While the global fast fashion market continues to boom, Chicago thrift stores don’t plan on going anywhere.
Mireya Fouché and Christa Cauley founded Monarch Thrift Shop in Avondale in 2015. The business pair say that as one of the first storefronts on the northwest corridor of Milwaukee Avenue, they had to rely heavily on community support.
“How we made it through, I don’t know,” Fouché said.
The business partners, modeling their operations off the extended lifespan of a monarch butterfly, were committed to reinventing the clothes they took in and supporting individuals in need. With its extensive job training program, Monarch provides experience to anyone facing obstacles in employment. Other organizational pillars include reducing recidivism and breaking the cycle of youth homelessness.
“The community is what helped us continue to grow,” Fouché said.
Monarch expanded to a 4,000-square-foot space across from their original location on Milwaukee Avenue in 2022. From designer goods up to $100 to $1 T-shirts, the store owners carefully consider how to reuse every category of clothing in a community member’s closet.
Fouché, who has a background in merchandise management, spoke about the intersection of Monarch's business model, sustainability and general accessibility for the store's wide range of clientele.
“If an item is on the sales floor for too long, that means it's not getting into people’s hands,” said Fouché. “At that point, we review necessary price point changes to make it more accessible.”
The thrift store estimates their work helped divert nearly 50,000 pounds of donated goods from landfills in 2023 alone. This was a result of the store’s philosophy that “something ends up somewhere”—weekly pick ups from textile companies, partnerships with upcyclers, clothing swaps and book donations with local non-profits ensure discarded items are used in some capacity.
Across town in Bridgeport, So Happy You’re Here echoes similar sentiments regarding the strong market for reused items, stating a need to shift toward the next stage of sustainability: upcycling.
“There is, especially in Chicago, right now a big reselling market,” said Elena Coronado-Jensen, who co-owns So Happy You’re Here with her husband, Gerson. “There are multiple different organizations who do vintage festivals, pop-ups … but I think we need to take it to the next level.”
Along the walls of the store, the Bridgeport retailer makes its stance very clear with reused textiles that read, “Death to Fast Fashion.” The message reflects a shift in consumer trends away from major online retailers, like SHEIN and FashionNova, that are still producing waste. According to Boston University’s School of Public Health, Americans throw out more than 34 billion pounds of used textiles per year, averaging 100 pounds of textile per person.
The thrift shop specializes in one-of-a-kind upcycled clothing, even holding its own entirely sustainable fashion show this April.
To actively combat the increasing tons of waste, both Monarch and So Happy You're Here hold mending or sewing workshops for community members. So Happy You’re Here, recognizing a skill gap in younger generations, teaches simple mending courses to extend the lifespan of clothes that would otherwise be thrown away.
“Hand sewing absolutely can get you a long way,” Coronado-Jensen said. “When it comes to little things like buttons or tears or whatever, patching is so great, and that can make something last a much, much longer time.”
For sustainability, the work doesn’t stop at local shops. Organizations like Chicago Textile Recycling accept used textiles in marked bins around the city. Local sewing classes on upcycling are useful, but often cost a pretty penny, Coronado-Jensen admits. Facebook groups for sewers, however, can provide resources for beginners and experts alike.
While still engaging with the community, Chicago’s secondhand business owners find themselves at the crossroads of economics, sustainability and the unpredictable pace of fashion.
“One of the most difficult things about this for me is trying to figure out how to feel like people of every class range can shop here and also not have prices so low that I put myself out of business,” Coronado-Jensen said. “I’m figuring out how to have respect for these high quality garments and sell them at a fair price point, while also acknowledging the privilege that there is in reselling vintage clothes.”