College student’s social media thrifting account grows by 10K followers in 10 months

More than 10,000 people have signed up to take a look inside this college students closet.

Abbie Griffin, who was raised in Sioux Falls and is a senior attending the University of Minnesota, has turned her Instagram account into a place for her to run her small business that specializes in selling slightly used, thrifted clothing.

Griffin started her Instagram account, @thriftwhatyourmamagaveu, in October of 2020. In that time, she has managed to grow her account from 0 to 10.3k followers.

“I originally started my account to sell old clothes of mine that no longer fit or were not my style, but I have since then converted it into an account where I sell items that I thrift,” Griffin said. 

In the beginning Griffin gained a following by telling friends, family, coworkers and classmates about her account, but to reach a broader audience, she reached out to other accounts similar to her own that were offering paid shoutouts, she said

“I would pay a small amount (like $3) and they would post an Instagram story about my page so their followers could see and then follow my page,” she said. 

“We also do things like ‘shoutout for shoutout’ (sfs) where we both post stories of each other’s pages for both our followers to see.”

All of Griffin’s items are either thrifted, bought second hand or from her personal closet, she said.

Her process begins by going to thrift stores locally and when she is on vacation. She looks for items that she thinks are trendy and would sell. The process can take anywhere from one to five hours, she said.

“[After I go thrifting,] I bring the items home and I photograph all of them,” Griffin said.

“I then post all the items with a bid price and a bin (buy it now) price. Bidding will last for 24 hours and after that whoever has the highest bid will get the item. If you do not want to wait through the bidding process you can bin an item and buy it on the spot. After that I then package the item/s up with a business card and then ship the item/s to their new home.”

Recently, Griffin added brand ambassadors, people to promote her items and reach a larger audience.

“I know there are a lot of people in my area who are friends with my followers that don’t know of my account,” she said.

“I thought adding ambassadors would be a good way to clear out older inventory by giving it to my ambassadors for free and then when they post it, their followers are able to see they got their items from me. They have really helped me grow my business by bringing in new followers and new potential customers.”

Griffin also has an international following shipping pieces as far as Israel.

In the summer, Griffin works full time as a lifeguard and is a swim lessons instructor, she said.

“I sell clothes in my free time but if I could turn this into a full time job that would be amazing,” she said.

As far as the future goes, Griffin plans on graduating and getting her degree in political science and Spanish/Portuguese studies and either going to graduate school or becoming a teacher, she said.

“I see myself continuing to grow this account and using it as a side business,” she said.

To shop her finds, check out @thriftwhatyourmamagaveu.