Extra on-line platforms are giving secondhand procuring a digital improve, rolling out options like livestream procuring and AI-powered search to make thrifting sooner and extra thrilling.
How one can store secondhand clothes sustainably and look cool doing it
Though selecting secondhand over new is commonly the extra sustainable choice, specialists say it’s not a license to overconsume. They warn that resale has its limits, since shopping for greater than you want nonetheless fuels waste, and procuring on-line can add emissions from servers and delivery, thrifted or not.
This is how business specialists and fashion-forward buyers store secondhand sustainably — and methods to discover high quality items that final whereas trying cool, too.
At eBay’s secondhand runway exhibits in New York and London, fashions wore pre-loved designer items that visitors might store stay. Secondhand objects like these make up 40% of the corporate’s gross sales, stated Alexis Hoopes, eBay’s vice chairman of style.
“Considered one of our large priorities is making secondhand simply nearly as good as procuring within the major market,” she stated.
ThredUp and The RealReal have reported file gross sales this 12 months, signaling that the net resale market is rising shortly. Dwell-auction apps like Whatnot are giving buyers extra platforms to bid on used clothes.
Consumers navigating rising on-line choices with an eye fixed towards sustainability can nonetheless find yourself shopping for greater than they want.
“Individuals who purchase secondhand clothes have been discovered to purchase extra clothes than individuals who don’t,” stated Meital Peleg Mizrachi, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale College who researches textile waste. “Not solely that, they have a tendency to eliminate these garments sooner than different shoppers. So that they’re ending up creating extra textile waste as a result of they’re shopping for extra and utilizing that clothes for a shorter time period.”
Lower than 20% of clothes donations to charities are resold of their shops, in keeping with the Council for Textile Recycling. The remaining is downcycled, exported — usually to nations within the International South — or in the end discarded in landfills.
On-line resale additionally generates emissions from delivery and packaging, and operating large e-commerce platforms consumes power, all elements that have to be thought-about, stated Alana James, a style professor at Northumbria College. However all of that pales compared to the environmental influence of manufacturing a brand new garment, she stated.
Specialists say really sustainable style requires breaking away from the fast-fashion mindset — the fixed stress to “purchase now” and the manufactured sense of shortage that fuels overconsumption.
“Haul” tradition — the social media pattern of displaying off large procuring sprees — exhibits overconsumption in a brand new means, stated Katrina Caspelich, communications director for Remake, an advocacy group for human rights and local weather justice in style.
“Accountable secondhand procuring means selecting items you’ll really put on, investing in high quality and resisting the pull of infinite pattern cycles,” she stated.
It may be tough to find out high quality when procuring on-line, however asking the vendor concerning the garment’s composition may also help, stated Knowledge Kaye, a menswear content material creator.
Pure materials are an excellent place to start out, stated Caspelich.
“Search for silk, cotton, bamboo — issues that breathe and final — versus synthetics like polyester or nylon,” she stated.
Consumers ought to search for objects which might be lined and make be aware of the standard of the stitching, stated Julian Carter, a menswear content material creator.
Different secondhand consumers wish to purchase heftier clothes made earlier than the mid-Nineteen Nineties, when extra U.S. merchandise have been made with out outsourced labor or plenty of cost-cutting, stated Wesley Breed, a style historical past content material creator.
From the 12 months to the colour, buyers sifting by way of a whole bunch of hundreds of search outcomes on-line must be very particular about what they need, stated Aimee Kelly, a style content material creator.
“It helps you discover the cooler items,” she stated. “And have persistence — go searching, you’re gonna discover it.”
Discovering the correct merchandise is just step one — caring for it ensures it stays in circulation.
Stuff baggage to keep up their form, preserve clothes in garment baggage, and use muslin baggage and lavender sprays to maintain out moths that eat pure materials like silk, wool and fur, stated Liana Satenstein, host of eBay’s Limitless Runway secondhand style present.
Individuals can even put on garments extra between washes, spot-clean and air-dry garments, and study to stitch.
“You’d be shocked how many individuals simply toss a cardigan as a result of a button fell off,” Caspelich stated.
Secondhand sustainability isn’t nearly preserving garments out of landfills.
Individuals who attempt to promote or give away their garments must be aware of the place they’re going, stated Mizrachi, the Yale researcher.
“Attempt to give them to smaller group shops or shelters — locations that you understand are completely satisfied to get these garments,” Mizrachi stated.
Zara, H&M and different manufacturers have launched recycling applications.
eBay not too long ago partnered with British retailer Marks & Spencer for a take-back program that lets buyers return objects in-store to be resold on eBay.
However essentially the most sustainable selection is solely shopping for much less, Mizrachi stated. The one method to make style corporations change how they do enterprise is to make overconsumption unprofitable — which suggests consumers want to vary their habits, she stated.
“We will’t buy our means out of the local weather disaster,” Mizrachi stated.
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