POPSUGAR: Tell us about yourself.
Iesha Gilchrist: I am about to be 31, I'm a mother of one, and I have been thrifting since I was a young teenager. Fashion has always been a passion of mine, even before Instagram and "influencing" was a thing. I'm originally from the 757 area of Virginia but decided to move to Georgia in 2019, which is also the same year I decide to create @ThriftNtell to show others thrifted style hacks. My content has opened many doors for me including being able to work with Access Hollywood, The Real Real, Good Day DC, The Rachael Ray show, Good Morning America, Facebook, TikTok, Essence, Target, and more coming soon.
PS: Why do you love to thrift?
LG: I thrift because I've always enjoyed vintage clothing and standing out from the crowd. I like to think that I am responsible for the fact that, "thrifting" is now a trend in the black community because before I created ThriftNTell, there were very few women of color openly admitting to thrifting and even doing style hacks. I take pride in [that] because it was a change that needed to be made.
A lot of "my people" used to be so stuck on a designer or only feeling stylish if their outfit was $1,000 and up. That's no longer the case now, and I love that for us. Outside of my own selfish reasons for thrifting, I "always check the thrift store first" for the betterment of our home: earth. I've always said thrifting was the future because as our resources run low, so will our productions. Being wasteful is tasteless.
A lot of the "new items" in the trendy stores today are just an inspiration from the past. I'd rather build with sustainable items and add in modern items here and there.
PS: What makes you pick up a piece of clothing when you are thrifting?
IG: When I'm thrifting, I always gravitate toward prints, sequins, or anything dramatic. Even though there are a lot of vintage imitations, prints are the dead giveaway for vintage especially if it's from the '80s. The sequins or beaded items are always the most sustainable to me because it was never cheaply made. Also, a lot of people can't stand shoulder pads, but I love them. The higher, the better, in my opinion.
PS: What are your predictions for the future of thrifting?
IG: The future of thrifting really depends on the consumers of today. I always encourage my supporters to buy quality clothing if they are shopping outside of thrift stores, because let's be honest: nobody wants to have creative restrictions when it comes to their style. Lately, I have been seeing a lot of fast fashion in thrift stores. My hope is that these brands can find a way to make affordable clothing more sustainable; otherwise some of the landfills we know today will become our very own backyard.
Fashion can still be fun without it contributing to so much waste, and that is one of the major goals for my platforms. I shop fast fashion sometimes because I am not perfect. However, I try to make conscious choices on what's being purchased by asking myself "how many times or ways can you wear this?" If I can't wear the items in at least 10 different ways, I won't buy it.
