Opening Volley: Letter From The Editor

Jack McLaughlin, Editor-In-Chief

Vintage Crocs

The first we think of when we think of thrift stores is probably clothing: A color-sapped pair of vintage jeans, a t-shirt from the Grand Canyon gift shop in 2002, or, if we’re really lucky, a Starter jacket bursting with 90s neon.

For me, something else comes to mind right away: alligators.

Well, no, I guess I don’t mean the actual animal. I mean an alligator mug. My alligator mug, to be precise. The single coolest alligator mug in the nearly 250 million years since the species crawled out of the primordial goo as a fullyevolved creature.

I remember, still, the day I bought it, for 50 cents at a St. Vincent De Paul outlet in Madison, Wisconsin (one of those stores where you pay for clothes by the pound). The internet tells me it’s a World Wildlife Federation fundraiser mug from 1991, but who really knows.

I was pretty proud of my find, and asked the thrift store clerk what he thought of it. “Do you want to know what I really think?” he said with a laugh.

Today, this is the mug I use whenever I’m at home. Whenever I’m drinking anything, really. You know how, whether it’s a car, a TV, a new book, a phone, or whatever, when you get something that’s new (to you), there’s a novelty to it, a sheen that eventually goes away over time? That mug, for me, never lost its newness. Which is ironic, because it’s very, very old. And that’s the part of thrifting that I really love. I do also love the idea that it’s better for the planet, and super affordable, but the cornerstone to me is how you can take something that at one point meant nothing to someone, and it can be the find of the year for someone else.

That’s why we’ve dedicated our August issue to thrifting in Columbus, to the adventure of it, to the exhilarating finds, to the environmental aspect and the stories behind the shops. Because it means a lot of different things for a lot of different people. And whether or not you ever find an alligator mug of your own, we hope you enjoy the thrill of thrifting, and our August issue.