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Queer-owned. Independent. Anti-capitalist. Anti-fascist. Unapologetically political.
spend.dat.shi is a queer-owned archive thrift shop and art project. We sell clothing and original art, and both are political. Every archive decides who is remembered and who is erased. We choose to remember the people fashion never planned for.
Shop here for everyday clothes and never read a word of this. But we stand somewhere, and we will always say where.
Museums and collectors preserved the wardrobes of the powerful and left everyone else out. We keep the rest: workers, punks, club kids, drag performers, hijra communities, and queer and trans people who dressed as survival and resistance. History should not sit behind a velvet rope or a price tag.
Secondhand was built on the needs of poor and working-class people. “Archive fashion” turned it into a speculative asset and priced them out. We reject markup disguised as curation. Our prices are normal, never inflated for hype.
We operate inside it because we have to survive, and we won’t pretend otherwise. We aim to extract less, price fairly, and give back.
Pride began as a riot against police violence, not a sponsorship. We reject pinkwashing. In India, colonial rule criminalized queer life through Section 377 in 1861 and targeted hijra communities through the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act. Section 377 was struck down for consenting adults in 2018, yet same-sex marriage is still not recognized, and the 2026 amendment to the Transgender Persons Act ended self-identification. We stand for trans liberation and the safety of queer and trans people, especially those who are Black, brown, disabled, poor, or migrant.
Most garment workers are women, paid too little to live on. Exploitation is the foundation of fast fashion, and its waste is shipped to the Global South, to markets like Kantamanto in Ghana. Buying secondhand is not a clean fix, and we say so. Buy less, keep clothes in circulation, and stand with workers’ right to organize.
Authoritarians begin by policing bodies: how we dress, who we love, what gender we’re allowed to be. We oppose fascism, state repression, and laws that criminalize queer and trans life. Dressing freely is resistance.
We make and sell art to be seen, owned, and argued with. Creative labor deserves fair pay and respect.
We support queer and community organizations and name them publicly, so we can be held accountable.
We share stories through posts, zines, and events instead of locking culture away.
No homophobia, transphobia, racism, misogyny, or ableism in our shop, channels, or events.
We will keep the archive weird, worn, loved, and open.