Over 200 people recently attended the first summer edition thrifting event hosted by the two co-founders of a Stellenbosch-based student-led startup.
This was according to Maríze Mulder, an MPhil (Interdisciplinary Art Studies) student at Stellenbosch University (SU), and Jasmine de Wet, an intern at SU’s Facilities Management division, who are the co-founders of the startup, Into Style.
SMF News attended the event, which was hosted at the CoCreate Hub on 14 March under the theme ‘Melt into Style’. Attendees could exchange clothes entirely free of charge or purchase items capped at R100, said De Wet.
“We did an interview with students at the Rooiplein to ask [them] what they think of the thrifting prices,” said De Wet. “We think the prices are quite expensive, especially if the target market is students.”
A cheaper alternative
Into Style is a quarterly event that will happen seasonally each term, said Mulder.
The first Into Style event took place in October 2024 at the CoCreate Hub, after the co-founders decided to offer a cheaper alternative to high thrifting prices in town, according to Mulder.
“At the end of last year we weren’t sure if we were going to be in Stellenbosch for another year, so we rushed to do an event in a month,” said Mulder. “By the gods’ graces, we are here again this year so we decided we will do it properly.”
The evolution of thrifting
Duayne Smith, one of the organisers of Melt Into Style, said that he saw a shift in thrifting back in 2020, when it started to gain traction. However, upon looking at the prices, he thought he might as well go to a clothing retailer and buy something there.
Most thrift organisers often want to curate a certain look and only look for those specific pieces, upscale those prices and lose the essence of thrifting, said Smith, adding that this event was different because it catered to a larger audience.
“Some people think that thrift clothes are stolen from somewhere,” said Chulu Goso, a second-year BA (Humanities) student at SU. “If you have a piece of clothing that you no longer use, just sell it to somebody and the [thrifting] cycle can continue.”