With rising awareness and concern about climate issues, it is no surprise that many people are seeking out more sustainable fashion options. To see the growing number of sustainable or eco-friendly clothing brands as well as established brands working towards more sustainable clothing options and collaborating with environmental groups is not surprising either.
Despite this progress, sustainable clothing options are often more expensive than their fast-fashion counterparts. This is due to multiple reasons including creating clothes with natural and high-quality materials, focusing on the design of “timeless” pieces that are more likely to be kept and reworn, producing smaller batches of clothes so less gets wasted after sales, and implementing ethical labor into their work practice.
There can also be confusing or misleading public information about the ethicality of certain clothing brands or general production of clothes themselves. This leads consumers who require more information about a brand before buying a product to feel discouraged. With this in mind, many people skip right to fast fashion options with cheap prices. This alternative consists of convenient stores and express shipping while always keeping up with ever-changing fashion trends.
Although it may seem daunting, toward more sustainable fashion choices is not all that bleak. Thrift stores, vintage stores, and other secondhand stores remain the most affordable and accessible option for most people. People might also feel more inclined to shop at these stores due to environmental, ethical, and economic concerns. These stores not only offer a place to donate or sell used / unwanted clothes (which means less clothes being thrown away or wasting closet space), but also sell older and worn clothes that are often discounted or otherwise less expensive than buying them from a typical retail store. Many thrift stores and other secondhand stores often take in general clothing options in decent to good condition to sell for lower prices. However, vintage stores often only accept vintage items or clothes that are otherwise better quality or in a better condition, which still ensures good quality clothing for a better price than other sustainable pricy brands or even fast-fashion brands.
But a problem still remains… Thrift stores, vintage stores, and other secondhand stores can face some issues with rising prices due to increased popularity. Clothing bargainers such as Depop sellers look to resell better quality thrift items for a higher price. Thrift stores can also only accept a limited amount of clothes to take in and sell, leading to large amounts of clothes ending up in landfills. The EPA reported that Americans generate 16 tons of textile waste a year overall with an average of 700,000 tons of used clothing getting exported overseas, 2.5 million tons recycled, 3 million tons incinerated, and 10 million tons sent to landfills.
Nevertheless, shopping secondhand is less wasteful than regular fast-fashion options. Shopping at thrift stores and other secondhand stores can offer far more comparable or lessened prices while prioritising fixing, reusing, and/or reselling clothes – rather than simply throwing them away when people no longer like, want, or need them. Thrift stores and other secondhand stores also usually have a wide selection of clothing from donations or sales from people with different or changing styles and sizes, which ensures a wide variety of clothes for the cheaper secondhand store price. This means that people can usually find unique and trendy pieces, staple clothes that can be frequently restyled and reworn, and otherwise good quality items. Options like this include handmade items or clothes with custom prints/designs, older clothing pieces or trends that came back into style, and seasonal items unused during other parts of the year. There are tons of different size options that people tend to get rid of when gaining or losing weight as well as children’s clothing that gets outgrown.
Vintage stores have a slightly different goal than thrift stores or secondhand stores. These types of stores focus on buying and selling older, vintage clothing items, prioritizing clothing that is better quality or in better condition than most thrift stores or second hand stores. Although vintage stores can be on the more expensive side compared to thrift stores or other secondhand stores, they are often still less expensive than more sustainable or eco-friendly clothing brands.Vintage stores also offer good-quality clothing items, allowing for more sustainable options to buy or sell used clothing instead of buying new (especially from fast fashion) or throwing away unused or unwanted clothes. They can also be a great way to find unique, period-specific clothes that are often overlooked or underrepresented in other stores.
There are a wide variety of options for people who long to be more mindful of their sustainability efforts or ethicality regarding their clothing choices. The main way to do this – prioritize buying clothes from more sustainable or eco-friendly clothing brands. Shop from thrift stores, vintage stores, and other second-hand stores instead of fast fashion options. Of course, fast fashion would be difficult to completely avoid in modern life, with its convenience and its cheap and trendy options, but limiting our use of fast fashion is a great start to being more mindful of your role in a larger environmental discussion. So consider giving more thought toward your fast fashion purchases and work towards more sustainable alternatives. By buying from a sustainable or eco-friendly brand or taking a trip to the thrift or other secondhand stores, you will be doing your eco footprint a huge favor.