When Ariel Helm goes thrifting, she focuses on finding unique clothing pieces, such as vintage graphic T-shirts, at a fraction of the price. Sustainability is not on her mind.
While Helm, 17, knows her secondhand purchase will keep one piece of clothing from a landfill, she doesn’t know the amount of water, fuel and energy she saves by shopping at Goodwill instead of American Eagle.
Thrifting is the purchase of secondhand goods such as clothes, accessories and furniture. While thrifting is primarily thought of as a way to save money, it can also be a way for someone to reduce their carbon footprint.
According to Business Insider, the fashion industry produces 10% of all of humanity’s carbon emissions and is the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply. It takes approximately 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce one pair of jeans, according to The Fashion Law, a publication that covers the business of fashion.
Indiana University fashion lecturer Lori Frye said fashion companies also use a lot of gas, especially in the fast fashion industry, to ship the clothes from where they are manufactured to stores or to consumers who purchase items online. They also use a significant amount of fertilizer — which emits gases and can pollute streams and lakes through runoff — on crops used to create clothing.
Fast fashion, or mass production of replicated high-fashion designs at a low cost, is a big contributor to waste because these companies constantly cut corners on ethical and environmental practices to create and sell new items. Some famous fast fashion brands are Urban Outfitters, Fashion Nova, Shein and Adidas.
Frye said although one person avoiding these companies won’t stop them from churning out clothing using wasteful practices, it is a start, especially if people also purchase secondhand items and reduce the amount of clothes they buy overall.
By shopping at yard sales, purchasing from and selling clothes to friends and looking at consignment, resale and thrift stores, people are giving a new purpose to an item that already went through the wasteful production process. Purchasing secondhand clothes can also reduce that person’s contribution to the overuse of resources such as water and fuel.
Linda Souders, owner of resale store Restyled by, said she has been thrifting since she was a kid, when she would hunt for deals on clothes with her grandma. Then, she wasn’t as focused on reducing waste through thrifting; she just loved searching for treasures and her grandma hated to waste good clothes. But now, she said she thrifts and donates clothes more than she used to because she knows it helps the environment.
“Since I have been in this business, it has really helped me to want to play a bigger role in sustainability,” she said.
Natasha Sanders, who shops at Restyled by about twice a month, said she mainly thrifts to save money, but she likes that she is helping the environment as she hunts for unique finds and deals.
“It’s definitely a green way to save money,” she said.
Sanders, 44, is not the only shopper focused on the benefits of thrifting outside of sustainability.
Shonda Millsaps, who will launch online thrift store Ashubillio in early July, said she loves thrifting because it allows her to keep up with resurfacing trends. Frye said another benefit is, because many of the clothes have been worn before, the items will not shrink or change shape again.
Helm said, in addition to finding unique clothes, she likes to buy secondhand because many thrift stores are small businesses, and she likes to support them.
Kim Henry, owner of the consignment boutique Nu2uFashions, said she will often purchase pieces for the store that she knows her regular customers will like.
“It’s that one-on-one experience that you get when you have a small business,” she said. “When you go to a mall, you don’t get that.”
Contact staff writer Madison Smalstig at 317-924-5143. Follow her on Twitter @madi_smals.
