According to takeapart.com, in the US alone, 11 million tons of textiles end up in landfills each year.  These textiles release harmful chemicals into the air while they sit in landfills, and often are not biodegradable.  Not only is clothing harmful at the end of its life, but the production of clothing releases vile chemicals (chlorine, dyes, etc.) into the watershed.  However, if you want to stay fashionable and environmentally conscious there are a plethora of options to find clothing without threatening our planet's health.  For example, my parents play a large role in running Crossroads Trading Co., a consignment store company where people can sell their clothing, and then customers can buy high quality used clothing for cheap while reducing the amount of clothing that ends up in landfills.  Crossroads has locations all across the United States.  In addition to Crossroads, selling to and buying from thrift stores such as Goodwill and Salvation Army is a good way to reduce the amount of clothing that ends up in landfills.  If you want to reduce your carbon footprint  and environmental impact, buying and selling to these stores is a great option.

Resources:
http://www.takepart.com/video/2015/05/2 … h-landfill

I agree. Most people who live in rural areas and not cities have to drive a long way, or order clothes online. This, in turn burns more fossil fuels, as the cars or trucks needed to transport have to travel a long way. Most rural towns probably have consignment stores locally, which would reduce the necessary traveling, and put old clothing to good use. Another way would be to give any unused or too small clothing to relatives as hand-me-downs. Doing this would continue the lifespan of the clothing.

I had never realized that purchasing clothing left such a huge carbon footprint. I recently calculated my carbon footprint and found out that the biggest contribution to my purchases footprint was the buying of clothing. This I realized is because I buy a lot of my clothes online, after I grow out of them I usually give it away to our local goodwill store. I feel if people used local stores like Goodwill to buy and give away clothes the ultimate carbon footprint of the clothing industry would be greatly decreased.