Extra on-line platforms are giving secondhand purchasing a digital improve, rolling out options like livestream purchasing and AI-powered search to make thrifting quicker and extra thrilling.
Though selecting secondhand over new is commonly the extra sustainable possibility, 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 purchasing on-line can add emissions from servers and delivery, thrifted or not.
This is how trade specialists and fashion-forward consumers store secondhand sustainably — and the way to discover high quality items that final whereas trying cool, too.
The rise of on-line secondhand style
At eBay’s secondhand runway exhibits in New York and London, fashions wore pre-loved designer items that visitors may store dwell. Secondhand gadgets like these make up 40% of the corporate’s gross sales, mentioned Alexis Hoopes, eBay’s vp of style.
“One in every of our huge priorities is making secondhand simply nearly as good as purchasing within the major market,” she mentioned.
ThredUp and The RealReal have reported document gross sales this yr, signaling that the web resale market is rising rapidly. Dwell-auction apps like Whatnot are giving consumers extra platforms to bid on used clothes.
Customers navigating rising on-line choices with a watch towards sustainability can nonetheless find yourself shopping for greater than they want.
“People who buy secondhand clothing were found to buy more clothing than people who don’t,” mentioned Meital Peleg Mizrachi, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale College who researches textile waste. “Not only that, they tend to get rid of those clothes faster than other consumers. So they’re ending up creating more textile waste because they’re buying more and using that clothing for a shorter period of time.”
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 — typically 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 must be thought of, mentioned 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 mentioned.
Consultants say actually sustainable style requires breaking away from the fast-fashion mindset — the fixed stress to “buy now” and the manufactured sense of shortage that fuels overconsumption.
“Haul” tradition — the social media development of exhibiting off large purchasing sprees — exhibits overconsumption in a brand new approach, mentioned Katrina Caspelich, communications director for Remake, an advocacy group for human rights and local weather justice in style.
“Accountable secondhand purchasing means selecting items you’ll actually put on, investing in high quality and resisting the pull of infinite development cycles,” she mentioned.
Recognizing the very best quality items
It may be troublesome to find out high quality when purchasing on-line, however asking the vendor in regards to the garment’s composition can assist, mentioned Knowledge Kaye, a menswear content material creator.
Pure materials are an excellent place to begin, mentioned Caspelich.
“Search for silk, cotton, bamboo — issues that breathe and final — versus synthetics like polyester or nylon,” she mentioned.
Customers ought to search for gadgets which are lined and make be aware of the standard of the stitching, mentioned Julian Carter, a menswear content material creator.
Different secondhand patrons wish to purchase heftier clothes made earlier than the mid-Nineties, when extra U.S. merchandise have been made with out outsourced labor or quite a lot of cost-cutting, mentioned Wesley Breed, a style historical past content material creator.
From the yr to the colour, consumers sifting by lots of of hundreds of search outcomes on-line needs to be very particular about what they need, mentioned Aimee Kelly, a style content material creator.
“It helps you find the cooler pieces,” she said. “And have patience — look around, you’re gonna find it.”
Making your items final
Discovering the correct merchandise is just step one — caring for it ensures it stays in circulation.
Stuff luggage to take care of their form, preserve clothes in garment luggage, and use muslin luggage and lavender sprays to maintain out moths that eat pure materials like silk, wool and fur, mentioned Liana Satenstein, host of eBay’s Limitless Runway secondhand style present.
Individuals may also put on garments extra between washes, spot-clean and air-dry garments, and study to stitch.
“You’d be shocked how many people just toss a cardigan because a button fell off,” Caspelich mentioned.
Retaining style within the loop
Secondhand sustainability isn’t nearly holding garments out of landfills.
Individuals who attempt to promote or give away their garments needs to be conscious of the place they’re going, mentioned Mizrachi, the Yale researcher.
“Try to give them to smaller community stores or shelters — places that you know are happy to get those clothes,” Mizrachi mentioned.
Zara, H&M and different manufacturers have launched recycling applications.
eBay lately partnered with British retailer Marks & Spencer for a take-back program that lets consumers return gadgets in-store to be resold on eBay.
However probably the most sustainable selection is just shopping for much less, Mizrachi mentioned. The one strategy to make style firms change how they do enterprise is to make overconsumption unprofitable — which implies patrons want to alter their habits, she mentioned.
“We can’t purchase our way out of the climate crisis,” Mizrachi mentioned.
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