More online platforms are giving secondhand shopping a digital upgrade, rolling out features like livestream shopping and AI-powered search to make thrifting faster and more exciting. <\/p>\n
Although choosing secondhand over new is often the more sustainable option, experts say it\u2019s not a license to overconsume. They warn that resale has its limits, since buying more than you need still fuels waste, and shopping online can add emissions from servers and shipping, thrifted or not.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how industry experts and fashion-forward shoppers shop secondhand sustainably \u2014 and how to find quality pieces that last while looking cool, too.<\/p>\n
The rise of online secondhand fashion<\/p>\n
At eBay\u2019s secondhand runway shows in New York and London, models wore pre-loved designer pieces that guests could shop live. Secondhand items like those make up 40% of the company\u2019s sales, said Alexis Hoopes, eBay\u2019s vice president of fashion. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our big priorities is making secondhand just as good as shopping in the primary market,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
ThredUp and The RealReal have reported record sales this year, signaling that the online resale market is growing quickly. Live-auction apps like Whatnot are giving shoppers more platforms to bid on used clothing.<\/p>\n
Shoppers navigating growing online options with an eye toward sustainability can still end up buying more than they need. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who buy secondhand clothing were found to buy more clothing than people who don\u2019t,\u201d said Meital Peleg Mizrachi, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University who researches textile waste. \u201cNot only that, they tend to get rid of those clothes faster than other consumers. So they\u2019re ending up creating more textile waste because they\u2019re buying more and using that clothing for a shorter period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Less than 20% of clothing donations to charities are resold in their stores, according to the Council for Textile Recycling. The rest is downcycled, exported \u2014 often to countries in the Global South \u2014 or ultimately discarded in landfills.<\/p>\n
Online resale also generates emissions from shipping and packaging, and running massive e-commerce platforms consumes energy, all factors that need to be considered, said Alana James, a fashion professor at Northumbria University. But all of that pales in comparison to the environmental impact of producing a new garment, she said. <\/p>\n
Experts say truly sustainable fashion requires breaking away from the fast-fashion mindset \u2014 the constant pressure to \u201cbuy now\u201d and the manufactured sense of scarcity that fuels overconsumption. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaul\u201d culture \u2014 the social media trend of showing off massive shopping sprees \u2014 shows overconsumption in a new way, said Katrina Caspelich, communications director for Remake, an advocacy group for human rights and climate justice in fashion. <\/p>\n
\u201cResponsible secondhand shopping means choosing pieces you\u2019ll truly wear, investing in quality and resisting the pull of endless trend cycles,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Spotting the best quality pieces<\/p>\n
It can be difficult to determine quality when shopping online, but asking the seller about the garment\u2019s composition can help, said Wisdom Kaye, a menswear content creator. <\/p>\n
Natural fabrics are a good place to start, said Caspelich.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook for silk, cotton, bamboo \u2014 things that breathe and last \u2014 versus synthetics like polyester or nylon,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Shoppers should look for items that are lined and make note of the quality of the stitching, said Julian Carter, a menswear content creator. <\/p>\n
Other secondhand buyers want to buy heftier clothing made before the mid-1990s, when more U.S. products were made without outsourced labor or a lot of cost-cutting, said Wesley Breed, a fashion history content creator. <\/p>\n
From the year to the color, shoppers sifting through hundreds of thousands of search results online should be very specific about what they want, said Aimee Kelly, a fashion content creator. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps you find the cooler pieces,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd have patience \u2014 look around, you\u2019re gonna find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making your pieces last<\/p>\n
Finding the right item is only the first step \u2014 caring for it ensures it stays in circulation.<\/p>\n
Stuff bags to maintain their shape, keep clothing in garment bags, and use muslin bags and lavender sprays to keep out moths that eat natural fabrics like silk, wool and fur, said Liana Satenstein, host of eBay\u2019s Endless Runway secondhand fashion show.<\/p>\n
People can also wear clothes more between washes, spot-clean and air-dry clothes, and learn to sew.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d be shocked how many people just toss a cardigan because a button fell off,\u201d Caspelich said.<\/p>\n
Keeping fashion in the loop<\/p>\n
Secondhand sustainability isn\u2019t just about keeping clothes out of landfills.<\/p>\n
People who try to sell or give away their clothes should be mindful of where they\u2019re going, said Mizrachi, the Yale researcher. <\/p>\n
\u201cTry to give them to smaller community stores or shelters \u2014 places that you know are happy to get those clothes,\u201d Mizrachi said. <\/p>\n
Zara, H&M and other brands have launched recycling programs. <\/p>\n
eBay recently partnered with British retailer Marks & Spencer for a take-back program that lets shoppers return items in-store to be resold on eBay.<\/p>\n
But the most sustainable choice is simply buying less, Mizrachi said. The only way to make fashion companies change how they do business is to make overconsumption unprofitable \u2014 which means buyers need to change their habits, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t purchase our way out of the climate crisis,\u201d Mizrachi said.<\/p>\n
Sideris writes for the Associated Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More online platforms are giving secondhand shopping a digital upgrade, rolling out features like livestream shopping and AI-powered…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":274794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,142220,14960,78306,35565,4641,10574,142224,2961,224,5337,142223,142228,142225,3546,142222,142226,142221,142227],"class_list":{"0":"post-274793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-clothe","11":"tag-clothing","12":"tag-ebay","13":"tag-emission","14":"tag-expert","15":"tag-fashion","16":"tag-katrina-caspelich","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-mizrachi","21":"tag-natural-fabric","22":"tag-overconsumption","23":"tag-people","24":"tag-quality-piece","25":"tag-secondhand-item","26":"tag-shopper","27":"tag-silk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115310781203705048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}