• last year
Do secondhand stores have enough options for people looking for larger sizes?

Brut reporter Ghita Benslimane visited several stores to find out …

Thanks to Plus BKLYN.

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00Do you have any tips for helping me find the larger sizes?
00:03I would just say, look, I mean there's not a lot, but there are things for sure.
00:08So you'll just have to spend a lot of time.
00:09By shopping secondhand, people can spend less, find unique pieces, and help the environment.
00:14But these perks can be hard to access for people looking for larger sizes.
00:17I wear a size 16, same as the average American woman.
00:20Let's visit some secondhand stores in New York City and see how it goes.
00:23The only thing that's sort of by size would be with the angle on the back wall.
00:28There's a lot of clothes here, but it's kind of all mixed in together and not organized
00:32by size.
00:33There's a lot of S's here, lots of mediums, but not a lot of XL.
00:38I just went through an entire rack of clothes and only found one size 14 shirt.
00:44But it's this.
00:45I don't know why I even bother.
00:48Unless you have three hours to look through all of the clothes that are mixed in together,
00:52it's going to be a hassle.
00:54I'm getting tired of digging for my size.
00:56I always find myself gravitating towards the shoe section because I know they'll fit.
01:01I just finished looking through this rack of shorts and I only found two XL sizes.
01:07I did not have much luck, but let's try another store.
01:11It's organized by color, which bigger people know, not very helpful.
01:16My arms got tired looking through all the clothes, so on to the next one.
01:21Again, a lot of this organized by color, not really helpful.
01:26So I'm done shopping for today.
01:27I went to three secondhand stores in three hours and I got one t-shirt.
01:36I'm now headed to Plus Brooklyn, the only secondhand clothing store in New York City
01:40dedicated to plus size clothing.
01:42Let's check it out.
01:43Hi, welcome to Plus Brooklyn.
01:46We are the only plus size secondhand store in all of New York City.
01:51Like let that sink in.
01:52We are in New York City and we are the only plus size secondhand brick and mortar store.
01:59My shopping experience as a plus size person moving through the world in general, like
02:03not even specifically at a secondhand store, has been challenging.
02:07In most big box retailers, even still, you can't find my size.
02:11When you think about the other layer of that and even more specialty, which is secondhand
02:16or vintage shopping, that adds a whole other layer of complexity.
02:21Oftentimes you leave those stores feeling kind of like down and dejected because you
02:25feel like there's nothing for you.
02:27And then of course, a lot of people internalize that and they're like, what's fundamentally
02:30wrong with me and my body that there's no clothes here that fit me, which is silly.
02:34The demand is there.
02:35The people see it.
02:36They feel it.
02:37I really feel like we're providing like an incredible needed service to so many.
02:44Traditionally, historically, plus size clothing has been that the options that were available
02:52to people like us had been matronly, drab, muted colors, kind of like ill-fitting.
03:01And so like for us, the curation of what we have here and like what we're building is
03:05all about being vibrant and loud and fun and modern and on trend.
03:11Everything toward the front of the store in terms of clothing is generally speaking, modern
03:16resale.
03:17We have dresses on the left-hand side of the store.
03:20Everything sized from one all the way up to six X, which you can see with markers.
03:24You can see here for the back.
03:25This is where we house all of our true plus size vintage.
03:28I won't be able to fit it because it's too big.
03:30It's too big.
03:31And I've never had that problem before.
03:37What is your experience typically like shopping at second-hand stores?
03:40It's standing around playing on my phone.
03:42I've even been told that I shouldn't even look around because they're not going to have
03:46anything.
03:47Typically when we go thrifting, I don't usually partake in thrifting.
03:51I walk into places and you're like, great, I'm going to look at just the accessories
03:54so all my friends can shop around.
03:56I just feel like I'm never going to find anything, so it's kind of awkward.
04:00For me and my zeitgeist, there is no such thing as a plus size vintage store.
04:05So finding this place was incredible.
04:08It's sort of like your body is normalized here and that's not common in most stores.
04:13Now it's more of, is this my style versus is this my size?
04:17It's sad that this is the case, but we often get people who cry happy tears when they come
04:23here and try on clothes because they're like, this is the best shopping experience I've
04:26had because everything that I tried on was able to fit me.
04:30It shouldn't be moving you to tears that clothing fits you.
04:32Plus Brooklyn is, for me, it's a space that incorporates radical self-love.
04:40And we do believe that that is not a bad term.
04:45This is who we are.
04:46We're happy and we're proud to be it.
04:48And you shouldn't shy away from accepting that about us too.
04:53And I think that's a really important part of what we're trying to do here at Brooklyn
04:57and what we're trying to do here as a community.
04:59And I think that's a really important part of what we're trying to do here as a community.
05:02And I think that's a really important part of what we're trying to do here as a community.
05:05And I think that's a really important part of what we're trying to do here as a community.
05:08And I think that's a really important part of what we're trying to do here as a community.
05:11And I think that's a really important part of what we're trying to do here as a community.
05:14And I think that's a really important part of what we're trying to do here as a community.
05:17And I think that's a really important part of what we're trying to do here as a community.