A Truly Green (and Frugal) Fashion Choice: Thrift Stores

It feels like a new socially responsible fashion line emerges every week: handbags made from organic hemp, sunglasses fabricated from 100% renewable materials, jewelry crafted from recycled gold and responsibly mined gems. Green fashion is almost mainstream: you can purchase your organic cotton t-shirt from Barney's...or from Old Navy. Don't get me wrong, these are all wonderful developments, but they continue to feed our insatiable appetite for consuming "new stuff."

It's time to start thinking about a fashion choice that doesn't come with a "feel good" eco sound bite: your local thrift store, vintage shop, or a clothing swap between friends. With the economic downturn, shoppers have started to wean themselves off Macy's and learned to love pre-owned designer merchandise. (Oh, and if you're turned off by thrift store cooties, I'll help you get past that a bit later.)

For the eco-minded out there (those of you who shop locally, bring your own bags to the grocery store, monitor the parabens and bisphenal A in your life), it's time to take note: besides being a way to snag high-quality, fashionable threads for a bargain, second hand shopping is one of the most socially responsible shopping choices you can make.

Just consider today's most rampant "disposable fashion" item: a cotton shirt, available for less than $20. This fictional shirt started out as cotton in a pesticide-laden field in the US. It was shipped to China, where it was milled, woven, and then dyed using harsh chemicals that leaked into the local water system. It was cut and sewn by children working in appalling conditions, before being shipped back to the US and sold. It's a process that keeps the price low at the expense of quality, the environment, energy resources and labor practices.

And even your sweat shop-free, organic, vegetable dyed, carbon offset garment has consumed energy. Some virgin materials were likely used. The item was produced, packaged, and shipped, perhaps several thousand miles. It was likely marketed in some way, maybe on the pages of a magazine that was printed on virgin paper.

Comparatively, no energy is spent to create a second-hand item. If you purchase a shirt from a thrift store, you're basically saving it from landfill (according to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year). Another benefit: second hand products have also likely finished "off-gassing" their most noxious chemicals. Many new items such as clothing, carpet and furniture release potentially harmful gases (including VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds). Off gassing usually decreases as products age, are washed, etc., making second-hand items a safer option for your home.

If you think thrift stores are home to nothing but pilled sweaters and 1980's prom dresses, think again. You may have to weed through a lot of fashion crimes, but you will find amazing designer clothing that looks like it's never been worn (and quite often, it hasn't). I have found a drawer-full of pristine cashmere sweaters, designer handbags (including a gorgeous white Ferragamo purse), Ellen Tracy blouses and a Benetton suit with the tags still on...along with a closet-full of other fashion scores. Oh, and I rarely pay more than $8 for any item! And if you're tired of "throwaway fashion:" items that wrinkle, bunch, tear along the seams and shed buttons, go to your thrift store, where you can suddenly afford cashmere, wool, silk and designer labels.

Thrift stores are also a fantastic way to support your local community in these tough times. Your money is almost always going towards a charitable cause, and the stores themselves often serve as job training programs.

Not into wading through heaps of junk? Head to a chic vintage shop, an upscale consignment store, or a resale chain such as Buffalo Exchange or Crossroads Trading Co. You'll pay a slight premium for the benefit of an organized and well-edited shopping experience, while still reaping the benefits of thrift store shopping.

Finally, if you're squeamish about thrift stores and the "pre-owned" factor: have you have ever stayed in a hotel? Are you sure they washed the comforter or wiped down the remote? If you eat food from restaurants, do really know what's lurking under the salami in your sub sandwich? And if you've tried on pants in a store, chances are they've made contact with someone else's crotch, and you've been exposed to just as many cooties as you'll find at the average thrift store. Carefully inspected and then laundered, second hand fashion is cleaner than the escalator handrail at the mall.

So give recycled fashion a try: it's cheap, chic and truly green.

Funny to read this in a well known paper's fashion section.I guess times really are hard all over the place.

Definitely. Looking through thrift stores is a hit-or-miss venture -- I often leave empty-handed and a little disappointed -- but when you *do* find something that you like and fits you, it's like finding buried treasure! I really like it when something very nice is left on the rack just because someone else didn't want to repair it: it's missing buttons or has a seam that's coming undone, etc. I look at it and think, I can fix that! And it goes home with me.

I have to say this ..when younger my mother did not have access to a whole lot of funds and we did a whole lot of thrift shopping and I still do it now.

Yep, my mom and grandma and I did too, when I was younger. We found some great unique stuff, just because someone else didn't want it anymore.

I definitely love it when I find a good shirt at the thrift store--like opening up the perfect Christmas gift.

I hate to use to go to thrift shops....but now I just love it! It is always great to find something for waaay cheaper then it was when it was first bought!

I bought my first Crombie from Oxfam in the mid 80s. It was beautiful, had blood red satin lining and I used to wear it all the time even in the height of Summer. It was a little stunner and cost me £2.00
Needless to say my Mum HATED it - she's a Marks and Spencers lady

Marks and Spencers, I assume that/those is/are "sensible" shops.

I bought my doc martens at a thrift store. $100 shoes for $1.75 heck yeah!

The thrift store a few buildings down closed.

I've been shopping at thrift stores since I was a little kid. We never had a lot of extra money, so most of my clothing was either from there or hand-made.
Sadly the thrift store right down the street from us closed down long before I reached my teen years and my love for goth clothing. Otherwise I would've been there all the time.

Goodwill is a good place to get cheap second hand clothing. I remember picking up this really pretty black satin shirt, and a lace shirt for a few dollars there. The satin shirt stayed as it was, but the lace one fell to my 'lets see if I can make gloves' experiments.

I have to wonder why its only now that they're figuring this out. >_> I've never really seen the appeal of buying a piece of clothing just because there's a designer label attached. My one rule for clothing shopping is I only buy what I can't make myself.

The shops around us are thriving! Bought some gorgeous purple leopard skin material the other day - now I have to find a friend who can sew

TO ALL RICH PEOPLE:


STAY OUT OF MY THRIFT STORES!!!!!!!!

^^Fine! Just kidding. LOL

I have a bone to pick with the Goodwill by my job. They save all the good stuff to decorate the windows (to lure you in), but then the stuff they have inside is crap. And God forbid you should ask a salesperson to get you something from the window.

Diva that happens a lot in the thrift stores around here too. I wonder if it's a universal thing.

probably is. I know alot of the thrift stores in TN do that. But usually it is with "normal" clothing...I don't know about the ones around here though...I still have to find some.

You know, I find that the independent thrift stores have a better selection of stuff than the larger organizations like Goodwill or Salvation Army. Anyone else have similar experiences?

I love thrift stores, but lately, everyone has been catching on to them and the ones in my area are getting expensive as buying a new set of clothes in the first place