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Not Everyone Is Buying Second-Hand不是人人都买二手货

2023-08-21惠特妮·鲍克

英语世界 2023年8期
关键词:二手货二手物品二手市场

惠特妮·鲍克

Cameron Bishop grew up thrifting1 because it was what he could afford.

卡梅倫·毕晓普从小买东西都买二手的,因为他只能负担得起这样的生活。

Bishop was a prolific upcycler2 in his teens, hacking and refashioning his second-hand wares3 into unique, custom pieces. Once, he came across a band T-shirt he didnt have the money to buy, so he spent hours recreating the logo with fabric markers on a second-hand tee. Other times, he added buttons and patches to spice up his finds.

毕晓普十几岁时改造升值过很多废旧物品,将自己的二手衣服改造成独特的定制款。有一次,他看上一件乐队T恤但没钱买,于是就花了几个小时用布料记号笔在一件二手T恤上复刻了一个乐队标志。有时,他还会用纽扣和补丁来让他淘来的二手衣服更出彩。

Despite his creativity, Bishop, now 31 and living in Minneapolis, says his unique wardrobe was as much a survival tool as a vehicle of self-expression. For Bishop, wearing thrifted garments was a financial necessity, and altering them was a way to take control of his own narrative.

今年31岁、住在明尼阿波利斯的毕晓普说,尽管他很有创意,然而他独特的衣橱既是一种生存手段,也是自我表达的载体。对于毕晓普来说,穿二手衣服是因囊中羞涩不得已而为之,而改造它们则是独树一帜的一种方式。

“As a kid, I wanted to stick out because I wanted to beat my community to the punch4,” he says. “If I was going to appear different, I wanted to be intentional about looking different.”

“小时候,我总想突显自己,因为我想比自己社区里的其他人都前卫。”他说。“如果我要显得另类,就会故意穿得与众不同。”

But when he started making his own money as an adult, Bishop abandoned the fabric markers. While working as a business consultant, he found himself shopping for a new outfit every time he landed a new client. “It felt like I finally had the ability to appear successful,” he says. “I always bought the outfit that I thought conveyed the message the client wanted me to convey to them.”

但当毕晓普成年后开始自己挣钱时,他放弃了布料记号笔。在担任商业顾问期间,他发现自己每接到一个新客户就会买一套新衣服。“感觉我终于有能力让自己看起来就是个成功人士了。”他说。“在我看来,我买的衣服总是能向客户传达他们想让我传达给他们的信息。”

Bishops experience with secondhand clothing as a source of agency, creativity, and shame all at once point to the complex cocktail of reasons that many people still avoid used clothing, despite its growing popularity.

毕晓普觉得二手服装既给予他能动性和创造力,同时也带来了羞耻感——他的这种体验反映出很多人仍对二手服装避之不及的复杂而多样的原因,尽管二手服装越来越受欢迎。

The resale market has experienced remarkable growth and cultural favor in recent years: According to a report by online second-hand platform ThredUp, the U.S. second-hand market will more than triple in value over the next decade. When TikTok started to take Gen Z by storm, the app was quickly filled with expert Depop5 sellers and “thrift flippers,” creators who upcycle second-hand pieces into more on-trend creations. Even the luxury labels that long sought to keep their goods from being consigned have started to get in on the second-hand action, with brands like Gucci and Alexander McQueen forging partnerships with luxury resellers like The RealReal and Vestiaire Collective, respectively.

近年来,二手市场经历了显著的增长,日益得到认可:根据在线二手平台ThredUp的报告,美国二手市场的价值在未来十年将达到现在的三倍以上。当TikTok开始席卷Z世代时,该应用程序很快充斥了专业的Depop卖家和“倒卖二手物品的人”,他们擅长创造,将二手物品改造成更潮流的单品。连长期以来试图阻止其商品被寄售的奢侈品牌也开始涉足二手业务,比如古驰和亚历山大·麦昆与the RealReal和Vestiaire Collective这样的奢侈品转售商建立了合作关系。

One of the factors driving this growth is the increase in public awareness of fashions negative environmental impact. Buying second-hand keeps clothing out of landfills and, if it replaces shopping for brand-new items, can decrease demand for raw material extraction used to create the fibers spun into fabric.

推动这一增长的因素之一是,大众更多地意识到时尚产业对环境造成了负面影响。购买二手服装可以让衣物免于垃圾填埋,而且如果购买二手物品可以代替购买全新物品,提取原材料用于制造织物纤维的需求就可以减少。

Still, barriers to shopping secondhand persist for many people. Some cite the trouble with finding second-hand clothing that fits. Since second-hand stores are stocked with one-offs6, finding a garment thats the right size is part of the challenge for anyone. But its especially tricky for people who dont wear straight sizes.

尽管如此,对于许多人来说,购买二手服装的障碍仍然存在。有些人称,很难买到合适尺寸的二手衣服。由于二手商店卖的衣服都是单件单码,找到合适尺寸的衣服对任何人来说都有点困难。而这对于那些不穿常规码的人来说更为棘手。

Its long been noted that the fashion industry fails fat people; the second-hand market is no better. While there are some vintage and second-hand stores that focus on plus-size clothing, like Plus BKLYN and Two Big Blondes, theyre few and far between7.

人们很早就注意到时尚产业没有考虑肥胖人群,二手市场也好不到哪儿去。虽然有专卖加大码服装的古着店和二手店,例如Plus BKLYN和Two Big Blondes,但这样的店少之又少。

But even some people who could easily shop second-hand based on their size dont for other reasons.

但是,有些人即使能輕易买到合适尺寸的二手衣服,也会因为其他原因而放弃购买。

Therese Morillo is an accountant in the Bay Area whose favorite place to shop for clothes is Target8. She has never been second-hand shopping in her life. Morillo insists that shes not against second-hand per se—about half of her kids wardrobes consist of items passed down from their cousins—but shes uncomfortable with the idea of wearing clothing from strangers. She says its hard to shake the idea that clothes purchased from thrift shops are “dirty” in a way that cant be eradicated by one cycle in her washing machine. After volunteering for an organization that required her to sort donated clothing, shes never forgotten the feeling of pawing through unwashed donations. But theres also a deeper level to her hesitance.

特蕾泽·莫里洛是湾区的一名会计师,她最喜欢去塔吉特买衣服,这辈子从来没有买过二手货。莫里洛强调,她并不反对二手物品本身——她孩子衣柜里大约有一半的衣物都是孩子的堂表亲传下来的——但她觉得穿陌生人的衣服会不舒服。她说自己有种想法很难摆脱,认为从二手商店买来的衣服“脏”,不是在洗衣机里洗一遍就能洗干净的。自从她作为志愿者为一个机构分拣捐赠衣物之后,她就怎么都忘不掉翻找未经清洗的捐赠衣物的感觉。但她的犹豫还有更深层次的原因。

A first-generation Filipino immigrant who moved to California as a kid, Morillo was raised to avoid thrift shopping. While second-hand shopping is immensely popular in her birth country—ukay-ukay stores, as thrift shops are called, can be found every few blocks in the capital city of Manila—its also not uncommon to view second-hand clothing with suspicion. Theres a common idea in Filipino culture that clothing and jewelry can hold onto the energy or spirit of previous owners. (One Filipina celebritys hack is to spray newly purchased second-hand goods with disinfectant and holy water before wearing.)

莫里洛是第一代菲律宾移民,小时候搬到了加利福尼亚州,从小就被教育不要买二手货。虽然买二手货在她的出生国非常受欢迎——在首都马尼拉,每隔几个街区就可以看到“ukay-ukay”(当地旧货店的叫法)——但是人们普遍对二手服装持怀疑态度。在菲律宾文化中,人们普遍认为衣物和珠宝会附着前主人的能量或灵魂。(一个菲律宾名人的妙招是在穿戴前给新买来的二手衣物喷洒消毒剂和圣水。)

“It sounds so crazy saying it out loud, but its like the energy and the luck or bad luck of the person could come into my life, especially if they wore the piece every single day,” says Morillo. “Wearing it can somehow rub off9 on you. So unless I know the person, Id be wary.”

“这种说法听起来很荒唐,但就像这个人的能量和运气或霉运可能会进入我的生活,尤其是如果他们每天都穿戴着这个物件。“莫里洛说道。“穿上身它就会以某种方式影响你。所以除非我认识那个人,否则我会很谨慎。”

Not everyones barriers to secondhand shopping are quite so metaphysical. For Bishop, the stigma of shopping second-hand gradually lifted. Bishop began to reflect on his fraught feelings about clothing that wasnt brand-new. He came to see that insecurity was at the heart of his approach to dressing, both as a thrift-savvy teen and then as a new-suit-loving adult.

并非所有人不想买二手货都是出于如此玄虚的理由。对于毕晓普来说,买二手衣物的羞耻感逐渐消除了。毕晓普开始反思他对于穿非全新衣服的不安情绪。他逐渐意识到,自己着装态度的核心是不安全感,无论是那个懂得节俭的少年,还是那个喜欢新衣服的大人。

Part of what helped him move beyond that was meditating on Leviticus10, a book of ancient laws in both Christian and Jewish scriptures. Bishop understood it as “a book about our relationship with the earth and with each other.” It shifted how Bishop understood his relationship with clothes.

在一定程度上幫助他走出这种心态的是对《利未记》的深入思考,这是基督教和犹太教都奉为正典的一部古律法书。毕晓普将其理解为“一本关于我们与地球和我们与他人关系的书”。它改变了毕晓普对他与衣服关系的理解。

“I was seeing a greater purpose with a lot of things in my life,” he explains. “I wanted to have a proper relationship with the earth through what I wore.”

“我发现生活里的很多事物有更伟大的意义。“他解释道。“我想通过我的穿着与地球建立一种适当的关系。”

This revelation ultimately landed Bishop back where he started: as an avid thrifter, but this time by choice.

这一发现最终让毕晓普回到他开始的地方:做一个热衷二手衣物的消费者,不过现在是出于主动选择。

(译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者)

1 thrift购置二手物品。  2 upcycle升级改造;再生利用。  3 wares(在市场上或街边出售的)商品,货物。  4 beat sb to the punch 抢先下手;抢在前面。

5 英国二手转售和社交平台。

6 one-off绝无仅有的事物。  7 few and far between稀少。  8美国仅次于沃尔玛的第二大零售百货集团,全球最大的折扣零售商之一。

9 rub off(品质、性格等)感染,影响,传给。  10《圣经·旧约》的卷书之一,记载了有关选自利未族的祭司团所须谨守的一切律例。

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