Cost of living: Second-hand shopping in vogue as prices rise

"It's better for the environment and better for your pocket."

Charity shops have reported a surge in customers as the cost of living crisis combines with a "shift in attitude" towards second-hand clothes.

Lauren Knapman regularly shops in charity stores and posts about what she finds online.

The 28-year old from Newport said it was partly down to cost, but also because she wants to live sustainably.

"There's definitely been a stigma around buying second-hand in the past," she said.

"Maybe people have been embarrassed by it and thought others would think they're struggling.

"But I just think mindsets are changing - obviously it does save you a lot of money but also stops things ending up in landfill."

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Lauren got married in April and scoured charity shops for wine glasses, candlesticks and cake stands.

Lauren Knapman says shopping at charity shops is a "win-win" for her and the planet

"Everything already exists - as long as you can find it there's no need to buy new," she said.

"We sold all the stuff straight after too so it was great not to have it all lying around."

Fellow charity shop enthusiast Kelly Allen, 40, from Llantrisant in Rhondda Cynon Taf, writes and blogs about sustainable fashion.

"It's a bit like a treasure trove isn't it when you go into a charity shop - you can find little hidden gems," she said.

"On the one hand you've got people who are struggling at the moment so it makes sense to go to those places, but it's also becoming a bit of a fashionable thing to do."

Kelly Allen says buying second-hand goods has become "a bit fashionable"

But she has noticed prices going up, especially in some parts of Cardiff, meaning if "you truly rely on charity shops to clothe your family, I think that's a bit of a worry".

Recent months have seen a record 14% increase in turnover for Cancer Research UK's network of 600 charity shops.

At its Cardiff superstore - one of Wales' biggest second-hand shops - the number of customers coming through the doors is up 10% compared with the same period last year.

Julie Byard says many more people are choosing to buy pre-owned items

Cancer Research UK's director of trading Julie Byard said people were "choosing to shop in a way that makes their money go further".

While many are "driven by necessity" towards the shop's second-hand clothes, all of which are below £5, market research indicated people were now consciously choosing pre-owned items, she said.

The charity's shops save about 25,000 tonnes of textile going into landfill every year, she added.

But donations in Wales were down 10% during the past three months, "potentially" another symptom of the cost of living crisis.

Rhys Jones volunteers in the Climate Shop in Lampeter

At The Climate Shop in Lampeter, Ceredigion, second-hand clothes and other goods are priced in trees rather than pounds as the charity funds tree-planting efforts in Kenya.

The town's deputy mayor Rhys Jones, who volunteers in the shop, said he was seeing "more and more people coming in finding it very difficult to make ends meet".

"People have got to make sacrifices but they've also found there's nothing wrong with wearing second-hand clothes."

The rise in customers could also be a legacy of the pandemic, he claimed as "people had to shop locally and have now changed their way of buying things".

"They're saying 'right what can I do to help my local community but also to help the planet'."

Fellow volunteer Sara Avila said she had noticed "an awful lot of people" asking for curtains to pin up against doors as draught excluders and "help keep the heat in" this winter.

"They're terrified they are going to freeze and I mean curtains are horrendously expensive to buy new, whereas here they're a few pounds," she said.

Volunteer Sara Avila says many people are looking for curtains to help draught-proof their homes

Sporting a dress made for her by a friend out of an old T-shirt and bed sheet, fashion blogger Kelly Allen added that the squeeze on household budgets could also be leading to a return to "fixing and reworking" clothes.

"When it gets to the point where they can't wear it anymore, use it as rags for cleaning," she said.

Phoebe Brown, director of Repair Cafe Wales, said the organisation had seen "a real increase in engagement" during the past year.

It runs free events where people can bring in broken bikes and electrical items and damaged clothes to be mended for free.

She agreed the cost-of-living crisis could be leading to the sorts of behavioural changes that climate activists have long called for.

"It's a shame that it's economic hardship that's forcing people down those routes of behaviour change, but it is [happening]," she said.

"It's the change that we really need to see and we hope that will stick around and become embedded".

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