VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The holidays are quickly approaching, and many of us are still buying gifts. But have you ever thought about the environmental impact that gift has?
As I was looking into how to be a more conscious consumer and ways to shop sustainability, I found that thrifting might be key.
“Goodwill locations are an incredibly environmentally-friendly way to shop, both for the holidays [and] all year long,” said Laura Faison, the Chief Communications Officer for Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia.
At Goodwill stores, people can buy donated clothes, books, toys and more. This helps reduce waste by giving the donated item another home rather than going to a landfill.
“Last year, we kept over 25 million pounds of donations and household goods, clothing, textiles, electronics out of area landfills and waterways, which is incredibly important here in South Hampton Roads,” said Faison.
I spoke with a fashion merchandising student at ODU about the adverse impacts of all the articles of clothing that are thrown away. He says fast fashion contributes to this issue.
“[Fast fashion is] when companies use a lot of like synthetic, cheaper materials to make clothes very fast," ODU student Alec Morehead explained. "And usually, it's clothes that don't last people very long, so they just end up in landfills."
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, landfills received over 11 million tons of textiles in 2018, with just 2.5 million tons being recycled.
But at ODU, students and staff are doing their part to help with their Monarch Clothing Closet.
“We take in donations of gently used professional clothing. The students sort, hang, tag, and make them available to the students as they need them,” said Connie Merriman, ODU’s Associate Dean Emeritus for the Strome College of Business. “They don't pay for them, and they don't bring them back.”
Students can also bring them back and pass the clothes on to someone else who might need them.
The United Nations Alliance for Sustainable Fashion states that the average consumer buys 60% more items of clothing than 15 years ago, but only keeps them for half as long.
The Monarch Clothing Closet helps combat that by keeping our world healthier and our carbon footprint smaller.
“What I try to teach with the students is that you do the best you can. So rather than telling people you're trashy, you have cluttered up our environment, you've done this wrong, you've bought the wrong fabric, we decided that we would take the perspective of this is what's good. This is what's not so good in the industry,” said Joy Kelly, Adjunct Faculty Member in the Fashion Department at ODU.
Kelly currently offers a fashion sustainability course. She says fast fashion is a leading polluter - and she teaches students how to help avoid its impact. This includes teaching them how to mend their clothing, upcycle them into something new, swap with friends, or choose secondhand as much as possible.
“The challenge with that fashion cycle is that we are finding more and more garments ending up in the landfills because they're not constructed in a manner that we can reuse them. So, they end up as waste,” said Kelly. “I'm not a fan. I would rather buy quality.”
One local storeowner also prefers quality, long-lasting clothing over the fast-fashion options on the market.
“They last longer. They last for generations, some of them. Actually, a lot of them,” said Jo Grice-Barrows, who owns Double Take Consignment in Virginia Beach. “Mixing couture with conservation is kind of the concept I think of consignment."
Her store focuses on women’s fashion, and it features unique and high-end pieces.
“I feel like we're preserving style and the environment by having secondhand options that are high quality and better than fast fashion,” said Grice-Barrows.
She tells me there used to be a stigma associated with shopping at a secondhand store, but as consumers become more conscientious, it’s the cool and environmentally friendly thing to do.
And it can be so much fun! You can get creative with your fashion and try out new things without breaking the bank!
“I also feel like this generation coming up is actually grasping the fact that fast fashion really isn't good for our environment. It's just, it's just a bad deal,” said Grice-Barrows.
She says it’s all about quality over quantity, and you could always bring them back and consign again - continuing the cycle.
So, the next time you’re in the market for something new, think about giving some pre-loved pieces new life.
