Pre-Loved Shopping Can Save the Earth
By: Freja Solberg
Tags: Style, Sustainability, Environment, Fashion, Environmental Issues

Pre-Loved Shopping Can Save the Earth

Photo by Cam Morin on Unsplash

The second-hand shops appeared in the 19th century for the first time, attracting many people thanks to lower prices. Later on, the vintage lovers joined the game and found their unique pieces in these shops. Today, it is shifting further. Even the term is evolving into pre-loved. It matters more than ever.

Pre-loved shopping is reaching more and more people with a significant purpose. The fashion industry impacts the environment terribly and needs to slow down. Buying pre-loved fashion means extending the life-time of existing items, forcing the industry to produce less, and therefore contributing to the earth.

The ugly truth about fast-fashion

Before looking into how pre-owned fashion can help us, it is important to see what fast-fashion means. Catching up with trends and choosing affordable pieces both result in inevitable consequences.

95% of produced garments goes to waste annually

Oxfam states that 13 million tonnes of textile are produced annually and 95% of that goes to waste. It means that 12.35 tonnes of textile are completely wasted. That’s even harder to believe than how pre-loved shopping can save the earth.

Not only there is an enormous amount of greenhouse gas emission behind the production of all these products; it also seems that it is for a life-time less than a year.

Less than one percent of textiles is truly recycled

According to Oxfam, we have also not come a long way in textile recycling. While over 12 tonnes of fashion items continue going to waste every year, not even 1% of that is actually recycled.

Given the materials used in fast fashion, acrylic and polyester wastes are also a big point of concern here. These fabrics do not degrade; they often end up in our oceans.

The pre-loved shopping facts

The situation with the fashion industry and customers is quite depressing. The negative impact is massive. However, pre-loved shopping can truly make a difference on its own. It may sound idealistic and maybe even mythical, but we also have some numbers to prove that.

Wearing an item more times can lower greenhouse emission by 44%

According to the data from Oxfam, if a garment is worn twice more times on average, that can help with lowering the greenhouse emission by 44%. It is a huge improvement, and it is only about appreciating what we own more.

It does not end there, though. To be able to wear more, our consumption and protection patterns also need to change. A product of low quality may not last for six months, and if we don’t care for the product in the right way, that’s also not helpful. Hence, investing in more quality items with better materials and cleaning properly can help us with achieving the goal here.

Extending the lifetime of an item for 7 more months can cut the waste by half

Going back to the data where we see over 12 tonnes of textiles being wasted annually, pre-loved shopping can partially improve that as well. On average, if an item is kept somehow for 7 more months, it means decreasing the wastes by half.

Decreasing by half equals to 6 tonnes, and it is not small at all. The approach is also similar. Higher quality, buying less, giving the item more chances can make it easily work.

Pre-loved shopping and us

After all, it is not so difficult to choose higher quality products, re-selling items on online platforms, repairing lightly-damaged goods, donating textiles in good shape, buying pre-owned pieces, and appreciating what we have.

If we only start to change our habits and patterns, this movement can grow into something much bigger. It can shift the impact of fast-fashion on the environment. It can also change how companies produce. It can force brands to slow down and aim for a circular approach.

For a better future and happier days, we can make this change. The truth is that it needs to start with us. We need to initiate and create this change. We are powerful enough to do that.