Simran Giri just got herself a pair of Nike Air Force 1 Mid 07 Leather from dohoran.nepal at Rs 1,500. Kylie Jenner owns a similar pair, says Giri. Simran intends to match hers with the H&M Black Knitted Sweater she got from goldenhournp and her Adidas tights from thrift_mandu.

Before Simran knew about thrift shopping and online stores such as dohoran.nepal, goldenhournp and thrift_mandu, things were quite different for her. She would spend a chunk of her salary buying trendy clothes and be miserable for the rest of the month. “Shop, wait, repeat! That’s what my life was about,” she said.

Most of us are like her—we shop extravagantly without realising there are better, cheaper and sustainable alternatives.

“The idea of thrift shopping is an ingrained part of pop culture in the Western countries, but in Nepal fashionistas are just beginning to accept the idea of wearing second-hand clothes,” said Jyoti Shrestha, owner of The Nutral Thrift Store in Artist Residency House in Patan.

Jyoti opened Nutral Thrift Store with her friend, Prajwal Bhattarai. The store which came into operation last July, sells clothes, shoes and accessories for both men and women. Jyoti started her thrift store because of her ambition to make fashion fluid and sustainable. “Many of our customers are artistes, filmmakers, photographers and they look for products that will satisfy their artistic taste and also work in favour of the environment,” said Jyoti. “I believe that when we start thrift shopping, we play a part in contributing to the welfare of the environment in our own unique ways.”

At Jyoti’s store, one can find clothes with popular brand names, and also those without. “We filter our clothes and look at the quality before we accept the items,” she said. “It’s usually foreigners who come to us and sell their clothes. We don’t have many locals doing that.”

For Richene Singh and Samriddhi Limbu, the owners of thrift.thrift.baby, opening the store was akin to opening a new way of dressing up youngsters. “We want young people to understand that it’s okay to consume second-hand products. So for this idea to germinate in young people, it was necessary for us to be able to connect with our consumer base. And what better way to connect with them than through fashion,” said Samriddhi. “All our price tags are affordable for college students and young professionals. This was a conscious decision because we wanted to attract them to the idea of thrifting.”

Bipana Gurung, who loves to shop, and is equally enthusiastic about experimenting with her looks, says these thrift stores have given her exactly what she had been looking for. “I love thrifting, it’s such an amazing way to look fashionable all the time without going over your budget. Shopping in Kathmandu is expensive and I’m glad I don’t have to spend a lot to quench my shopaholic thirst,” she said.

However, there are only a few shoppers who are aware of the existence of thrift stores in Kathmandu. Silvina Pradhan, who runs dohoran.nepal, said, “We don’t see a lot of demand and that’s because not many young fashionistas know about us. However, I hope to see a change soon where youngsters will not only shop with us but also at other thrift stores in town.”

Thrift stores offer young fashionistas what expensive brands don’t—a way to look fashionable without worrying about the price tag and more importantly, an opportunity to make fashion sustainable, a hard feat to achieve.