With the rise in popularity of thrifting, more consumers than ever are making the conscious choice to reduce fast fashion purchases. Does this well-intentioned approach help the planet or lead to overconsumption?
The positive impacts of thrifting are being overshadowed by overconsumption. While thrifting offers more sustainable clothing at affordable prices, many of us shop without intentionality, assuming that donating items — even shortly after buying them — keeps the cycle sustainable, despite overwhelming the secondhand system. American consumers discard more than 81 pounds of clothing a year and only a small percentage of what we donate winds up on the racks of the thrift store. The majority of these clothes are dumped into landfills in the United States and other countries. How can we overcome this wasteful cycle of over-thrifting and ensure that fewer clothes pollute our planet?
The habit of overconsumption
Fast fashion accounts for 2-8% of global carbon emissions, and emissions from textile manufacturing alone are expected to increase by 60% by 2030. Fast fashion also has other severe environmental impacts such as water pollution, soil degradation, and waste creation. So, thrifting is a more sustainable option. Unfortunately, fast fashion has impacted our buying habits, causing consumers to shop with less intentionality. More consumers than ever are thrifting, but if we’re buying just as we would buy fast fashion and continue purchasing clothes that we won’t wear, then we’ve lost the intention of thrifting.
A study conducted by Movinga concluded that Americans don’t wear 82% of the clothes in their closets. This statistic shows that we have an incredible amount of waste in our own homes. Overconsumption with thrifting is possible, and if most people don’t wear what is in their closets, why do we keep buying more clothes?
A global issue
A simple solution is to donate back those clothes we don’t want. But what happens to these clothes once we donate them? Most who donate are unaware that, according to the EPA, only about 15% of these clothes can be reused or recycled, and over 10 million tons are sent to landfills or incinerators. Textiles are difficult to recycle due to a lack of infrastructure, which is why they are sent to landfills at such a high rate. In 2018, Americans sent 14.5 million tons of textile waste to landfills because many clothes unfit for sale could not be recycled. Once in landfills, clothing, especially those made of synthetic fibers, can take 20 to even 200 years to decompose. These clothes contribute to global carbon emissions as they produce large amounts of methane during the decomposition process.
We also ship over 700,000 tons of secondhand clothes to countries in the Global South where we outsource those negative impacts. These unwanted clothes can clog waterways, and the gas and chemicals from the decomposition process pollute the air, waterways, and soil. Some clothes are often burned, causing significant air pollution that can cause serious respiratory and cardiovascular illness. Local markets in countries like Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi are inundated with clothes that thrift stores have deemed unfit for sale.
Even in the United States, clothing waste is an important environmental justice issue as many landfills are disproportionately placed in lower-income, minority areas. These communities bear the brunt of textile pollution’s negative impacts, such as low birth weight, birth defects, and increased instances of certain types of cancers.
Shopping with intentionality
While the secondhand system is imperfect, thrifting is more sustainable than fast fashion. However, we need to shop with greater intentionality. Think to yourself: Do I need this item? Am I being influenced by social media? Do I already have something like it at home?
Some methods consumers can use to curb overconsumption are: limiting their purchases, going to clothing-swap events, mending clothes, and loaning clothes to friends so they can be worn many more times. Remember, the most sustainable clothing is what we already have in our closets. While thrifting is a better alternative, it cannot erase the impacts of overconsumption. Buying fewer clothes is ultimately one of the most powerful ways to reduce our impact as a consumer.
