Thrifting is all over the place right now. It’s on our FYPs. It’s replacing do-nothing hangouts. It’s how our besties responded to “I’m obsessed with your jeans, where’d you get them?” 

And honestly, we can’t hate on anyone hopping on the wave, because it feels kind of like a win-win. More affordable — check. Better for the Earth — check. Inspires creativity — check. Lets you buy into trends in a unique way — check.

Influencer and second-hand shopper Aarica Nichole is with us on this. She’s literally made a career out of thrifting the cutest things, styling her finds in unexpected ways, and redefining her own taste in the process. 

Aarica chats with us from her apartment, aka one of the coolest places we’ve ever seen. It’s like a gallery wall and a museum had a baby. Her thrifts are on display, and it feels like her space is a total extension of her inner world. That’s kind of what thrifting’s all about. 

Bringing her Pinterest boards to life comes naturally to Aarica. 

“I've always just been internally connected with myself, so I feel like whenever I really want something, I just always imagine it, and am like, ‘I'm gonna get that,’” she explains. “It really translates into my thrifting.” 

Aarica’s thrifting origin story is super cute. When a new girl (who happened to be a total thrifter) moved to Aarica’s hometown in Texas, she brought Aarica along on her vintage treasure hunts. The friends would customize cutoff shorts and make long sleeves into tanks, projects that got Aarica out of her comfort zone. 

Then, when she got to college, Aarica went hard at the thrift shops on campus. 

“I was like, ‘I don't have dress codes anymore, but I also don't have that much money,’” she explains. “That's when I really was like, ‘wait, it’s so cool how you can build your own personal style. And you can buy more unique versions of the things you see online — and for way cheaper.” 

She learned she loves flying solo at the thrift so she can shut her brain off and get into that flow state. We love a self-care moment. 

When she graduated, she made an Etsy and a Depop, and started selling her finds at IRL markets. Then, she started making social content about her coolest finds, and she ended up growing a following. Basically, she did something so many of us dream of but aren’t sure how: She transformed her passion into her career. 

“It’s so cool how this was such a casual thing I did in my childhood, and now it's turning into a business as an adult,” she says. “I still work at it and see where it takes me. It's just so cool to see all the different opportunities I've gotten. It just doesn't feel real sometimes.” 

She’s reminding us our dream jobs are fully possible, even if we don’t know what they look like yet. 

Thrifting has helped Aarica find her style big-time. She started off as all of us do: experimenting, seeing what she likes and doesn’t, and leaning into the chaos. 

“Now, when I show things I find, people are like, ‘oh, that's so you,’” she says. “But when I first started, I didn’t really have a style. It was just kind of chaos.” 

Then, during the pandemic, it was easy to thrift online, upcycle, try funky outfits, and redecorate the same rooms over and over again because, well, she couldn’t really do anything else. Plus, she kind of fell in love with viral COVID-era fashion trends. 

“That's where I started to find my style. There was such an emphasis on color and squiggles and curves and all the fun things,” she says. “That really stuck with me.” 

Through learning more about different decades, designers, and her own interests, Aarica upgraded her style from 2020 trendy to something that’s totally her own. 

“I’ve still kept some of the things that really caught my eye at first, which is color and different shapes, but I’ve refined it to be a little more mature in terms of the designers I like, or the decades I like,” she explains. 

It’s “make new friends but keep the old” for the style world. And we can all use thrifting to find our style with a little inspo and experimentation. 

It’s not just about the fun and the flow of vintage shopping, though. Thrifting’s also sustainable. We know. But it’s really just about being mindful about how your choices impact yourself and the world around you. 

Buying secondhand means less stuff ends up thrown away in landfills. Plus, it saves the resources needed to make a whole new thing. 

“A huge perk of thrifting is you're mindlessly sustainable without really thinking about it,” Aarica says. “It's cool how you can make sure you're getting cotton and wool and organic types of fabrics that can be harder to find when you're shopping firsthand.” 

Her hack? Before buying something, think about three different ways to style it. If you can’t, it’s a no-go. 

Beyond that, it’s usually more affordable than shopping for something totally new. Aarica looks for high-quality fabrics, so her finds cost less and last longer. 

“It almost feels political sometimes, because you definitely should be caring about value when you're buying and shopping,” Aarica explains. 

Finding unique things > looking at the same stuff all the time. Aarica gets upcycling and styling inspo at second-hand stores instead of just buying into whatever’s popular. That’s part of why her style feels so her. 

One recent project: Designing her dream heels after seeing a similar pair at Goodwill. They have buttons sewn all over them, which is kind of the it girl trend right now. 

“I was like, wait, I have buttons at home, I can just make these,” she says. “Sometimes I'll thrift something because it’s cool, and then later on, it’ll spark creativity.” 

Because it’s not just about what’s in the store. It’s about what you can do with it. 

This authentic creativity shines through in Aarica’s content.

“When you can be niche about what you're talking about, that helps the viewers in your community find a connection to you,” she says. “They’re getting something out of it that makes them want to stick around.” 

Sounds like a win-win to us.