Activism: So Hot Right Now

I realize that my bashing fashion mags for recommending reasonably priced shiznat (a la yesterday’s post) seems counter-intuitive to some, so let’s take a moment to clarify exactly why I’m so hell-bent on getting you beotches to shop secondhand in lieu of click-click-checkouting your way to new cheap clothes.

I didn’t start thrifting because it’s good for the planet, so I try not to harp on the low environmental impact of choosing gently-worn over new – it’s not what motivated me and I don’t expect it to motivate you. That buying secondhand (i.e. reusing other people’s castoffs) is a form of recycling seems obvious enough anyway. Alas, it appears some of you need the obvious spelled out.

Damn. I like your blog, but you sure find a way to complain about EVERYTHING. Even a fashion mag issue where every item is under $100. Lighten up.

Love the site, but I agree. if you style yourself as the populist stacy london, you can’t really knock the options of the average american shopper (which, like it or not, run more towards ae and kmart then the funky fabulous NY thrift stores with their fancy brands). This is what Lucky was trying to do, I think-show that you can get the look at the big box stores. I’d love to see an all thrift edition of the mag, but I’m not holding my breath.

Well said on both counts, and thank you for writing. My criticism of Lucky’s Under $100 Issue wasn’t intended to knock the options of the average American shopper; it was meant to illuminate secondhand shopping as smarter and savvier than paying full retail price for corporate mass produced crap. Why forgo the latter, easier option, the one that gives you a multitude of sizes, colors and styles from which to choose? Because it’s really, really bad for the planet. And you sure as shit aren’t going to have good shopping karma if you buy your clothes with little to no regard for where they come from and for what their very existence does to my world and yours.

Here’s a brief snapshot of an article from Environmental Health Perspectives, aptly titled Waste Couture:

For example, polyester, the most widely used manufactured fiber, is made from petroleum. With the the rise in production in the fashion industry, demand for man-made fibers, especially polyester, has nearly doubled in the last 15 years, according to figures from the Technical Textile Markets. The manufacture of polyester and other synthetic fabrics is an energy-intensive process requiring large amounts of crude oil and releasing emissions including volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and acid gases such as hydrogen chloride, all of which can cause or aggravate respiratory disease. The EPA, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, considers many textile manufacturing facilities to be hazardous waste generators.

Okay fine, synthetic fabrics are bad. But cotton’s okay, right?

This crop accounts for a quarter of all the pesticides used in the United States, the largest exporter of cotton in the world, according to the USDA.

Oy Vey.

Much of the cotton produced in the United States is exported to China and other countries with low labor costs….China has emerged as the largest exporter of fast fashion, accounting for 30% of world apparel exports….some Chinese workers make as little as 12–18 cents per hour working in poor conditions.

Oy VEY. If all this shit goes down before we even buy the clothes, what happens after we’ve purchased the merch?

An estimated 21% of annual clothing purchases stay in the home… a potentially large quantity of latent waste that will eventually enter the solid waste stream. According to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year, and clothing and other textiles represent about 4% of the municipal solid waste. But this figure is rapidly growing.

I know hearing about this stuff is tres drag. Ignorance used to be bliss for me too. I only started caring after a solid year of thrifting, and even then, what prompted me to consider the environmental impact of what we wear was entirely accidental. It happened last summer at Old Navy, when I looked around at the eerie abundance of clothing, wondered at its fate and realized the bulk of it was going straight to the dumpster.

This doesn’t mean I’ll never shop Old Navy again, nor does it mean I don’t still buy things at Target with tags that read Made In China (no Saint precedes Cheap JAP). It just means my awareness of what those words mean gives me one more reason to shop secondhand. Spending less on gently-worn wares is synonymous with lessening the impact those wares have on the world.

I’m well aware of the fact that the average American shopper doesn’t have access to “funky fabulous NY stores with their fancy brands,” but the notion of location as what determines one’s access to thrift is total crap. Goodwill, Salvation Army AND Buffalo Exchange are national chains, Beacon’s Closet has an online store, and some of the most fab secondhand shops are small-town based.

I also don’t hold any delusions of grandeur about NYC thrift (hence the reason I call out those funky fabulous stores who use terms like vintage as an excuse to overcharge); if I had my pick of cities to thrift in, it wouldn’t be this one. It’d be Portland, Oregon, no contest. I’ve only been there once, but OMFG – best, cheapest, most brandtastic thrift stores EVER.

Ultimately, I’m not here to tell you what to wear. I’m here to show you how to shop for it in a fiscally, socially and environmentally conscious way. I didn’t bash Lucky yesterday for featuring reasonably priced merch. I bashed it because everything featured fuels the fast fashion factories fucking up our already fucked-up earth.

That is all.