Fashion and the way we as humans consume has changed drastically throughout the years, Did you know that globally, we now consume about 80 billion NEW pieces of clothing every year—400% more than we were consuming just two decades ago. And that is just the clothes we buy, think of all the other items we purchase! Everything we do has an effect on the environment, good or bad, every choice we make from where we buy our clothes to the food we eat has an effect on the future, sadly the effects often get overlooked. What’s even sadder is that it really doesn’t take a lot to lessen the impact that fashion has on the environment.
I received an invitation to eBay’s 25th virtual celebration a few months ago & that got me thinking about how much online shopping has changed throughout the years. I opened up an eBay account back in 2006, back then eBay was the only large site geared towards the sale of used clothing. However, within the past few years other sites have emerged that also take the focus away from fast fashion and instead focus on making shopping sustainably a possibility for everyone, even if you don’t have the time to thrift shop or don’t have any nearby.
The term ‘fast fashion’ refers to cheaply produced and priced garments that copy the latest catwalk styles and get pushed quickly through stores in order to maximize on current trends whereas shopping sustainably refers to buying clothing that has already been produced and extending their lifecycle and keeping them out of landfills or buying clothes that are made more ethically from the get go, the saying, “quality over quantity” applies here. People are buying more clothes, looking for the cheapest options & getting rid of them faster, it’s a terrible cycle to be caught in. Don’t let that be you!
Shopping second hand is not the only way to contribute to environmental sustainability but it is one that has become easier to impact throughout the years. Along with eBay, sites such as Tradesy, Poshmark, Mercari, The Real Real and Thred up amongst others have stepped up to help extend the lifecycle of preowned clothing. Did you know that the average lifetime of a piece of clothing is approximately 3 years? However, if the average life of clothing was extended by just three months, it would reduce their carbon and water footprints, as well as waste generation, by five to 10 percent. Taking it a bit further the recycling of two million tons of clothing per year equates to taking one million cars from U.S. streets. That’s crazy right?!
Instead of buying brand new clothes every season i.e. fast fashion. Take a look online and you’ll see that you can find the exact same item you’ve been eyeing gently used for less. I’ve found many good name brand clothes on eBay, posh, Thred up and Mercari for much much less. I love that I can get the exact same quality item and save a little money (my bank account thanks me) while supporting small business and not adding to fast fashion. If you’re new to poshmark or Mercari and would like to make a positive impact on the environment my referral links are below.
Sign up for Mercari and get up to $30. Here’s my invitation link :https://merc.li/AVrfVqb
Poshmark: use code premierfinds for $10 off
Stats from University of Queensland & The Sowell
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