Gentrification of Thrifting
When I was in middle school and high school, thrifting wasn’t a hobby. It was what you did when you had no money but still needed school clothes and things to put in your home. I thrifted clothing to make into costumes, to re-do so I could make them into projects at school, and one time when I needed shoes to spray paint for a dance recital. People used thrift stores to go and get things that were “throwaway” items and then it was for people who couldn’t afford other clothing options. There was of course still vintage shopping in bigger cities, but that was all mainly vintage designer clothing that was sometimes more expensive than brand new designer pieces. This was when thrifting was actually affordable so people who have little money could afford to thrift shop and not go broke, but with thrifting becoming a hobby, the prices are being hiked up to only slightly less than the retail cost for new clothing. People who need to thrift shop now can’t afford to so they end up turning to fast-fashion retailers like Shein where they are buying horrible, cheaply made, clothing that is produced by people who are being forced to work for pennies a day. This is a pretty complicated topic, but I think it’s one worth digging into!
The important first thing to note: fashion is one of the most waste-producing industries ever. In 2018 alone, 17 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills. 17 MILLION tons. Now, these are the items that people are just throwing away instead of trying to resell, donate, or recycle (which I will get to in a minute) and even though all of the above options besides recycling can have downsides, they do not produce nearly as much as waste as just throwing away old clothes. The most important takeaway from this whole post is to never throw away clothes you do not wear anymore or are old. I will give some tips for these guys later, but definitely never ever throw them away.
All of this waste that sits rotting in the landfill is contributing to global warming. The flip side is that so are a lot of fast-fashion retailers. It takes 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt. This amount goes up for a dress or skit or bedding of course, but this is the baseline. Items made from recycled cotton are much safer and cost far less to produce in the way of resources, but they end up being more expensive to purchase. Now, when an item is more expensive to purchase, it is often because they are producing the clothing ethically in terms of waste and climate change, but they are also usually paying their workers a living wage and also creating a safe work environment which then can jack up the cost. Unfortunately, this is the way clothing should cost to have safe and ethical working conditions as well as being made with the environment in mind. A sweater should cost $80, a pair of jeans should cost close to $70, and a basic t-shirt should definitely cost more than you are willing to pay. The cost of the item should reflect the money they are putting into creating the item and how they are treating their workers. But with the current climate change movement, there has become a sort of “all or nothing” attitude when it comes to textile waste.
This brings up back to the problem with thrifting. With Instagram and TikTok taking over, people are turning thrifting into a hobby, instead of letting it be an inexpensive way for people to purchase clothing when they need to. As I discussed above, the higher demand for thrifting leads to higher prices. This is then driving people who need affordable options to go to fast-fashion retailers like Forever21, Shein, and many others. And honestly, I can’t say I blame them, especially with so many people losing their jobs or some income because of Covid. You still have to be clothed in things that look presentable if you want to keep your job or get a better one. Then you go online to find people ragging on you for shopping at these places and not thrifting because thrifting saves the planet, but rich people have started thrifting as a hobby and now regular people cannot afford to thrift so they have to shop fast fashion. See how this is a cycle that feeds on itself?
Tips to stopping this cycle:
If you can afford to shop ethically from brands that are sustainable, do that instead of thrifting. It’s ok to thrift once in a while for fun, but if you can afford to shop at other places that are ethical and do not contribute to waste, then try and do that instead.
It is not the end of the world if you need to shop from fast-fashion retailers sometimes because you cannot afford to shop from the more sustainable places. When you do shop fast fashion, buy pieces that are timeless that you can wear for a really long time and make into a bunch of different outfits. This really goes for everyone: buying things that are too trendy will ultimately contribute to textile waste since they won’t be in style for very long. Buy things you can wear for a long time.
Whether you are shopping ethically or via fast fashion, take good care of your clothing so it lasts a long time. The only things you should really be putting in the dryer are pajamas, underwear, socks, and any other lounge around clothes that do not need to necessarily look nice. Everything else should be primarily hung to dry. Dryers can really ruin your clothing and ruin the color of them, so do not use the dryer if you don’t have to. Also, wash your more delicate pieces on the delicate cycle. This is there for a reason, use it.
When clothing has reached the end of its life for you, do not throw it away. If it is still in good condition, try and resell it on something like Depop or Poshmark. You can also donate it to your local thrift store, or resell it to a place like Buffalo Exchange or Plato’s Closet. If it is not in good enough condition to resell or donate (do not donate your trashed clothing, that’s just rude) check out this recycling service. One bag is $10 and you pack it full and send it off where they recycle it into a new fabric that can then be purchase by brands to make into new clothing. Pretty rad huh?
That’s it for today! I have linked a few sustainable stores down below, as well as some more information on this issue. I have also listed my sources as usually for the facts and figures I used. We don’t need to perfect when we try and combat these issues, we just have to give it our best try.
Madey
Sources and Shop:
Roadrunner (facts and figures)
EPA (textile waste info)
Cover art by Avery Lynch