In the age of fast fashion and clothing trends ending within weeks, one of the most environmentally conscious ways to stay on trends is to thrift your clothes. As of 2023, the fashion industry contributes to 60 million tons of plastic pollution every year, this mass amount of pollution is 1/5th of the world’s whopping 300 million tons of plastic pollution every year. When thrifting not only do you save money while being able to rep popular brands, but you also help lower the need of supply and demand for clothing products and prevent these items from ending up in landfills which damages the environment because clothing takes years to decompose depending on the material. Oftentimes you can find much more sturdy clothes due to older clothes being of higher quality in comparison to the newer more cheaply made clothing, this allows for more weartime which keeps you away from needing to buy replacement items as fast. Not only is fast fashion wearing on others' morals due to its contribution towards environmental destruction, but it also tests consumers due to its use of child labor and underpayment of workers. Of the fast fashion industry workers, it is reported that under 2% of those employed make minimum wage. On top of these unethical practices, “the apparel industry is among the top polluters, producing vast greenhouse gas emissions and in 2021 alone, the industry released 897 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents”. The production of new clothes can not be put to a stop and likely will never be stopped due to supply and demand in a capitalistic world, but by thrifting and choosing to wear clothes already made or handed down, you can reduce this rising need of production.

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