Thrift It
Thrift It is an app concept that helps people find new thrift shops, and assists with tracking their favourite collection drops. Thrift It can help make thrifting easier and more accessible for people.
The app’s initiative aims to promote thrifting as a sustainable alternative, addressing the environmental impact of consumerism on landfills and its significant contribution to climate change.
Thrift It is a self initiated passion project that started off during my summer break. The emphasis on a clean and intuitive interface within the app reflects the simplicity inherent in the thrifting process, making it easy for users to navigate and engage with the app.
What is Thrifting/ Thrift Shopping?
Thrifting is a sustainable concept focused on maximizing the lifespan of products, such as clothing items, before they are discarded into landfills.
By giving these items a second life through resale, donation, or repurposing, thrifting helps reduce waste and promotes environmental conservation.
Year
2022
Type
Product Design, UI/UX
Navigating you through Thrift It
This case study presents a breakdown of Thrift It's features, with a focus on exploring its user interfaces. The idea is to highlight the distinctive characteristics of sustainable shopping facilitated by the platform and to gauge how Thrift It sets itself apart within the realm of thrift commerce.
Further exploring the unique ethos propelling the thrifting community towards a more eco-conscious future.
Menu
Homepage
New drop
30% Off
Jeans
At the top of the homepage, you'll find selectable tags that update based on the user's search behavior.
Furthermore, the purple circular tags on the garments indicate either the number of times they've been worn by the seller or if they belong to an export-rejected stock.
Get notified button essentially allows the user to be informed about new collection drops or any offers that the seller would be announcing on any given date.
This information also gets collated on the calendar feature that will be discussed further.
On the product page, you can access insights into the sustainability impact of your purchase that calculates the estimated reduction in carbon emissions or water usage compared to purchasing a new item. This highlights the environmental benefit of choosing thrifted goods.
Product page
Found in the menu option on the nav bar, the calendar feature essentially helps you keep track of all your favorite stores and informs you about collection drops or offers timely.
Calendar
Shopping Cart
User flow
Enhancing Thrift-commerce
The concept behind Thrift It was to consolidate all thrift stores onto a single platform, while promoting thrift shopping among users. While social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have played a role in promoting small businesses and thrift stores, they come with certain drawbacks:
Both Instagram and Facebook rely on ads and follower counts, where a higher follower count implies greater credibility for a page. Thrift It takes the review approach, allowing products to be compared based on customer reviews for a specific brand or business, placing emphasis on reviews as a source of credibility.
Social media platforms typically display one page at a time, requiring users to use tags or type out business names to switch between pages, or search for a particular product, limiting the ability to compare multiple products simultaneously. Thrift It addresses this limitation by providing users the ability to view and compare all products at once, similar to the experience on traditional e-commerce platforms.
In addition, the challenge of tracking thrifted items is addressed through Thrift It's calendar feature. Thrifting often involves keeping tabs on various drops and events, which can be a hassle. The calendar feature aims to simplify this process, ensuring users stay up-to-date with the latest releases and events within the thrift community.
Furthermore, adding analytics such as carbon footprint can enhance the app's usefulness and provide valuable insights, particularly in today's fast fashion generation. Thrift It aims to encourage users to be more mindful of the planet's health, given the abundance of clothing already available for the next decade. Thus, Thrift It can serve as the platform to promote sustainability and responsible consumption practices
