Bad Thrift Fatigue

What the PrettyLittleThing rebrand means for Kenyan thrifting

I have been thrifting all my life. Growing up overlooking one of the largest open-air markets in Kenya; Toi, (or to some Adams- OGs know the difference), meant that a simple walk turned into a shopping spree.

The cruel heat, knocking into people, getting knocked, sweat beads on your nose, forehead & upper lip, not minding the throbbing pain on my shoulder from carrying around my found treasures, and topped off with an overheated roadside pineapple slice, were signs of a successful thrift run.

From J. Crew, The Gap, Spice Girls merch to Levi’s… LEVI’S! Should have stocked up on 501s when I had the chance. I have a distinct memory of a red hoodie I thrifted by The Gap. I’ve had it for almost 10 years now and not a thread is out of place. I’m lying. The kangaroo pocket did need repair after a while but the highlight about that is the fine people at The Gap had sewn an extra piece of thread in a clear plastic bag onto the care instructions. Remember when brands did that? They would include spare buttons and thread for easy repairs and replacements increasing its lifespan.

Fast forward to today. I’m writing this coming from what I think was the worst thrift experience of my life. While the cruel heat and sweat beads were ever present, all that was missing was the radiating pain on my shoulder. I recently made the decision to no longer purchase any synthetic fabrics and I’m certainly paying for it. I came to the realization that the fabrics were incredibly irritating on my skin and didn’t want to support it anymore, so shopping now is no longer a relaxing activity. Most garments that end up at the market are full of polyester and it just takes more time and effort to get what I am looking for. It has been almost 5 years now of just unwearable and fragile items polluting my once beloved market. When did thrift lose its panache? I blame fast fashion, shock.

PrettyLitleThing owned by The BooHoo group, recently unveiled their new logo and website overhaul. The logo design “matured into a sophisticated heritage-inspired” mark, from the famous bubble pink and the new focus of the brand is on creating a legacy. The fashion on the website has shifted from the going-out, cutout BBL styles and is now mooching off the minimalistic “quiet luxury” trend. A quick look on the website and all you’ll see are models with hair in either a slicked buns or a flowy middle part and muted colors in the clothes to beige, beige, beige.

from left; CEO Umar Kamani; the new look of the website; new images on their Instagram.

Founder and CEO of PLT, Umar Kamani, sat exclusively with Drapers to discuss the rebrand and the changes consumers are going to witness over time. The discussions on changes in quality and sizing are of the most concern to me because PLT were previously known to quickly churn out the cheapest clothes every hour on the hour. He now says in the interview “What we’ve done now is not to focus on having a dress on site at £4 but having a dress that’s thicker, not see-through and a better fit. We are using better fabrics and better finishes.” But one look at TikTok’s posted by consumers receiving their goods will show you that the quality is still very poor (surprised?) and the fit of the garments is not great and definitely not inclusive.

Already this announcement feels like such a nothingburger to those who choose to consume fashion mindfully, but it is still deeply depressing to know that some will still fall for it and eventually all this stuff will be decluttered from closets, shipped and end up populating my favorite market.

I am still madly in love with the high-quality thrifted items that I own but until we hit the brakes, call out brands for fabric choices and pricing, and refigure how fast fashion brands operate, our local thrifting experiences will continue to be abysmal.