Thrifting, antiquing, vintage-shopping. Whatever you may call it, secondhand shopping is something that many Americans enjoy. This weekend activity may seem like just fun to some, but to others it is so much more.
Sam Garcia, 24, works at the San Marcos, Tex. vintage clothing shop Vagabond and is a thrift-shopper herself. Garcia loves secondhand shopping because she "likes the re-use, recycle aspect of it. Also I just love the used clothes, they feel super nice over the brand new."
Arla Reese, 20, is a secondhand shopper. She shops this way because she tries "to buy more sustainably because it's better for your footprint and better for the environment instead of buying from big coorporations that are probably not very good to their workers... these big companies and brands they're bad to their workers and then they sell [clothes] for very expensive and they don't even pay their workers well. "
Alexa "Sweater" Mortaga, 22, works at the San Marcos thrift store Monkies and is a seconhand shopper. Mortaga said they grew up thrift shopping because it was the most affordable way to get clothes. Mortaga thinks one of the best things about secondhand shopping is that it is sustainable for the environment, but there are some perspectives that need to be kept in mind. "Depending on where the clothes are coming from and who the clothes are for, [one] needs to keep in mind gentrification. Whenever it comes to thrifting and reselling is whenever it can become gentrification because a lot of the time, these clothes are priced where people with low wages can't afford. So, going in and pricing [resold clothing] way too high takes it away from people who need to afford it at that price."
To some thrift shopping may seem like just a fad, but it does have real world effects. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the main source of textiles in discarded waste is clothing. Americans throw away about 14 million tons of clothing every year. What makes up the rest of textile waste are items like furniture, carpets, shoes, sheets and other consumer goods. According to the World Resource Institute, it takes 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt. The decomposition time for textiles in a landfill are 200+ years.
If you are wondering how to help in the reduction of your carbon footprint, consider secondhand shopping or donating! You can donate your used clothes, furniture and household items to secondhand clothing stores or to non-profit orgnazations that partner with lower income communities.
