Good friends shouldn't be parted so soon!
I definitely don't have a shoe fetish, but I think flats are cute. The fad came and went, and I wasn't able to buy a pair because I couldn't find any that fit me. Then, while shopping at one of my favourite second-hand clothing stores, I found them. Black with brown detailing and an itty-bitty heel. Floral print inner lining. Perfect for me.
Or so I thought until walking home from the bus one rainy evening. My right foot felt cold and wet, although my left foot was fairly dry. When I got home and examined my shoes, it was instant heartbreak: the sole of the right shoe had cracked completely through, letting in dirty rainwater that chilled my foot.
The shoes had cost me $4, and so I thought it was no big deal to dispose of them - repairing the sole would cost me at least three times as much as the shoes had. I'd only been able to spend a few months with these wonderful shoes, though, and the question of whether or not I should repair them has puzzled me ever since the right shoe broke. After all, if the point of making second-hand purchases is to conserve the environment by continuing to use goods that can still be used, did my disposal of the second-hand shoes fly in the face of this? Or is the point to get as much use as possible out of the shoes, and so the goal has been reached with this particular pair?
Let me know. Why do you buy second-hand, and what do you do with the items when they reach the end of their useful life?
I buy second-hand because it's much less expensive for products that still have a lot of good life in them. The idea of spending more than $10 on any one item of clothing is still really, really a shock to me.
ReplyDeletePlus, brand names at super discounts. My brand-new pocket-still-sealed Nygard jacket only cost $8.00 at the Salvation Army. You can't beat a price like that!
The most important part is knowing how to shop for things: what's good quality, what "worn out" looks like, and knowing what already fits in your wardrobe.