Hyderabadi teen makes money out of unused clothes

In January, the 17-year-old launched her thrift store, ThriftChicByTrish on Instagram, where she sells remodelled pre-loved clothes

Hyderabad: A 12th-grader from Hyderabad, Trisha Reddy always fancied starting her own business in the field of fashion. And when the coronavirus pandemic resulted in lockdown last year, she started working on realising her dream.

In January, the 17-year-old launched her thrift store, ThriftChicByTrish on Instagram, where she sells remodelled pre-loved clothes.

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“Thrifting is an age-old practice in India. Unused clothes were always given to the younger siblings in the family. It was a well-accepted practice and nobody minded it. But, somehow the present generation lost the practice. I wanted to revive that age-old practice very unique to our country but add a business element to it,” she says.

She started the thrift store with her clothes and a sum of Rs 35,000 loaned by her parents and she has so far sold 75 pieces of garments out of 87 on display. She is combining her love for fashion, contemporary and high street trends and turning it into a business that enables a sustainable life.

There has been an increase in the number of such online thrift stores, run by students, during the lockdown. But Trisha says thrift shops are not much prevalent in South India and more so in Telugu states. “They are widely prevalent in the west. They are also better known in Indian cities like Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. But, the awareness is not much here. So I researched sustainable shopping and why it matters and understood the importance of curation,” she adds.

Sustainable fashion has turned into a new trend in the fashion industry. Garment and textile industries are said to be one of the largest pollutants of water. They contribute to greenhouse emissions and landfills comprising garments made of non-biodegradable fabric.

She curates the collection of clothes she sells, styles them for the picture and sport as a model wearing those clothes to showcase them to customers. She promotes them through her store on Instagram. If there is any defect on the clothes it is mentioned in the description. Currently, it carries only female clothes and soon she is planning to add male clothing as well as Indian wear.

“All the clothes are sold at a very affordable cost. They are door delivered through sustainable, germ-free packaging. We dry clean the garments twice, once after I wear and showcase for a photograph and second before delivery,” informs Trisha, who has been running a fashion blog for the past four years.

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