Your wardrobe just called – it wants to do something meaningful with love!
South Africa (14 April 2026) – Thrifting is one of the coolest forms of rebellion against a harmful wave of consumption that does more harm than good. We live in a world that wants you to buy new, buy fast, and buy often. Choosing pre-loved is a small but meaningful act of resistance.
A new pop-up thrift market, coming to the Mother City and to Jozi, is the perfect excuse to find your next wardrobe gem and, in the same breath, be a force of good. Put together by Vintage with Love and hosted at Workshop17 spaces, every purchase will go directly toward funding education in underserved communities across South Africa.
Thrifting deserves its flowers for more reasons than one. If you’re not already a convert from fast fashion, it doesn’t take much convincing, especially if you care about the planet, your budget, and your character!
As you might already know, fast fashion has a major and mounting landfill problem. The fashion industry produces an extraordinary amount of waste every year. Clothes made quickly and cheaply are worn just a few times and then discarded. Most of it ends up in a landfill.
Circular fashion, which is essentially buying, wearing, passing on, and repeating, is one of the simplest ways ordinary people like you and I can push back on that cycle.
When you thrift, you’re keeping a quality piece in the world instead of contributing to the pile. The irony is that pre-loved pieces are often better quality than what you’d find on the shelf today. Fast fashion often feels disposable because, quite frankly, it is. We see you, Shein and Temu supporters. Your seventh massive purchase for this year might’ve saved you a buck or two…but at what cost for the planet?
Besides, older garments, especially the ones that have been well cared for, were built to last. And when you stop buying mass-produced stuff, your style becomes a truer reflection of you. The things you find thrifting are generally pieces that have character. In fashion, you are what you wear.
Now add education into the mix! Vintage with Love, one half of the force behind the upcoming pop-up markets, sources curated pre-loved fashion and channels the proceeds into literacy programmes for South African children who need it most. The thrift markets popping up in Cape Town and Joburg are a direct link between your shopping and someone else’s future.
You’ll be doing the right thing for the planet, your budget, and your wardrobe. It all lines up perfectly and somehow also funds a kid’s education. You really can’t argue with that!
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8 Years, 82 Babies, and One Special Walk with a Community That Keeps Showing UpGot something good sitting unworn in your wardrobe? Donation boxes are already in place at Workshop17 reception areas ahead of each event. Drop off your quality pre-loved pieces (the good stuff, not the stuff you should have thrown out anyway) and give someone else the chance to love them.
Then visit the market (there’s no entry fee, but an RSVP is required) and find something for yourself!
The market in Cape Town takes place on 16 April 2026 at Workshop17 on Kloof Street from 16:00 – 18:00. RSVP here.
In Johannesburg on 21 May 2026 at Workshop17 on West Street in Sandton from 16:00 – 18:00. RSVP here!
And if you need a few thrifting tips before you raid the shelves, read this!
Sources: Workshop17.
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