Not only does thrifting your clothing help you save money and help you to support small businesses, it also greatly benefits the environment. By buying second hand clothing you give these items a new life, rather than contributing to the polluting industry of clothing manufacturing. For starters, it decreases the amount of textile waste piled up in landfills. In these landfills, it takes denim up to a year to decompose, tights up to forty years, and athletics wear from twenty to two hundred years.
The process of manufacturing textile goods is also the second most water-intensive industry in the world, just after food and agriculture. Every year the fashion and clothing industry consumes 79 billion cubic meters of water. It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make just one cotton shirt, which would be enough water for one person for nine hundred days. Twenty percent of the world's wastewater comes from the dyeing and treatment of fabric in the textile industry. Thrifting can also help oppose the fashion industry's huge carbon footprint. The textile industry is responsible for 6.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to 1-3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere each year.
The easiest and most effective way to combat the pollution caused by the clothing industry is by practicing the three R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reduce the amount of clothing you consume from fast fashion brands, like Forever 21 and Shein. Reuse your clothes by upcycling them instead of throwing them away. Lastly, you can recycle clothing by selling or donating lightly used clothing to thrift stores.
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