In a world dominated by fast fashion brands and product overconsumption, it can be challenging for shoppers to find sustainable and budget-friendly clothing options. To combat pollution and waste buildup, Palo Alto High School hosts a Flea Market located in the Paly parking lot every second Saturday of the month. The market offers a wide range of unique second-hand items for shoppers to thrift, benefiting the Paly community and environment.
In 1989, the Paly Flea Market began as a fundraiser in the El Camino parking lot to support Paly’s music program. During this time, the proceeds went towards buying instruments and materials for music students.
While it was started to aid the music program, the flea market also promotes environmentally conscious shopping habits. One of these is limiting waste from unwanted and discarded clothing. Secondhand shopping reduces the number of items ending up in landfills and decreases the demand for production. Rylie Talian is one of the many flea market vendors passionate about reducing the environmental hazards caused by overproduction.
“I’ve always been a big environmentalist, and I just felt like the current fashion industry didn’t really align with that value,” Rylie said. “I’ve always really loved fashion; I actually went to school for fashion design, but I really didn’t like the industry, so I’ve gotten far more into secondhand fashion.”
According to the New York Times, the fast fashion industry produces 92 million tons of textile waste annually, making up 35% of microplastic pollution that lasts centuries and contaminates oceans. A recent study from Thred-Up, a popular online thrift store, states that “If every consumer this year bought just one second-hand garment instead of a new one, it would lower CO2 emissions by more than two billion pounds, equal to taking 76 million cars off the road for a day, and save some 23 billion gallons of water and four billion kilowatt-hours of energy.”
Now more than ever, the public must understand the true cost of their clothes and invest in finding alternatives to fast fashion brands, like purchasing from thrift stores or flea markets.
Another benefit of purchasing second-hand clothes and items is the rarity of each piece and how they stand out from typical styles. Sophomore Paolo Buendia loves how the flea market has more eccentric items.
“I love going to the Paly flea market because it’s here every month, and you get to meet really interesting people and get a lot of good clothes for a really good deal,” Paolo said. “I feel like in Palo Alto there’s not a lot of interesting stores.”
The flea market allows shoppers to browse items from clothes and CDs to paintings and trinkets.
“You can find a lot of really cool and unique stuff that you wouldn’t find at any other store,” Paolo said.
Vendors come to the market for various reasons, but all of them find joy with the people who attend the flea market.
“My favorite thing about coming here and selling is probably the regulars that come and see me,” Rylie said.
Lori Kinyon, a returning vendor, was motivated to start selling her items at the flea market because of her love of thrifting.
“I’ve been doing the Paly flea market since the early 90s,” Kinyon said. “I started in an old collectibles store, just buying stuff and bringing it in … and then finally I was selling at flea markets.”
Ultimately, Kinyon has returned to the flea market year after year because of the people she interacts with.
“It’s not all about the money to me — it is simply just socializing,” Kinyon said. “I know a lot of people here like to sell things for a lot more, but I love the feeling of passing on things for the joy of it.”
