How does thrifting impact the environment and society?

Salvation Army Thrift Store image taken from https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-salvation-army-thrift-store-is-all-about-the-finds-this-national-thrift-shop-day-818818643.html

What will be presented and its significance.

In this story map, I will explore the findings of my research on the impacts of second-hand shopping and its association with fast fashion. With the fast fashion industry being in the constant state of flux, there are significant amounts of waste that are tossed away during and after the process of manufacturing commercial goods. Although thrifting is generally thought of as a cheaper and better alternative to shopping in store, it is not as environmentally friendly as it seems.

Why did I choose to focus on this topic?

I am someone who likes to thrift because it helps to save money and I enjoy giving new life to pre-loved clothing. Even if they are previously loved, they can be loved again! As someone who likes to shop second-hand, learning about the good and bad aspects of shopping sustainably is quite the shocking reality. Oftentimes, there are stores and brands who advertise themselves as being ethical, for example Zara, H&M to name a few. But these brands tend to be doing so to appeal to the masses and have no genuine care for the environment nor do they follow through with their advertisements. Although they may produce clothing lines with certain materials that are deemed more sustainable, these clothing are oftentimes produced in factories just like most other big-name clothing brands. Thrifting on the other hand does not produce the textile or otherwise waste that fast fashion does. Thrifting is based on the community in which it exists and offers ***

How does the use of geospatial inquiry help?

Using a geospatial inquiry will hopefully help people to better understand with the addition of images and research from multiple articles. Having the information from several different articles on one story map will be more helpful than having several tabs open and having to click through them. The maps themselves will be nice to have as it gives a rough idea of where stores are.

Value Village logo taken from https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/value-village-is-your-one-stop-halloween-destination-693688081.html

What was the process?

For the process, I wanted to focus on research rather than images because the research is the most important part. The accuracy and information is very insightful and it will help build an understanding for what kind of industry the second-hand shopping industry really is.

In the past, thrifting was depicted in a negative light due to it being seen as unhygienic and its association with the lower economic classes. But as time passed, it became much more welcomed and is now a popular trend among young adults and teenagers. Because of this, it is important to know how impactful second-hand shopping really is.


Second-hand stores in Vancouver, BC map made by Natalie Meng

There are many thrift stores in Vancouver and one of the most popular chain is Value Village. In Value Village's "The State of Thrift 2020 Impact Report", they discuss how thrifting is a better alternative to buying new clothes as it lowers pollution rates, lessens your carbon footprint, and saves natural resources such as water. Clothing production is the second-largest consumer of water! The way that clothes are being discarded also contributes to the environmental damage, with 26 billion pounds of recyclable clothing being thrown away annually. Only 1% of recyclable clothing is actually used to make new clothes. Younger generations are now choosing to thrift instead of purchasing. This is a trend; however, the environmental impact of damage in production of clothing also contributes to this shift from brand names to thrift stores.

The Ugly Truth Of Fast Fashion | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj | Netflix

Major Issues

H&M image taken from https://www.businessinsider.com/hm-adds-external-brands-to-stores-to-woo-new-shoppers-2019-9

Unfortunately, not all of the clothing donated to thrift stores are sold. Hasan Minhaj talks about this issue in his video, "The Ugly Truth of Fast Fashion". He points to how many popular clothing stores such as Zara and H&M oftentimes takes luxurious clothing designs from higher brands like Gucci and Balenciaga to copy and sell at a cheaper price. Because of this, stores like Zara are able to always have trendy clothes in stock. But trends change very quickly and due to that, those stores usually receive new clothing items more frequently compared to other stores. Textile production and fabric production cause lots of waste and excessive use of resources. For textile production, it creates excessive amounts of greenhouse gases that are worse than carbon dioxide. And for fabric production, cotton uses a lot of water while synthetic fabrics use a lot of oil. There are lots of toxic chemicals used during the production of fabric and because the chemicals cannot be stored, it is discarded in bodies of water which is a large part of water pollution. Oftentimes, more resources are wasted and tossed away than actually used.

Zara image taken from https://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2014/07/inditex/

Uniqlo photo taken from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/retail/uniqlo-wants-to-become-worlds-biggest-apparel-maker?source=bibblio

But pollution is not the only problem that fast fashion brings. The discarding of clothing items is another large problem as most of the clothes cannot be donated due to its condition and various other factors. Instead, they are sold to developing countries but even then, a lot of the clothes cannot be worn because of how worn out they usually are. This leads to 87% of clothes ending up in landfills.

Pile of unwanted clothes image taken from https://www.treehugger.com/clothes-you-donate-dont-always-end-peoples-backs-4863686

According to “Why Thrifting is Good for the Planet Not Just Your Wallet”, the clothing industry has a large impact on the environment. In this article, they talk about the benefits of shopping second-hand, specifically they discuss the positives of less clothing in landfills, less resources used and wasted, and less pollution.

In the past, clothing was a luxury for many people but because of how often clothes are being produced now, the prices have gone down along with the quality. The clothes are being made so quickly that they quickly go out of style and with the low quality, they would not last long either way. By buying second-hand clothes, it contributes to the decrease of worldwide textile demand and waste overall. During clothing production, excessive resources are used for a single article of clothing but thrifting eliminates any addition resource and prevents perfectly fine clothing from going to waste. With 90% of cotton grown being genetically modified, the plants are very reliant on using pesticides to keep bugs away. The use of pesticides has negative effects as it can damage one’s health along with the environment. These are things that can be lessened by thrifting as it will lower carbon footprints.

Geospatial Trends

Left map: Thrift Stores, right map: Zara, H&M, Uniqlo stores. Maps made by Natalie Meng

Inside of Value Village image taken from https://stores.savers.com/on/orleans/valuevillage-thrift-store-2119.html

Thrifting has become a popular trend for young adults and teenagers to partake in. Younger generations are also more aware of how much impact the clothing industry has with all the pollution that it causes. Luckily, younger generations are promoting the concept of thrifting by posting videos about it. Youtubers like  bestdressed  and  Jenna Phipps  post a lot of videos with tips and tricks on thrifting as well as how to upcycle the clothes that you buy! Upcycling clothes that you thrifted is also a good alternative as you are able to recycle the fabrics and make the piece of clothing into something completely different! Many of  Jenna Phipp 's videos receive thousands of views and most of  bestdressed 's videos receive millions. With their videos reaching a wide audience, they are able to highlight the positive aspects of second-hand shopping.

Controversial Issues

Image of lady thrifting taken from https://www.thelist.com/182550/the-dirty-truth-about-thrift-stores/

“The Dirty Truth About Thrift Stores” cover some of the controversial issues that occur in the second-hand industry. While there are stores that are non-profit and have missions that help communities that need it, there are also stores that are for-profit that do not. Because of this, it is good to consider which ones are non-profit in case you would rather support them and support the communities that they help. A lot of clothes also end up being recycled because they are not in the right conditions to be sold. The issue with the clothes that end up recycled is that they might end up in landfill instead because of how poor the condition is. They also mention how there were cases of workers being underpaid, especially those with disabilities at Goodwill. Luckily, the person in power at that time stepped down. Another issue that is plausible is the possibility of hazardous materials on clothing items. Because most clothes are not washed before being put up for sale, it is unsanitary and hence raises the worry of potential hazardous materials.

Image of thrift store from https://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2020/02/how-the-rise-of-thrifting-signals-a-shift-in-retail-in-canada/

In the article “Rise of Thrifting Solution to Fast Fashion or Stealing From the Poor”, they talk about how sustainable and ethical brands are usually more expensive because of the quality and ethical reasons behind it. They strive to treat their workers ethically and lower consumption use of resources like water. In clothing production factories, workers are treated unethically and usually underpaid. This is due to most factories being in countries with higher poverty rates and because of that, some companies think it is okay to underpay their workers when it is not. Since many ethical brands tend to be more expensive, thrifting is the next best thing. The negative taboos from the past are now shed as it has become such a popular trend.

Future of Thrifting

Graph taken from https://www.renerepko.com/blog/2019/9/30/fast-fashion-is-out-renting-and-resale-will-become-the-new-normal

As shown in this graph taken from "Fast fashion is out. Renting and resale will become the new normal.", thrifting is expected to grow and become even more popular. I do not doubt this as many YouTubers already post thrifting videos and they get thousands of views. Younger generations also care more about the climate and the environment so they know that thrifting is much better for the environment. They are much more aware of the impacts that second-hand shopping has. The combination of awareness and trends reel people in to begin thrifting more.

Some questions to think about for the future

1) How much has changed with clothing production pollution? Has it gotten better or worse?

2) Are there more non-profit thrift stores or for-profit thrift stores?

3) What communities are non-profit thrift stores support?

Chart created by Natalie Meng

Conclusion

What did I learn?

Thrifting is a lot more beneficial than most people think. While it still has some negative connotations and negative opinions, it is a much better alternative that will help the environment. Clothing production does a lot more environmental damage than I expected and it changed my mind on quite a few things. Although clothes from brands like Zara and H&M may be trendy and cheap, the production of those clothes cause a lot of damage and pollution. By thrifting, it will minimize my own carbon footprint. I hope to share the things that I have learned with others so they can also minimize their carbon footprints.

Which of the 5 themes of human geography from chapter 1 (place, region, scale, space, or connection) has influenced your topic the most and why? 

I think that scale has influenced my topic the most because of how popular thrifting is around the world. There are influencers and people with social media platforms who advertise and post about their thrifting experiences and their audiences can be influenced to begin doing the same. With the easy access to the internet and to social media, it is very easy to see what is trendy and right now, thrifting is trendy. Even if a viewer is from another continent, watching a YouTuber's video can inspire them to go shop second-hand. The world is a big place but with the internet, everything is more accessible and it feels a lot smaller is.

What is a claim I can make?

Thrifting is much better than buying clothes from fast fashion brands because of how much they damage the environment. Instead of the clothes going to landfills and going to waste, they can be recycled and upcycled so that resources are not wasted and are kept instead.

Salvation Army Thrift Store image taken from https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-salvation-army-thrift-store-is-all-about-the-finds-this-national-thrift-shop-day-818818643.html

Value Village logo taken from https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/value-village-is-your-one-stop-halloween-destination-693688081.html

H&M image taken from https://www.businessinsider.com/hm-adds-external-brands-to-stores-to-woo-new-shoppers-2019-9

Zara image taken from https://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2014/07/inditex/

Uniqlo photo taken from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/retail/uniqlo-wants-to-become-worlds-biggest-apparel-maker?source=bibblio

Pile of unwanted clothes image taken from https://www.treehugger.com/clothes-you-donate-dont-always-end-peoples-backs-4863686

Inside of Value Village image taken from https://stores.savers.com/on/orleans/valuevillage-thrift-store-2119.html

Image of lady thrifting taken from https://www.thelist.com/182550/the-dirty-truth-about-thrift-stores/

Image of thrift store from https://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2020/02/how-the-rise-of-thrifting-signals-a-shift-in-retail-in-canada/

Graph taken from https://www.renerepko.com/blog/2019/9/30/fast-fashion-is-out-renting-and-resale-will-become-the-new-normal

Chart created by Natalie Meng