(Photos courtesy of Jax Upcycled)
Economic & Environmental Impacts of Second-Hand Shopping
Thrifting, or buying second-hand/used clothes, electronics, accessories and other products, has seen an explosion in popularity in recent decades. What was once a stigmatized practice due to decades of marketing and social pressure to buy new (and in turn, display your wealth), is now wholly mainstream.
Thrifting has seen an elevation to the mainstream for a few reasons that can be split between generations. Generations older than Gen Z started thrifting significantly more during 2020 and the COVID-19 shutdowns that resulted in economic hardship for millions of Americans. Among millennials and older, this is when around 88 percent of current thrifters began to shop second-hand on a regular basis.
Among younger crowds (Gen Z and younger) thrifting became an obvious solution when supporting fast fashion fell out of style. Younger generations, on average, put a higher priority on the environmental impacts of their purchases. This varies heavily across the board and in different industries, but the fast fashion industry is now seen by many young people as something to avoid. In addition to environmental concerns, younger generations are growing up in an economy where they simply have less spending power on average, pushing them towards thrifting in the same way that older generations were.
The rise of thrifting occurred for multiple reasons, but it is important to point out that this is a mainstream rise, meaning that certain communities, like impoverished or immigrant communities, have been thrifting, despite the stigma, for decades.
This brings us to a paradoxical situation that makes thrifting a somewhat difficult subject to fully understand. While saving is generally considered prudent for individuals, widespread increases in savings can lead to reduced overall demand and potentially slow down the economy. This phenomenon has significant implications across various economies, influencing everything from consumer behavior to government policy.
In short, thrifting might still help many individuals, but we are slowly seeing a transition to a thrifting industry that no longer saves most people money; instead, many communities are actually being priced out of thrifting in a process many economists are now calling gentrification. The very communities who have propped thrifting up for decades are struggling to save money like they have in the past.
This is primarily due to two reasons: the overall increase in the popularity of thrifting, which drives supply down and prices up, along with the rise of resellers.
Resellers are a trend among younger generations where individuals buy up thrifted goods and re-sell them on other websites like Depop, Facebook and more. It is not uncommon to find an item in a thrift store for $10 that is now $50, $100 or more on a reseller’s website.
While this trend has helped people in tight money situations, those who benefited from thrift stores now have less resources. People who resell thrift finds often know what day of the week stores will restock the floor, and will be there bright and early to catch all the good deals. When others show up at later times, there are less items in each section.
“This means there are less quality items left on the thrift store shelves for those who truly have no other affordable options, say, for buying professional attire that could mean the difference between impressing or crashing at a job interview,” The Berkley Economic Review states.
However, while the complications in the thrifting economy are alive and well, there are some benefits that cannot be denied. On the economic side, it is a fact that thrifting mostly keeps money in local economies as most thrift stores are local businesses/owned locally, while each and every item thrifted means that one fewer item had to get purchased at a fast fashion retailer, theoretically decreasing their demand.
On the environmental side of things, the conversation contains less paradox; thrifting is significantly better for the environment than buying new items of almost any kind.
Local upcycled-clothing company JAX Hats has been on the forefront of this mission, here locally. The founder and owner, Adrienne Priess said the following: “JAX has been creatively addressing the fast fashion crisis while promoting one of a kind, slowly curated and long lasting items. We have identified the need for reusing what already exists. With upcycling we create something much longer lasting than a lot of the items we are using to repurpose.”
For example, JAX Hats can take a damaged item, such as a two-year-old wool sweater with burn holes or a jacket purchased three months ago with a broken zipper, and we can use our industrial machines to rework and create a new item that lasts another 20-50 years, thus decreasing the overload of items and pollutants in our landfills, air and oceans.
Speaking on the rise of popularity for thrifting, Priess said, “As the culture of consumerism grows worldwide and the thrift shops are brimming with clothes that ultimately make it to lining the beaches of other countries, I think the younger generation is seeing a need to slow that down by reusing.”
Continuing, she said, “Now having said that, the fast fashion robots of TEMU, Amazon, Alibaba and more have caught on and now there are huge amounts of ripped-off upcyclers and fashion-forward handmade brands. Even hand knit or crochet artists are being copied and sold in mass quantities posing as handmade. Fast fashion items are meant to be worn on average 7 times before they fall apart, leaving their trail of plastic and broken workers along our rivers, streams and oceans.”
While looking from the outside, it might seem like fast fashion is dying out. However, fast fashion production is actually at an all-time high, with companies like TEMU and Shein shipping out over a million packages daily.
These cheap clothes end up finding their way to thrift stores, and due to their low quality combined with the growing popularity of thrifting, they create a worse and worse environment for people who actually need to thrift items to save money and survive. Ten years ago, you might find a regular cotton shirt for $5. Now, that shirt might be from Shein, have a significantly lower quality, and cost $30.
Still, efforts can be made to make an improvement. Shop second-hand, and try to prioritize upcycled companies, if everything in your local thrift store has a fast fashion label. Local tailors are a great option to fix items that would otherwise be thrown away, and it’ll save families money in the long run when they don’t have to constantly buy new, or have to pay gentrified thrift store prices.
In general, thrifting can still be a good option to save money, but the modern consumer will have to be more vigilant that year’s prior if they actually want to consistently save money, and help protect the environment.
