The Rising Gentrification of Thrifting within the context of Pakistan: Attitudes towards the practice & consequences of its destigmatization

Abstract

The following paper aims to shed light on the growing relevance of the momentum of purchasing second-hand clothing amongst middle/ upper-middle class youngsters in through an effective qualitative analysis and the conduction of ten semi-structured interviews of female students hailing from Forman Christian College, Lahore, Pakistan. It also aims to underline the many possible causes of the need for such gentrification of the practice of ‘thrifting’ in relation to greater conversations surrounding social class behavior and social media utilization as well as the possible impacts of such gentrification and acceptability on conventional thrifting markets and their traditionally and historically working class purchasers. The results of the study demonstrate a clear relationship between rising gentrification of thrifting within the country owing to greater upper-class integration within the practice, as well as the ways in which it can potentially be a source of concern for local flea markets