I love to shop for clothes, it’s no secret. Anyone who’s lived with me has seen the barrage of boxes flood in after a rambunctious splurge, and my closet is so full sometimes I dream about it bursting open at night. Our vast, and growing, understanding of just how bad the apparel industry is for both people and planet—the physical waste, the carbon emissions, the microplastic pollution—has helped me get my habit under control over the years. But if I’m being totally honest, when I say “under control” I should add “for the most part.”
When I stopped impulsively buying stuff new, I transferred a chunk of my shopaholic inclinations to thrifting. Buying secondhand is of course gentler on the Earth than choosing new: Preowned clothing has around a 42% lower climate impact than new duds. But that knowledge can open a dangerous loophole for the overconsumption beast inside me.
I’ve been a devoted thrifter since my first trip to Goodwill as a tween. I fondly remember when I bought my first pair of oversized Levi’s to cut into Tumblr-era shorts (I still have those, by the way). But the rise of online marketplaces kicked my zeal for preloved finds into overdrive. I was able to trade my deep dives into the Madewell sale section for digging through Poshmark and Depop. I no longer had to sift through racks and bins of old flannels and slightly-stinky sweaters to find a real treasure.
Researchers are spotting troubling signs that today’s thrifting habits are becoming pretty similar to those we see in fast fashion: Shoppers are prone to impulse buying, minimal usage of products, chasing trends, and pleasure seeking.
Thrifting, increasingly, feels a lot like regular old shopping. If you have a picture in your mind of what you want, or if you’re questing after a particular dress or bag or button-up from a beloved brand, you can just plug the details into an online reselling marketplace. Some browser extensions will even do the searching and comparison shopping for you. You can quickly stack up the items in your cart, egged on by the dopamine rush of the hunt, low prices, and the cues some sites serve up about how much a purchase is saving in emissions and water. And what eventually happens? Those duds end up abandoned in a drawer, the same as they would if they were brand-new.
Secondhand shopping is increasingly mainstream, which is a good news, bad news situation. Last year, some 90% of North American shoppers interacted with thrift stores via buying or donating, a jump from 83% in 2022. But researchers are also spotting troubling signs that today’s thrifting habits are becoming pretty similar to those we see in fast fashion: Shoppers are prone to impulse buying, minimal usage of products, chasing trends, and pleasure seeking.
The landscape of thrifting is also ethically murky. Online resellers or shoppers with disposable income cherry-pick the best finds, which can drive up the prices to the point that communities who’ve relied on thrift shops can no longer afford them—some call this the gentrification of thrifting. In addition to being expensive, what’s left is often less size inclusive and of poor quality. I’ve noticed this at my own favorite haunts: Finding a good piece that isn’t just worn-down polyester from Zara or Shein or H&M is like searching for a needle in the proverbial haystack, and it’s often almost as costly as buying it firsthand. (This is what happens when too many of us offset the guilt of buying new with our intention to donate later on, despite the fact that many donations don’t get resold.)
So what’s a clothes lover to do? I tell myself that I can’t just swap a shopping habit for a thrifting habit, and remind myself to put my purchasing decisions in the right context. When I buy something thrifted, maybe it’s better for the planet than buying that same thing new, but the real comparison should be to the good that comes from not buying anything at all.
Don’t take this as me pooh-poohing thrifting. The fact that the general public has come around to buying secondhand can be great news for the planet. Some 51% of shoppers think preloved items are higher quality than new, and 63% say they admire people who thrift, according to a report from Offer Up. What matters is that we work together to keep good clothes in rotation for longer, and continue to be conscious consumers. That’s how we’ll keep secondhand fashion from becoming just another new style of overconsumption.
