Tag: Thrift Stores

There’s something wonderful about heading to a thrift store and finding a unique piece of clothing that fits your style perfectly. The “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” saying is quite truthful.

Now more than ever, people are donating clothing, home goods, electronics, and other objects that are in terrific condition.

Whether they’re clearing out clutter or making room for more stuff, this propensity to buy and buy has made thrifting an even more rewarding habit for your wallet.

But apart from the personal advantages of shopping secondhand, thrifting is a great benefit for the environment. Put the “reduce, reuse, recycle” slogan into even better practice—donate more and thrift often! Learn more about how thrifting is good for the planet below.

Keeps Clothes Out of Landfills

Think back to that reduce, reuse, recycle slogan they have all been taught since elementary school. When they were first taught this, it typically had to deal with plastics and paper. Many people don’t realize that recycling incorporates more than the typical plastics and includes textile recycling as well.

Just because you’re not putting your clothes in the blue bin and leaving them at the edge of the road doesn’t mean thrifting is not an important form of recycling. One of thrifting’s biggest advantages for the planet is that it keeps clothes out of landfills.

Contributes to Charities

Shopping secondhand also plays a role in boosting community development. Your money is typically used to help local charities and businesses, rather than multinational corporations that take advantage of the planet. Better yet, these charities that the stores benefit will often help out community members in need or strive to help the planet.

Think about it this way—when you shop secondhand, you’re supporting a business that strives to help others. When they are helping others, they are helping the environment in some way as well.

This contribution to charities can take the form of assisting those in need in the community and can help an organization that’s planting more trees or supporting third-world countries and their water sources.

Lowers Your Carbon Footprint

Another significant way thrifting is good for the planet is that it lowers your carbon footprint. This is another one of those phrases they were taught young—carbon footprint. They often think that the only way they can do this is by biking to work instead of driving or by reducing shower time.

Though these are wonderful ways, thrifting is one of those steps to reducing carbon footprint that doesn’t take much effort. All it asks is that you head to a thrift stores in Panama City Beach, FL rather than engage in online or fast-fashion shopping!

The fashion industry is moving faster than ever, creating millions of clothing items every day to fill up the stores every week. When you buy secondhand, you’re preventing that massive waste of energy and resources on the production of new clothes.

Helps Preserve Water

In a similar sense, thrifting helps preserve water. Like they have mentioned, clothing production is a process that takes up a lot of time and energy; it also uses a lot of water—water that they need dearly and are slowly running low on.

Water consumption is extremely high in every single stage of clothing production. Take a cotton T-shirt, for example. When made unsustainably, even simply growing one kilogram of cotton requires at least 10,000 liters of water. That’s just the beginning of the production process.

There’s wet processing and printing, packaging and transportation processes—all these steps add to the overall water consumption. When you shop secondhand, you’re playing a part in preserving water. green, and shutting off the faucet while you brush your teeth.

Reduces Chemical Pollution

Another great way that thrifting helps the planet is that it reduces the chemical pollution induced by creating and buying new clothes. Let’s think back to cotton—the production of cotton not only uses tons of water, but it’s also highly pesticide intensive.

This means that when cotton is produced and manufactured, it causes soil acidification and water contamination. And this is from material that many people consider sustainable. In general, textile-manufacturing processes involve the use of harmful dyes and crude oil by-products.

The process of creating and shipping new clothes contaminates surface and groundwater, pollutes the air, and so much more. Shopping secondhand begins to eliminate the constant chemical pollution that results from clothing production.

Over the last couple of years, fashion influencers like Emma Chamberlain have rebranded thrifting to be the new aesthetic, yet sustainable way to buy affordable statements for your wardrobe. The overall decreasing stigma of thrifting, as covered previously in the blog, has only further propelled thrifting’s popularity.

While lower-income individuals have long been represented as the face of thrifting, this seems to be no longer fully applicable. When taking a closer look at who represents the average thrift store shopper, research has shown a massive shift in the socio-economic demographics of thrifters in the past decade.

More specifically, while second-hand clothing continues to be largely utilized by lower class shoppers, this has actually shifted towards individuals of a higher socioeconomic status—especially the middle class.

Not surprisingly, a study shows that there has been a significant increase of the middle class shopping at thrift stores for clothing.

In line with the thrifting habits of lower-income families, there has also been a shift of middle class shoppers buying second-hand furniture, electronics, and household items more than ever before.

However, while more middle class shoppers are turning to thrifting, statistics show that higher-income individuals continue to be less likely to purchase thrifted items.

In fact, James’ study states that “the odds of shopping for furniture, clothing, and housewares at thrift stores were four times higher for those from the lower income category than those from the higher income categories.”

On top of socioeconomic status, age has also played a large role in identifying major groups contributing to the rise of thrifting. As thrifting was introduced into mainstream pop culture, young people started flocking to thrift stores for cheaper, fashionable finds.

Ultimately, this has led to the rise of Gen Z and Millennials being the forefront of the thrifting fashion movement; this can largely be due to 70% of millennial and Gen Z consumers stating that sustainability is an important factor while making buying decisions.

For many individuals of this generation, many choose to shop for a second hand or resale item over eco-friendly products from sustainable brands.

Thrifting becoming a more popular trend means great news for increasing sustainability in the fashion industry. However, it also raises the question of whether this takes away more quality items for lower income individuals.

While more wealthy consumers have turned to thrifting as a cheaper alternative, this in turn can reduce the already limited clothing options available to low-income communities.

“This means there are less quality items left on the thrift store shelves for those who truly have no other affordable options,” a Berkeley based study states.

This could mean lower-income individuals lacking cheaper options for “professional attire that could mean the difference between impressing or crashing at a job interview.”

While the creation of thrift shops in Panama City Beach, FL have originally been for lower-income individuals, the steadily rising popularity and appeal of thrifting has brought individuals of various ages and social-economic backgrounds to thrift stores.

Though this entails increased sustainability practices and purchases in the fashion industry, it has also led to undesired consequences impacting the demographic who need thrift stores the most: lower-income consumers. 

However, this shouldn’t discourage current or potential thrifters; while thrifting is still a great way to practice sustainable fashion, it’s important to remember that sustainability isn’t limited to just purchasing secondhand clothing, but also entails decreasing unnecessary clothing purchases that perpetuate fast fashion culture.

We all know how important it is to reduce, reuse, and recycle to limit our impact on the environment. But it’s easy to forget how everyday actions can make a difference for the planet.

So, what are some simple things to do to make your everyday routine more eco-friendly? We have five ways to live more sustainably today.

Use less water
One of the easiest ways to make a positive, eco-friendly difference around your home is by conserving clean water. Even if you don’t live in an area affected by drought, cutting back on the amount of water you use reduces waste and can lower your monthly utility bill.

Start simple: turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth, switch to a water efficient shower head, and water outdoor plants in the morning when you’ll need less water.

Go paperless
Technology today has made it possible to reduce the amount of paper we needlessly waste. Whenever possible, try to go digital instead of printing.

Ask for paperless billing from your bank, use e-tickets for movies and events, and scan documents into your computer instead of printing multiple copies. You’ll reduce excess clutter and save a few trees in the process!

Prevent plastic waste
Millions of pounds of single-use plastic waste are generated each year, but only a small percentage ever gets recycled. Plastic pollution frequently ends up in our planet’s oceans, which in turn harms animals and damages coastlines.

Fortunately, there are easy ways to reduce your plastic use. For example, bring a reusable bag to the grocery store and use reusable straws and water bottles instead of plastic.

Reduce air pollution
Air pollution is harmful to our lungs and the environment. If you live in a city with public transit, try to use it frequently. Or, combine trips and carpool with family or friends to reduce emissions and save money on gas. When possible, walk or bike to nearby destinations to avoid making unnecessary car trips.

Give a new life to used items
Do you have clothes and household goods that you no longer want, use, or need? Don’t throw them away – donate them! When you throw away reusable items such as clothing, they end up sitting in landfills where they take a long time to break down.

Not only is this bad for the environment, but there are many people who can use these items, even if you don’t want them anymore. The next time you clean out your closet or garage, ditch the dumpster and donate your gently used items to your local thrift shops in Destin, FL where they’ll be given a new life and a new purpose.

It’s never too early or too late to begin living more sustainably, and donating to thrift shop is a great place to start. 

By donating to thrift shops, not only are you committing to environmental sustainability, but you’re also making a greater difference in your community! Your gently-used items will be sold at affordable prices to neighbors who can use them.

Then, the proceeds from the sale of your goods help fund Goodwill’s job training and employment services for individuals with disabilities and local veterans.

It all adds up to a positive impact for you, the planet, and your community! Find a retail store or attended donation center near you to make a donation today.