Extra on-line platforms are giving secondhand buying a digital improve, rolling out options like livestream buying and AI-powered search to make thrifting quicker and extra thrilling.
Though selecting secondhand over new is usually the extra sustainable choice, consultants 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 buying on-line can add emissions from servers and delivery, thrifted or not.
Right here’s how trade consultants and fashion-forward buyers store secondhand sustainably — and easy methods to discover high quality items that final whereas trying cool, too.
The rise of on-line secondhand trend
At eBay’s secondhand runway exhibits in New York and London, fashions wore pre-loved designer items that company might store stay. Secondhand gadgets like these make up 40% of the corporate’s gross sales, mentioned Alexis Hoopes, eBay’s vice chairman of trend.
“One of our big priorities is making secondhand just as good as shopping in the primary market,” she mentioned.
ThredUp and The RealReal have reported document gross sales this 12 months, signaling that the net resale market is rising rapidly. Stay-auction apps like Whatnot are giving buyers extra platforms to bid on used clothes.
Buyers navigating rising on-line choices with an eye fixed 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 line with the Council for Textile Recycling. The remaining is downcycled, exported — typically to international locations within the World 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 vitality, all components that have to be thought-about, mentioned Alana James, a trend professor at Northumbria College. However all of that pales compared to the environmental impression of manufacturing a brand new garment, she mentioned.
Specialists say really sustainable trend 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 pattern of exhibiting off large buying 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 trend.
“Responsible secondhand shopping means choosing pieces you’ll truly wear, investing in quality and resisting the pull of endless trend cycles,” she mentioned.
Recognizing the very best quality items
It may be tough to find out high quality when buying on-line, however asking the vendor in regards to the garment’s composition might help, mentioned Knowledge Kaye, a menswear content material creator.
Pure materials are place to start out, mentioned Caspelich.
“Look for silk, cotton, bamboo — things that breathe and last — versus synthetics like polyester or nylon,” she mentioned.
Buyers ought to search for gadgets which are lined and make word of the standard of the stitching, mentioned Julian Carter, a menswear content material creator.
Different secondhand patrons need to purchase heftier clothes made earlier than the mid-Nineties, when extra U.S. merchandise have been made with out outsourced labor or numerous cost-cutting, mentioned Wesley Breed, a trend historical past content material creator.
From the 12 months to the colour, buyers sifting by way of a whole bunch of 1000’s of search outcomes on-line must be very particular about what they need, mentioned Aimee Kelly, a trend content material creator.
“It helps you find the cooler pieces,” she mentioned. “And have patience — look around, you’re gonna find it.”
Making your items final
Discovering the proper merchandise is simply step one — caring for it ensures it stays in circulation.
Stuff baggage to keep up their form, maintain clothes in garment baggage, and use muslin baggage and lavender sprays to maintain out moths that eat pure materials like silk, wool and fur, mentioned Liana Satenstein, host of eBay’s Countless Runway secondhand trend present.
Folks may put on garments extra between washes, spot-clean and air-dry garments, and be taught to stitch.
“You’d be shocked how many people just toss a cardigan because a button fell off,” Caspelich mentioned.
Retaining trend within the loop
Secondhand sustainability isn’t nearly holding garments out of landfills.
Individuals who attempt to promote or give away their garments must be aware 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 just lately partnered with British retailer Marks & Spencer for a take-back program that lets buyers return gadgets in-store to be resold on eBay.
However probably the most sustainable selection is solely shopping for much less, Mizrachi mentioned. The one approach to make trend corporations change how they do enterprise is to make overconsumption unprofitable — which suggests patrons want to vary their habits, she mentioned.
“We can’t purchase our way out of the climate crisis,” Mizrachi mentioned.
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