Thrift your heart out

My idea of a good time in Grade 8 was trawling the mall, looting the JayJays store of luminous tank tops and multicoloured bangles. The sickly-sweet cherry on top of a successful shopping spree was a trip to Wakaberry. Eight years later, I’m curator of a collection of castoff clothes from Instagram. Imagine 13-year-old Laura’s horror.

My impulse buying was eventually tamed by the realisation that money does not, in fact, grow on trees. I also began to loathe the fact that within the span of three hours, I would bump into four people wearing the same Factorie crop top as me.

Fast fashion is just as it sounds. Shop fast, don’t think, just buy. Once you’ve left the store, giddy with a fresh purchase dangling from your fingers, you try not to think about the blow to your bank account. Take a moment before swiping your card, and you’ll start to see red flags all over that R350 cotton tee.

Clothing production makes up 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and has devastating effects on global water sources. It takes 20 000 litres of water to produce a single kilogram of cotton. I don’t know about you, but that made me rethink my past purchases. Microplastics, found in everything from t-shirts to faux furs, pollute the globe at an alarming rate. Since 2000, clothing production has doubled, although people keep their garments for half as long. The equivalent of one rubbish truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in a landfill every second. That’s 86 400 trucks of clothes every day. The consumerist lifestyle that we lead only spurs these statistics on. While climate change takes centre stage, fast fashion lurks in the wings.

The environmental consequences to fast fashion are only the opening act. The scale of human exploitation involved in clothing manufacturing is shocking. @Tickover is committed to exposing the fashion industry one embroidered sampler at a time. She has called out popular stores like Topshop and Urban Outfitters for “quite literally … getting away with murder”. While posting supportive statements about #BlackLivesMatter, these shops fail to care for the people, predominantly people of colour, who make their clothing. All over the world, garment workers in sweatshops are victims of gross human rights violations on a daily basis. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, @cleanclothescampaign estimated that the total value of unpaid and underpaid wages for garment workers is between $3.19 and $5.78 billion USD. I can’t even begin to comprehend that amount of money. While it may be convenient to blame the mistreatment of fashion factory workers entirely on covid-19, this cannot be so. As with so many social issues, the capitalist system and consumerism are at the root of this appalling reality.

While not an umbrella solution by any standard, thrifting is a step in the right direction to fighting fast fashion. Generation Z has embraced the thrifting trend and ran with it. In 2020, if you don’t own a pair of corduroy pants, your social life will decline like the skinny jeans phase.

@wabi_sabi_seconds is a Makhanda-based thrift store which started in October 2019. The page was launched to encourage conscious shopping, as well as combat fast fashion. “Items are being overproduced beyond demand, and once the season moves on, those clothes are discarded,” says Jodie Pieterse, the student behind the Instagram page. “The issue with fast fashion is basically just the waste that comes out of it”.

Pieterse reckons that her customers realize that human overconsumption is taking a toll on the earth, which has pushed them to more sustainable shopping options like thrifting. @wabi_sabi_seconds quickly rose to the thrifting hall of fame, as they sell a variety of unique pieces that are of far better quality than the flimsy items found in mainstream shops.

There are tonnes of thrift shops on Instagram; some have been around for years and just recently gained popularity, others popped up overnight. Whatever the origin story, thrifting is a friend to the environment and to your wallet.