Why Shop Resale Over Fast Fashion?
We all know how bad fast fashion is for the environment.
So why do we still find shopping at H&M so irresistible?
The fashion resale market has grown 21 times faster than the retail market in the past three years according to a study conducted by ThredUp. The same study saw that 64% of women had bought or would buy something second hand in 2018, and 26% of luxury shoppers also buy second hand. You can now get a luxury handbag for the same price of a new mid-range bag (or even in some cases a fast fashion bag - Zara’s prices can really get up there!) without ever leaving your couch by shopping popular resale apps. So why is so much of the fashion space online littered with cheap co-ords from Boohoo, Zaful, Monkii, Zara, and H&M? And why are we still hauling on YouTube massive piles of clothes from these places?
Well, fast fashion is accessible. Though it has changed the industry for the worse, teaching consumers that they can and should have a plethora of new options every time they go in a store or browse online, it also makes being “fashionable” incredibly attainable. The narrative of “buying fewer, but more expensive things and you’re bad if you don’t” is classist. Fast fashion has allowed more people than ever to express themselves exactly how they want. Which is actually a really beautiful thing.
However, our environment simply cannot take the toll anymore. When I was in school, fashion was the third biggest polluter in the environment after oil and the meat industry. Now it’s in second place! Yes that's right vegans - you have to give up your Zara and H&M too. I see how imploring everyone to shop Everlane, Nisolo and the like is problematic. But as a whole we need to shift our expectations. If you are a person who can afford to support and shop more sustainably, and choose not to in order to still take in the quantity of clothing you are used to consuming, it is you, and not the people that need access to affordable clothing, that are causing the problem. You are taking advantage of people in unsafe working conditions that are, literally, indentured servants, in order to bring you that $15 set from Boohoo sent to your door that you’re going to send back, because, well, neon green isn’t as cool as it was a month ago. That set will most likely be burned because it's more expensive to restock the item than to trash it (yes really - retailers work this loss into their yearly budget), releasing toxins from the synthetic fibers into the air.
The good news is, you can find all of these same things, and for cheaper - I know, crazy - on the many many reselling platforms that have popularized not letting your unworn clothes go to waste. This allows you to still exude the style you’re after, without supporting the brands that are playing it fast and loose with the delicate balance of our ozone layer.
Sources/More Reading:
https://www.thredup.com/resale?tswc_redir=true
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/22/cost-cheap-fast-fashion-workers-planet