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Years ago, I was visiting a friend in Scottsdale, Arizona, before attending an important travel writers conference. I had been writing articles nonstop for several months and was at the threshold of burnout. Conference attendees had meetings set up in advance with editors at top publications, and I was anxious that I had been unable to prepare for the meetings because of emotional overload. I had packed uber casual clothes and needed some better threads and kicks. I asked my Arizona friend if we could go shopping locally.

“Prices in the stores are crazy here,” she answered. “What about resale or consignment stores?”

At the resale shops, several owners told me they buy items outright from clients. At consignment stores, which often feature more higher-end threads, several managers said they don’t pay clients up front, but give them a percentage of sales and return the items if they don’t sell. At nonprofit thrift stores, the purchases typically constitute tax-deductible donations to worthy causes.

Let’s just put it this way: I fell in love. I became besotted with the shops where, for a few hundred dollars, I could have a new smart-casual-dress wardrobe.

At the writers’ convention, I told the editors of high-end publications about the shops, naming a few like My Sister’s Closet and High Society. They all went. At the first gala dinner, they circulated and bragged: “Look at this tie—$3.” “Check out my $15 shoes.” “This is my new go-to dress for 28 dollars.” They told me that their work is high stress, and it was the most relaxed they had been in quite a while. One editor confided that she had low self-esteem, and getting compliments on how she looked was an unexpected mood booster for her.

And something surprising happened when I was at the stores. A local banker told me, “Resale shopping is one of my strategies for dealing with depression. Instead of focusing on what’s going on inside of me, I focus on cheering myself up by looking good even when I feel awful. And there’s no guilt about spending too much money.” Another Scottsdale visitor from Illinois overheard the conversation and added, “I can’t believe you’re saying that! When I’m really stressed and having anxiety, it’s what the husband reminds me to do. He says I’m always excited and happy when I get good deals, and the shopping distracts me.”

In resale stores, I have found that the shoppers are helpful to each other, and the mood is generally light, fun, and pleasant. Sales staff often help you select items and give you ideas. I still laugh when I think of one shop owner who said to me, “You know, dear, there are colors besides black.” And I left with an armload of my new highly colored attire.

The owner of a consignment store confided that some of the wealthiest and best-dressed women in the U.S. fly into Scottsdale, book suites at top luxury resorts, and bring suitcases of their clothes to the store. Some items have only been worn once. And then they shop at the consignment store, load up their suitcases, and take their “new” clothes home.

Recently, I returned to Scottsdale and, of course, hit the resale trail. Some of the stores were gone, others had popped up. My Sister’s Closet was less eclectic and arranged by designer names for men and women, and I had never visited Vintage by Misty before. At Turn Style Consignment, where people come to get great deals for kids, teens, and families, I found two designer shirts and a new, still-tagged sweater for my husband for a total of $48. The first time he wore his new threads, he got compliments not only from friends but also from strangers. And I have the same experience every time I return from shopping in Scottsdale.

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In Santa Fe, New Mexico, Dr. Andrea Campbell is both a therapist and fashionista who shops at consignment shops at home and when she travels. “Since the fashion industry is one of the major contributors to pollution worldwide, it makes good sense to purchase quality garments and recycle them,” she says. “This provides a sense of satisfaction and justifies my hunter-gatherer instincts and allows me the luxury of fashion within my budget. It can also be a diversion from general daily stress. Like fashion, resale shopping immerses the shopper in color, texture, fabric, weave, and sensation.”

In a conversation with her, she emphasizes her research into the economic and ecological aspects of buying resale clothing. “Fashion production comprises 10 percent of total global carbon emissions. Eighty-five percent of all textiles go to dumps each year. Even washing clothing releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into oceans each year, which is equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles. Eighty percent of apparel is made by young women 18 to 24 with forced child labor in fashion industries of many developing countries. So, buying second-hand helps to lessen exploitation of both human and natural resources,” she says.

She also added another little-known current phenomenon she has heard about: “During World War II and in Ukraine now, women are dressing up in defiance.”

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