Tee: Reformation | Dress: secondhand Topshop | Shoes: TOMS (similar) | Bag: Thrifted | Jewelry: c/o Mejuri 

photography by Kat McSherry

As a conscious consumer, the main principle I follow is looking at every dollar I spend as a vote. I wrote a whole post almost two years ago that deep dives into this very idea, but the gist of it is that when you purchase something, you are giving monetary support to the product itself as well as the systems in place to produce it. Any business class will teach you that at the end of the day, running a business is all about profit — and if a fast fashion company sees that the demand for their products remains steady and profitable, it would be a bad business decision to not capitalize on that market opportunity. This is the exact reason why I do not purchase fast fashion directly from stores anymore. When you buy a tee shirt from a fast fashion brand, you not only buy that tee, but you also show the brand that you do not have a problem with the unsustainable and unethical manufacturing methods that make that low, low price possible.

That being said, for as long as I have thrifted, I have purchased fast fashion secondhand. I often find fast fashion items fit me the best, satisfy my lingering wishes to wear “trendy” clothing, and are the most readily available at the local thrift stores around my university. For a long time I have not had a problem with buying fast fashion secondhand. If you’ve followed my blog for any of the past few years, you know that purchasing clothing secondhand is great for the environment and a good financially accessible way to shop more sustainably. When I buy clothing secondhand I extend the useful life of that product, which is exactly counter to the fast fashion mindset of clothing being disposable.

My question today, though, is: have thrift stores just become a pit-stop for fast fashion items on their way to a landfill?

Despite thrifting becoming more and more popular over the last few months, it has become more and more clear to me that it is not a be-all and end-all solution to the problems created by the fast fashion industry — and frankly, the way many people currently approach thrifting can be quite problematic. I almost feel like the secondhand clothing market has just become an excuse for continuing to consume at the incredibly fast rate that the fast fashion industry has conditioned us to believe is normal.

For fast fashion to slow down on a large scale, consumers need to stop buying from fast fashion stores in the first place. The recent mass change in consumer consciousness from “fast fashion store to landfill” to “fast fashion store to thrift store [and ultimately to landfill]” is an important change for any consumer, but this kind of thinking doesn’t deter anyone from shopping at fast fashion stores in the first place. And that means the pressure for fast fashion brands to become more responsible for the impacts of the production is simply not intense enough. Additionally, if people continue to consume all willy-nilly at thrift stores as they do at fast fashion stores, thrift shopping may simply become a greenwashed way to consume consciously.

If you think about the Three Rs of Sustainability — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle —   they go in this particular order for a reason. First, you are supposed to REDUCE (aka buy less clothing in general – whether that’s from a fast fashion brand or from a thrift store). Then, you should REUSE (aka shop secondhand only if you need to buy “new” clothing). And last, you should RECYCLE (aka find reputable textile recycling facilities, or find a DIY project to make something new out of your old clothing). Other R’s that can get thrown in there include repair (mend your clothing) and rethink (think more consciously about your purchase decisions), but regardless, the Three Rs of Sustainability point directly to the problems with buying fast fashion from thrift stores. 

I have purchased fast fashion clothing at thrift stores before, and will likely continue to do so. When I thrift consciously, I choose items that I know I will get wear out of and give a good second life to, regardless of the brand that made that item. It is not inherently bad to buy fast fashion from thrift stores. It becomes problematic if you consume from thrift stores in the same manner that you’ve been trained to consume from fast fashion stores: the slow fashion movement and the conscious consumerism mindset are all about consuming LESS. It also becomes problematic when the secondhand fashion market is used as an excuse to continue purchasing fast fashion items: just because you donate your clothing after you’ve gotten “enough use” out of the item, that does not mean your consumer dollars no longer cast a vote in favor of the harmful systems that the fast fashion industry has created.

I’ve been letting these thoughts rumble around in my head for the past few weeks, and this post is just a culmination of my thoughts on the topic. The best way to create change in fashion is to have more conversations about problems and potential solutions, so share your thoughts below or join this conversation over on my Instagram.