Bodi: Building a Thriving Thrifting Community

Somewhere in the tangle of Saudi Arabia’s old markets and weekend pop-ups, Playboibody – real name Bodi – found his calling in the act of rediscovery. The 22-year-old thrifting artist has turned the hunt for old clothes into something sacred: a ritual of memory and culture. He has taken the passion offline, too, curating thrifting events across the kingdom.

Bodi’s world isn’t built in fashion studios or glossy malls, but in the sprawl of Riyadh’s underbelly. “I was inspired to start working in my field by my fascination with local and traditional places in my city, such as Haraj Bin Qasim, Al-Batha, and Al-Muaiqilia,” he says. They carried a pulse – stories, energy, authenticity – he couldn’t shake, the kind of truth he wanted to thread through his work.

That pull towards the real has made Bodi one of the most recognisable faces in the Saudi thrifting scene. His Instagram grid is a rotating archive of found treasures, moody portraits, and market textures, echoing his taste is between the sentimental and the streetwise—chrome reflections on old sedans, faded tees, rusted signs, cigarette burns on concrete walls. “I want people to see the beauty in reusing, repurposing, and giving new life to pre-loved items instead of always buying new.” 

Rather than a business plan or a vision board, Bodi’s story started with curiosity, an impulse to look closer at what everyone else walked past. It started as a habit: long afternoons spent combing through Riyadh’s lost treasures, returning to the same markets, tracing the same aisles, unearthing the overlooked. For Bodi, inspiration is in the people who once wore these clothes, in the culture that shaped them, in the stories still clinging to the fabric.

His process starts on the ground, in the mess of markets, where the thrill of finding something that shouldn’t have survived this long awaits. It’s in the digging, the discovering, the moment he shares a find online and watches it spark something in someone else. “Seeing people connect with my passion for finding and styling unique pieces from local markets made me realise how powerful this culture can be,” he shares. 

His events – usually sold out, always buzzing – have become small ecosystems of their own. The gatherings feel more like reunions than markets; collectors swap stories, young kids learn the weight of old denim, older vendors watch their archives find new life. Bodi’s eye for the past is matched only by his sense of what’s next. “I hope to see the creative and cultural scene in our region become more open to sustainable fashion and thrifting,” he says. “There’s so much history in our local markets and vintage pieces, and it deserves to be celebrated.”

His next project is ambitious; he’s expanding his thrifting events beyond Saudi Arabia, curating what he calls bigger and more creative versions of the local pop-ups that built his following. But at the core, his motive stays the same: to make thrifting “a natural part of our culture”.