Buying second hand or ‘thrifting’ has become a staple of American shopping, one of the primary selling points of the practice being the lower prices. There is more to this trend, however, than meets the eye.
In the last twenty years the popularity of thrifting has skyrocketed, both as a trend and a way of helping the environment. According to Capital One Shopping, since 2017, the estimated value of the thrift and resale market has increased by 150%, rising from $20 billion to $50 billion.
A survey conducted in 2022, reported by Statistica, claims that about 40% of people who shop secondhand cite sustainability as one of their core motivators, along with other common contributing factors such as reasonable pricing, thrill of the hunt, and variety in options.
Indiana Resteghini ‘26 estimates that about 70% of high school students he knows buy clothing secondhand.
“I don’t think a lot of our generation buys for environmental purposes,” Resteghini said. “A lot of the thrifting community at our age doesn’t quite understand or look at it that way, so I believe it’s mainly because it’s cheaper.”
The executive director of local sustainability-focused organization ReSOURCE, Thomas Longstreth, seemed to share this sentiment.
“I think the environmental side is a factor as well, but I don’t know how big a factor,” Longstreth said. “I’m not even sure that many people think about that and really recognize that that’s part of the value.”
When new clothes are produced, environmentally harmful dyes and toxic substances are used, as well as greenhouse gasses that are released into the atmosphere. On top of that there are transport-related emissions and the shorter on average lifespan of clothes bought through fast fashion that results in large amounts of textile waste. Buying your clothes second-hand cuts back on all of these environmental dangers.
“The amount of carbon you have to expend in order to produce a brand new product is much higher than just preserving, lengthening and extending the time of an existing product,” Longstreth said.
According to Earthday.org, almost 6 million pounds of clothing are donated every year to Goodwill alone. It is just not possible to keep that many clothing items on thrift store shelves, and thus 70-90% of those clothes don’t make it onto store shelves at all. The final destination for these garments usually ends up being developing countries like Kenya, Ghana and Pakistan.
Though it does help stimulate the emerging markets in these nations to have clothes imported that can be sold at lower prices by street vendors, the problem of supply over demand will always present itself given the rate at which we produce clothing.
About 100 million garments are produced by fast fashion companies each year, and that number is likely to keep rising as the demand for cheap clothing to keep up with frequently changing trends increases.
Statistics show that the majority of pollution comes from large corporations, and thus it falls on their shoulders to change their practice. As reported by Center for Biological Diversity, an organization focused on climate activism, 10% of worldwide carbon emissions are produced by fast fashion. According to Yale Climate Connections, Shein alone emitted 16.7 million total metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2023 alone, more than the output of four coal power plants in the same amount of time.
That does not mean individuals are powerless, however. The consumer can limit their own carbon footprint significantly, and ditching fast fashion for second hand is a proven way to do that.
“I hope that people do think more about the environment, because we’re in a crisis,” Longstreth said, “and we really need to take this seriously.”
