Thrifting Love Part 2 with @intersections.clothing.co

Welcome back Thrifters as we continue this month with part 2 of our ‘Thrifting Love’ conversation on Thrift Ethics. Today, we speak with Ana of @penniesandyards and Panda of @sapphicpanda the lovely couple behind @intersections.clothing.co an online boutique selling "Accessible, inclusive, intersectional secondhand fashion"

Thrifting with @intersections.clothing.co

"The type of Thrifter I am would best be defined as a Spark Joy! Thrifter. (Thanks Marie Kondo)" -Panda

Thank you Panda and Ana for joining the conversation with us on this ‘Thrifting Love’ topic. I’d imagine running any sort of business with a significant other would be challenging, but you two have the added bonus of this third love, we call Thrift, that I am sure makes business even more challenging; between deciding what to sell and what to keep, or when to thrift for product and how much to thrift for, and who gets to go thrifting.

Would you please elaborate more on what is it like running a secondhand fashion business with your significant other?

Panda:

Well we're just getting started! For the most part, I feel like Ana runs the business-y aspects of Intersections while I'm more like WOULDN'T THIS BE A GOOD CONCEPT? I'm definitely more of an idea person. Intersections has really made me admire Ana's ability to turn abstract ideas into reality. She's very grounded.

Ana:

It's a lot of work! I've never done anything like this before so it's a steep learning curve to get a sense of everything that needs to be done when thrifting for other people instead of just ourselves, and allocating responsibilities. But I'm really excited about the future. I'm happy taking it slow for now.

I was really inspired by places like Cuties (a queer-run coffee shop) and the Plus Bus (a plus size secondhand store) that function as community and event spaces, and I dream that someday this spreads far beyond just us.

"It's true, I'm utterly ruthless when I'm thrifting! I haven't managed a “quick goodwill trip” in YEARS" -Ana

Is thrifting something you two usually do together?

Panda:

We definitely thrift together but it isn't required, we've both come home separately with hauls to show off to one another.

If we're shopping for ourselves we often have to go different places, most thrift stores only have straight sizing and as a fat person that has been a source of frustration for a while. One of the reasons we started Intersections was the need to create a thrifting space where we could both theoretically shop! Especially since it doesn't seem to exist yet!

Ana:

I love thrifting with Panda! It's good to have someone to encourage or discourage pieces or to (sometimes) hold me back from impulse buys. But we don't actually always get to thrift together! Goodwill definitely carries way more of my size, and other shops I like, like Out of the Closet, almost exclusively carry sizes L and under. There's a great plus size secondhand store called the Plus Bus, but it's so far by public transit from where we live that it's a whole day trip basically. So even though we usually go thrifting together, it feels like the shopping itself is usually just one of us cheering on the other person. That's really one of the things I'd love to change by establishing a brick-and-mortar Intersections someday!

"Most thrift stores only have straight sizing and as a fat person that has been a source of frustration for a while" -Panda

The two of you bring up very important points. One factor of thrifting I love most is that it is inclusive. But as you both describe, stores and online shops can still strive to include clothes that fit all body types and lifestyles.

Would you say you two are different types of Thrifters?

Panda:

I usually burn out pretty quickly (I have chronic pain so low stamina is a thing) but Ana can last ALL DAY in a thrift store. Often I end up crashing after the first hour while she buzzes around at the speed of light; a persistent stream of enthusiastic energy. I shop, rest, then repeat.

The type of Thrifter I am would best be defined as a Spark Joy! Thrifter. (Thanks Marie Kondo) I tend to go for really unique/bold pieces or pieces that are really nice sensory-wise. I am also (unfortunately) a bit project happy when it comes to thrifting. I have a basket of pieces next to my craft table that I DEFINITELY WILL TOTALLY work on.

Ana:

It's true, I'm utterly ruthless when I'm thrifting! I haven't managed a “quick goodwill trip” in YEARS. I tend to rush through and grab anything and everything that looks interesting, until I can barely move my cart. Then I cull some pieces, then I move on to another part of the store to give the first pile a rest, then I go BACK to the first pile and take it to the fitting room. I choose my “need” pieces and “want” pieces, and then I ask Panda, who is by this point exhausted and hungry, to make the final hard decisions for me.

When thrifting, I usually shop based on whatever sale the store has going on -- half priced tags, $1 section, etc. But I'm also a sucker for styles that have recently become trendy, and pieces that'll take my wardrobe along with some mood I've recently been in.

"I love that thrifting has become one of the spaces where we can... explore ourselves and the people we want to be" -Ana

Were you two Thrifters before meeting one another? Or, as one been the thriftspiration that led the other into the thrift lifestyle?

Panda:

I've always been a Thrifter, it started out of necessity. I was raised pretty low income. I honestly have weird feelings about how trendy and accepted thrifting has become when it used to flag me as poor. But! Happier things! I think the first time I genuinely enjoyed thrifting was when I was 11. I was living in a shelter that opened a connecting thrift store and I got to shop for myself for the first time. I got SO MANY graphic t-shirts, had I ever run that 5k in 1990? Donated blood? Listened to the Grateful Dead? Nopeee but I was fucking ecstatic. I also found a really old polaroid camera that had to have the flash bulb changed every time it was used and a heck ton of very riveting Danielle Steel books (I had no idea it was mommy porn...oops).

Since Ana and I started thrifting together though I really enjoy the fun of being like “LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!” And celebrating that. I love going through hauls afterwards and being like “Can you believe we found that?!” We both basically feed into each others sense of pride and achievement after a good haul and it's always really bolstering to me.

Ana:

My mother was always very economical, and my entire childhood, she was constantly bringing home kitchen gadgets or wool sweaters from Goodwill trips. But she was never that good at finding clothes for me. I wore a LOT of hand-me-downs, so for a sense of individuality, what I actually ended up getting into was yard saling! I was lucky to grow up in a small town with tight-knit community and a tradition of hosting town-wide yard and garage sales twice a year. It was a genuinely freeing and unique kind of experience to save up literal pennies all year, then walk miles over a weekend finding things that felt right to me. I've scored so many 10c shirts and $1 dresses! My early days of college were when my sense of fashion self really started to develop, and I have yard sales to thank for it.

The first time I took Panda yard saling with me (we were good friends but not yet best friends, just out of high school) was one of the funnest weekends I ever had! He ended up spending $60 on a host of treasures that included 4 pairs of boots, sparkly shoes, and a giant framed painting that filled the entire backseat of a car.

"I honestly have weird feelings about how trendy and accepted thrifting has become when it used to flag me as poor" -Panda

What do you love most about each other, and thrifting?

Panda:

I love how willing Anastacia is to grow and change. I feel like she might disagree but she is always so down for a new adventure and always wants to do more, achieve more, take on more. She always has so many projects. She also has grown so much as a person since we first met (I tease her often about how she used to hate me). I appreciate her so incredibly much and it's hard to find words that don't dim things. I love how willing she is to work with me as a team, to make things accessible, to communicate, to go on 2am adventures on a moments notice at a whim. She makes me feel like her equal, which isn't something I often feel as a queer, trans, disabled, poc person.

Ana:

I love seeing Panda have new adventures and make new discoveries! I feel like he's always doing something new with color -- wild makeup, or suddenly picking up painting and transforming our apartment's only table into an art nook, or putting together outfits that should by all logic look horrible but don't. And I love how encouraging he is of little facets of my personality that would otherwise go unexplored. Specifically when thrifting, he's talked me into trying on (and loving) cuts and patterns that I would have never left the house in before. And there's few things I love more than watching him sift through racks of clothing, pull out some utterly bizarre shape or color, and just LIGHT UP. I've described him as “an embodiment of joy” before. He's the most delightful person to be around or do anything with. And I love that thrifting has become one of the spaces where we can both explore ourselves and the people we want to be.

Intersections Clothing Co. model @_trashper_

I can' thank you both enough for sharing your perspective on Thrifting and running a Thrift business together. Panda, your view on thrifting as trendy when it used to be a mark of poorness, hits hard and is such a vital viewpoint that gets overlooked by those privileged enough to buy new items, yet shop secondhand for whichever reasons.

This makes me wonder, could we ultimately be driving the secondhand market up and potentially making this once available option for the underprivileged to wear nice clothes in their price range, disappear?

You each inspire me to continue to learn and discover new truths! Thank you for joining me on this 2 part segment of "Thrifting Love" this month on @thrift_ethics

See you on the feed Thrifters!