How much can an individual’s action impact the fashion industry? Not much. However, if these actions of individuals are done collectively or on a bigger scale, will the fashion industry change? Or is this emphasis on individual action a neoliberalist ideal to thwart actual environmental reforms being made?
Currently, there are several options for consumers to shop ethically and sustainably for their clothes. They range from thrift shopping, the rental of clothing services, or shopping at sustainable clothing companies. In this post, I will be focusing on thrift shopping, better known as thrifting. I had no clue what thrifting meant until my first exposure to it being Macklemore’s hit song thrift shop, which came onto the scene in 2012. Thrifting basically equates to secondhand shopping. A brief history of thrifting shows that it was heavily stigmatized back in the 1950s. Thrifting was regarded as something that the ethnic minority or the urban poor did (Hauslik, 2019). In today’s day and age, many consumers often consume and discard their clothing without a thought, especially fueled by fast fashion (Niinimäki et al., 2020). Hence, there is a lot of waste being created due to this thoughtless discarding. Additionally, the resources, energy and amount of pollutants used and created in the process of the clothing exacerbates the issue of waste. Therefore, thrifting could be an individual’s step in the right direction in trying to consume less, waste less and ultimately cut down on the damages caused to the environment.
Thrifting enables more clothes that were discarded by their previous owners to have a new life. This prevents the clothes from ending up in landfills. Not only that, if consumers are willing to consume second hand, there would be less demand for new clothing. As mentioned before, the fashion industry is very water intensive. As much as 20,000 litres of water is needed to produce just one shirt and a pair of jeans (WWF, n.d.). If these individuals’ actions could be united as a collective, less water will be used and wasted (Leon, 2019). In addition, the amount of pollutants released into the water like pesticides for cotton farming might be reduced as there is a lesser demand for new clothes. Hence, all these shows that an individual’s action can possibly impact positively on the environment.
Therefore, although thrifting may sound like a fantastic idea in trying to get individual consumers like you and I to reduce the amount of waste and damage we are inflicting to the environment, I still beg to differ. Thrifting has ironically become the latest trend. People are seeking out secondhand clothing from thrift stores to create their ‘unique personal style’ (Hauslik, 2019). Increasingly, more and more upper and middle class people are choosing to shop at thrift stores be it for environmental reasons or the curation of a personal style etc. The ability to choose to shop at a thrift store showcases one’s privilege as compared to those who are less well off and who have no choice but to shop at thrift stores (Ronobir, 2020). Hence, thrift stores are increasingly becoming gentrified due to this change.
The video below also shows more information on how thrifted clothing is increasingly leveraged on and resold for a higher price. This adds on to the idea of how thrifting is no longer something that people do out of necessity, but people do this for profits. In that process, they might marginalize those who really use thrifting as a means to save money.
There should be more responsibility attributed to the companies and industries in charge of the fashion industry. The over emphasis on individuals seems to be an adoption of neoliberalism ideals as more guilt is being placed on the individual to enact change for the environment (Lukacs, 2017). More often than not, these profit hungry fashion companies are the one preventing environmental policies to go through. There is a need for major changes to come into fruition to actually enact change in the fashion industry and that can only be done if the big fashion companies are willing to do so.
The question now here is that will thrifting morph into another form of fast fashion. Or is thrifting really a viable and sustainable way to reduce the impact we have on the environment as individuals? Will thrifting be a way to reform the fashion industry ultimately when the less well off are the ones who are disproportionately affected? In my opinion, although shifting consumers’ taste might help, it only alleviates small problems that the fashion industry creates and not the root cause. Change should be coming from these big fashion companies. Until then, the fashion industry will remain stagnant and continue to pollute the environment drastically.
References:
Hauslik, D. R. (2019). The boundaries of waste, want, and reuse: A qualitative analysis of thrift store shopping and dumpster diving in washington state (Order No. 13901688). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2317557408). Retrieved from http://libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/docview/2317557408?accountid=13876
Leon, L. (2019). Why Thrifting is Good for the Planet, Not Just Your Wallet. Retrieved 21 September 2020 from, https://serc.berkeley.edu/why-thrifting-is-good-for-the-planet-not-just-your-wallet/
Lukacs, M. (2017). Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals. Retrieved 21 September 2020 from, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2017/jul/17/neoliberalism-has-conned-us-into-fighting-climate-change-as-individuals
Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H., Perry, P., Rissanen, T., & Gwilt, A. (2020). The environmental price of fast fashion. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1(4), 189-200. doi:10.1038/s43017-020-0039-9
Ronobir, J., Barry, M., Curran, R., Kaushal, A., & Yazdani, R. (2020). The socioeconomic causes and effects of the gentrified thrifting experience. Retrieved 21 September , 2020, from https://zenodo.org/record/3983108
WWF. (n.d.). Cotton. Retrieved August 28 2020, from https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/cotton
