day.
Most importantly, Rewind Kingston offers a safe space for the community to talk about mental health.
Ten percent of all sales support mental-health nonprofits in the community in memory of the family’s daughter/sister Cassidy, who tragically passed away in 2020. Rewind Kingston also hosts a cold plunge in the Hudson Go All In for Mental Health event in her memory every March for her birthday, as well as a Mental Health Street Festival in the fall.
To encourage conversation and prevention, the store distributes free mental-health zines that detail a support plan, lists signs of a mental-health crisis, and provides information for a variety of resources made in collaboration with mental-health nonprofits and with a licensed therapist.
Rewind has raised over $30,000 to local nonprofits since opening. For the past two years, donations helped local non-profit United We Om provide trauma-informed yoga and meditation classes in Kingston at the Benedictine Hospital Intensive Outpatient Program for Teens and Adults, the Samadhi Recovery House, the House of Serenity Women’s Recovery Home, and for the county probation department’s Survivors of Sexual Assault program.
This year, United We Om will offer micro grants as it transitions to a karma project organization that supports and amplifies the good works of inspiring individuals.
Additional donations have been made to The Maya Gold Foundation, a nonprofit organization in New Paltz that promotes teen mental health.
Free to Thrift
1050 Morton Boulevard, Suite 2, Kingston
Free to Thrift is a great place to find low-priced thrift clothing, crafts, home goods and accessories. It’s a donation-based thrift store that sells a variety of items with the mission of keeping shared resources circulating while contributing to those who need it most. It provides a great selection of treasures, different-colored tags free each week, and an ever-growing home section.
The following items are always free: baby clothes and accessories (under a year), craft supplies, fabric, and items across all sections that have been in the store for over a month.
By pricing items as free, Free to Thrift hopes that customers will seek free items before purchasing new ones at box stores or discount chain stores.
Fiber items that are no longer usable are sent to be recycled by Helpsy, a public benefit corporation with a mission to keep clothes out of the trash. Through “Sharecycling,” also known as “wecycling,” Free to Thrift can help clothing and other items avoid the landfill. It estimates that 40 to 50 percent of all donations received are passed on to others for free. It also donates to local organizations such as the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network.
Pay It Forward
7856 Route 9W, Catskill
The Pay It Forward Community Thrift Store opened to serve its community with quality goods at affordable prices. The non-profit donation-based shop sells clothing, jewelry, furniture, housewares and accessories. It adds items at great prices daily and provides a wide selection.
All proceeds of the store benefit the programs of Community Action of Greene County, dedicated to community wellness and betterment through a wide variety of programs and services for low-income citizens and their families, helping them on the path to self-sufficiency.”
Community Action offers programs and resources from emergency assistance to housing solutions to legal advocacy to tax preparation.
The store provides opportunity for volunteerism among seniors, students and others, as well as serving as a job training site for those in its work readiness program. Its motto is “Creating Opportunities, Fighting Poverty, Changing Lives.”
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