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Providing interdisciplinary and global perspectives, this book
examines historical and contemporary changes in secondhand
economies, including the emergence and specialization of secondhand
venues, the materials involved, as well as the cultural
significance of secondhand things and the professions associated
with them. The objects in focus range from used clothing, scrap and
waste materials, to antiquities and used cars, thrift stores and
circular economies. Growing concerns with sustainability in the
West have helped bring about the 'rediscovery' of practices of
clothing re-use, re-purposing and re-cycling at the same time as
major high-street retailers are establishing programs to return
used clothing to their stores for re-sale or recycling. As the
contributions to this edited volume demonstrate, recent concerns
with the fast pace and adverse effects of global commodity flows
have increased the scholarly attention to secondhand economies,
both in terms of their history and their significance for
livelihoods and sustainability. The chapters in this book were
originally published as a special issue of the journal, Business
History.
In this surprising new look at how clothing, style, and commerce
came together to change American culture, Jennifer Le Zotte
examines how secondhand goods sold at thrift stores, flea markets,
and garage sales came to be both profitable and culturally
influential. Initially, selling used goods in the United States was
seen as a questionable enterprise focused largely on the poor. But
as the twentieth century progressed, multimillion-dollar businesses
like Goodwill Industries developed, catering not only to the needy
but increasingly to well-off customers looking to make a statement.
Le Zotte traces the origins and meanings of ""secondhand style""
and explores how buying pre-owned goods went from a signifier of
poverty to a declaration of rebellion. Considering buyers and
sellers from across the political and economic spectrum, Le Zotte
shows how conservative and progressive social activists--from
religious and business leaders to anti-Vietnam protesters and drag
queens--shrewdly used the exchange of secondhand goods for economic
and political ends. At the same time, artists and performers, from
Marcel Duchamp and Fanny Brice to Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain, all
helped make secondhand style a visual marker for youth in revolt.
In this surprising new look at how clothing, style, and commerce
came together to change American culture, Jennifer Le Zotte
examines how secondhand goods sold at thrift stores, flea markets,
and garage sales came to be both profitable and culturally
influential. Initially, selling used goods in the United States was
seen as a questionable enterprise focused largely on the poor. But
as the twentieth century progressed, multimillion-dollar businesses
like Goodwill Industries developed, catering not only to the needy
but increasingly to well-off customers looking to make a statement.
Le Zotte traces the origins and meanings of ""secondhand style""
and explores how buying pre-owned goods went from a signifier of
poverty to a declaration of rebellion. Considering buyers and
sellers from across the political and economic spectrum, Le Zotte
shows how conservative and progressive social activists--from
religious and business leaders to anti-Vietnam protesters and drag
queens--shrewdly used the exchange of secondhand goods for economic
and political ends. At the same time, artists and performers, from
Marcel Duchamp and Fanny Brice to Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain, all
helped make secondhand style a visual marker for youth in revolt.
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