‘It’s a thneed!’: Woman discovers a strange, impossible to wear sweater at her local Goodwill

Some TikToks are straight forward. You know, a proposal gone wrong, two cats going at it, or a cab driver falling asleep at the wheel.

But have you ever stumbled upon a video on the internet and been completely lost? That’s how half of the comment section on Marly Ensley’s TikTok felt when the other half proclaimed to know exactly what her weird thrift store find was. What started out as a confused person trying to figure out what exactly they were looking at, ended up unlocking multiple core memories for internet users, and had us revisiting a classic story. 

The weirdest Goodwill find 

It all started when Marly Ensley posted a video trying to make sense of a weird piece of clothing she found at her local Goodwill. She explained that she was at the thrift store looking at sweaters when she came across the item. Now, finding weird clothes at Goodwill isn’t unusual, and the thrift store is known to house some pretty strange items. After all, a trip to Goodwill could land you the coolest piece of clothing, or the most hideous. However, what Marly found was simply impossible.

As she filmed a off-white, vaguely sweater-shaped piece, she explained all the things that made it so peculiar. She started by trying to show the tag on the garment, validly assuming that the tag was at the neck hole of the sweater. But she was in for a surprise. Marly followed the garment, from the neckline to what looked to be a sleeve, until she got to the hem of the sweater, and half of it was stitched shut. To make things weirder, the second sleeve was at the bottom of the sweater, and not at the top. No matter how much she tried to make sense of the garment, its proportions and the placement of its elements just didn’t add up. That is, until the comment section got a hold of it. 

TikTok to the rescue!

The comments were immediately flooded with people exclaiming that the woman had found a “thneed.” Comment after comment proclaimed that this thneed was a truly rare find. But what exactly is a thneed? Well, fans of the iconic Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax and its movie adaptation will know, but for anyone confused, a thneed stands for “thing that people need.” 

It’s a multi-purpose, highly versatile garment created in the lore of The Lorax by a character named The Once-ler. The hilarious thing about the thneed is, despite its hundreds of functions (it can be used as a sock, a scarf, a pair of gloves, a carpet, a hammock, an umbrella, and a host of more hilarious ideas), when not in use, it looks like a floppy, misshapen sweater. That’s why so many people immediately recognized Marly’s mystery sweater as the unique and whimsical thneed.

Marly has since posted another video showing that she purchased the sweater and tried to style it in different ways with her daughter. We may never know what that garment was meant to be, or what it really is, but at least some people got to reminisce on their childhood media. And well, others have now stumbled upon the classic thneed!