{"id":5447,"date":"2021-03-12T10:23:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T10:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techclot.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/12\/how-covid-19-encouraged-india-to-shop-secondhand\/"},"modified":"2021-03-12T10:23:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T10:23:33","slug":"how-covid-19-encouraged-india-to-shop-secondhand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techclot.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/12\/how-covid-19-encouraged-india-to-shop-secondhand\/","title":{"rendered":"How Covid-19 encouraged India to shop secondhand"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Covid-19 encouraged India to shop secondhand<\/a><\/p>\n

Growing up in the 1990s, Linnotha and Lumri Jajo fondly remember shopping for secondhand clothes at women-run stores in their home town of Ukhrul. Clothes were sold out of bundles instead of on hangers or shelves. Each shop would keep several piles of clothes that they rummaged through to find dresses, jeans, jackets, shoes and bags. \u201cSecondhand shopping is all about having a good eye. It\u2019s a slow process of sieving through clothes and checking for damages,\u201d says Linnotha, now 32. \u201cBut we were never short of good clothes.\u201d  <\/p>\n

In the Northeast Indian state of Manipur, where Ukhrul is located, secondhand clothes have long been accepted. Not so elsewhere in India. As Mumbai-based Namrata Iyer, a 21-year-old design student who started The Local Thrift<\/a> in March 2020, puts it, \u201cFor most Indians, secondhand clothes are meant for poor people.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the pandemic has prompted a change in attitudes. Researchers into consumer behaviour have noted<\/a> a trend for responsible buying \u2014 a new frugality and appreciation of \u201cvoluntary simplicity\u201d \u2014 in urban India. Combine that with rising environmental consciousness among India\u2019s urban young, and the conditions are ripe for a new appreciation of the importance of secondhand clothing in a world of finite resources.<\/p>\n

In the Northeast of India back in the 1990s, there wasn\u2019t much else on offer for the Jajo sisters. Foreign retail stores and businesses made few inroads in the 1990s despite economic liberalisation in 1992 that enabled foreign direct investment. Military operations and curfews also curtailed economic activity in the state, which was troubled with insurgencies. That left little room for the local economy to grow at the pace of the rest of India. <\/p>\n

For clothes, locals in the state of Manipur have relied for decades on apparel from the street markets of Hong Kong and Bangkok making its way through Bangladesh or Myanmar, both of which share long and porous borders with India\u2019s Northeast. Even more abundant are bundles of used clothes sourced from charities in the West and Asia, nations such as South Korea, proving popular among the region\u2019s predominantly indigenous tribal communities.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2019 when secondhand \u201cvintage\u201d clothes began dropping all over Instagram, a trend that the Jajo sisters were among the first in India to turn into a business with the launch of Folkpants<\/a>, their boutique label. \u201cFolkpants reflects our values and experiences, not to mention our love for fashion,\u201d says Jajo, who co-founded the store with her sister after several encouraging garage sales at their home, now in New Delhi. <\/p>\n

Although the first few drops sold out quickly, their business really surged forward after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the country into a strict lockdown in March 2020. \u201cOur followers grew from about 3,000 to 11,000 in just a few months,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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Folkpants\u2019 collaboration with Smoke Wear. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a9 Prakrit Rai<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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