If the urge to purchase new clothes for an upcoming event seems overpowering, reconsider. Your wardrobe is filled with items that don’t strike your fancy anymore, and the renewed fashion trend of Bermuda shorts is too tempting to resist. However, is it real that buying new outfits and donating the out-of-fashion ones is harmless? Unfortunately not. The vicious cycle of consistent clothes shopping leads to severe issues such as water contamination, generation of greenhouse gases and landfill.
Is retail therapy killing us bit by bit?
The inclination to regard your belongings as outdated is not surprising. With Zara introducing 24 new range of clothes every year and H&M proposing between 12 to 16 according to McKinsey, the consulting firm. The only workaround to stay synced with these ever-changing trends is to shop ceaselessly.
Due to rapid advances in manufacturing process, clothes are now produced at an unprecedented speed that fuels the retailers’ greed for increasing profit by luring us to shop continuously. The UNEP states that an average shopper buys 60% more clothes compared to 15 years ago. Furthermore, the lifespan of each clothing item is halved.
The Red Flags of the Retail World
Trendy metallic tops or barrel leg jeans may be in vogue now, but the scenario can turn grim when the next fashion fad arrives. As per UNEP, every second, textiles equivalent to a bin truck’s capacity end up either in landfill or are incinerated. Moreover, textiles reportedly contribute to 9% of the annual microplastic loss to the ocean.
The situation doesn’t improve when you take into account the wages of textile workers. They often earn a pittance for working tirelessly under dreadful conditions.
Never-Ending Yearning for New Clothes
Based on a 2021 survey for the Environmental Protection Agency, 21% of population are frequent shoppers, purchasing clothes weekly. This category primarily comprises women under 50. Furthermore, 55% of these shoppers hardly wear their new clothes more than a few times, and 46% buy clothes which they never wear.
Additionally, the trend of purchasing and then returning clothes has resulted in most clothes being sent back to the retailers. Business Insider states that most returned items are neither restocked nor repurposed or reused, ultimately ending up as trash.
However, it’s important to remember, “Second-hand isn’t merely decent!”.
Steering clear of social media and refraining from frequenting the high street can serve as a restraint from excessive shopping and aid in saving funds. Subscribing to platforms oriented towards clothing recycling, such as Change Clothes Crumlin, can help to curb the propensity to shop excessively.
Mary Fleming, the founder of ChangeClothes.org, is dedicated to making second-hand clothing convenient, engaging, low-cost, and sociable. Fleming had an enlightening experience about the negative implications of the fashion industry during her family trip to Kenya where she witnessed the excess of textile waste. This gave her a fresh insight into the impact of her own shopping habits.
Change Clothes Crumlin allows customers to book a half-an-hour slot for perusing and trying on clothes for a charge of €5, along with a group of five to 10 other shoppers. Each participant is asked to bring along 10 pieces of clothing in either new or good condition to their studio on Crumlin Road, which they can trade for equivalent items.
The system runs on tokens; Fleming explains that shoppers receive a one token for mainstream high-street items from brands such as Penneys, H&M, and Zara. Higher-end labels like COS, All Saints and North Face earn two tokens, while vintage and designer pieces warrant three tokens.
This offers customers the opportunity to update their wardrobes at a minimal cost with clothes that are novel to them. It epitomises the motto of Change Clothes Crumlin: “second-hand is pretty awesome”.
Fleming points out the satisfaction that comes from seeing others wear your clothes, creating a community spirit, offering a chance to connect with others with similar values, and witnessing your own clothes getting a new lease of life.