Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Washington Post: Why you should buy everything used

Today:  

A growing number of shoppers like me are discovering the possibilities, and savings, of buying old stuff... Big brands from H&M to Patagonia are collecting and reselling their used and returned goods...

If we do it right, we can slash the monumental environmental impact of all the stuff we buy... [C]hanging attitudes mean more people, especially members of Gen Z, are embracing used items, and technology is radically reducing the processing costs.... 

We can have fewer, better things in our lives. Once they’re no longer needed, we let them go to the next owner. Consumption becomes something circular.

-  Why you should buy everything used <https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/05/23/buy-resale-store-second-hand-clothes-furniture/>

28 comments:

  1. I have repurposed some outdoor gear and clothing by selling used. More occasionally, shopping used can help source clothing that isn't made with the same quality today.

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  2. What do we do when we've put all the clothing stores out of business?

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    1. Is that intended to be a serious question? Dear God, I hope not.

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    2. Not to worry. Amazon has you covered. Retail clothing stores are on the way out. The sort of independent retail men's shops and lady's shops, and especially the sort that used to be found near colleges have been gone for decades.

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    3. The shoplifters will put them out of business before we will

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  3. I've been doing this since I was a teenager. My first ONKY amplifier or my first tent just as with clothes. Much is from the second hand store or ebay and it is still RL, BrooksBrothers, Gant, Barbour etc..

    Exactly so I also sell myself very much on ebay or forums. I think you should really exhaust the value chain.

    In the company I have a new car every few years and privately I drive my Volvo station wagon for over 13 years.

    Things like suits, underwear, etc. I buy new.

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  4. Stewardship (kind of, sort of)? I like it.

    Kind Regards,

    H-U

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  5. Well, it's not possible. Someone has to buy it new, although judging from some "destructed" blue jeans, I guess it's possible to buy brand-new worn-out jeans. But apparently only jeans. Thoreau said that nobody really wears clothes to pieces.

    I would expect our expenditures for clothing and accessories would be only a small part of our consumption. Most things don't come second-hand. And if you grew up wearing shirts to school with holes in the sleeves, you'd never do anything like that ever again.

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    1. It is, and will continue to be, a very small effect. The Fossil Fuel industry will continue to attempt off-loading their responsibilities on to our shoulders. Despite that, whether environmentally impactful or not, it’s a good idea for many reasons.

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    2. It's totally possible. And if your concern for the environment is governed by old clothes issues from your childhood, get a psychiatrist. The planet can't afford entitled geriatric nonsense. This attitude is what the odious expression "OK Boomer" was created in response to.

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    3. Are you saying you spend a lot of money on clothing and other things bought used (or "pre-owned") compared with consumables like food? I think you're missing my point. Money spent on clothing and footwear is easily the smallest part of our expenditures. The largest is taxes. I do buy second-hand things through eBay but I can't think of too many essentials that can be hand second-hand.

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    4. Anonymous is having quite a field day here with unsupported assertions and ad hominem attacks. But pointing out that in order to be used clothing at some point it had to be new isn't geriatric nonsense, it's reality that may not have penetrated the confines of your precious laptop class bubble but is factual nonetheless. Is your idea that the supply of well-made quality traditional clothing is limitless?

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    5. Your whiny, petulant imbecility on this topic makes it very easy for Anonymous, Sartresky. You continue to make their point for them.

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    6. Wow. Anon May 24 2:48 you managed to come across as sanctimonious, self-righteous, and rude in very few sentences. Blue Train is right in that many of us terrible "Boomers" spend very little on clothing and shoes these days. My husband and I have been frugal for years before it became fashionable. I've been getting hand-me-downs all my life; clothing, furniture, housewares, even cars. We repair as much as we can so we don't have to keep buying new things, most of which are of poorer quality. Your comment telling him to see a psychiatrist was uncalled for. As a teacher who taught in Title I schools, I saw first hand the cruelty and bullying towards children who wore old, worn-out clothes. Many of us provided coats, clothing, and shoes for needy children.

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  6. Just in the past few weeks I've taken about five hundred dollars worth of older but still clean and usable pants, shirts and suits to several of our local village consignment stores.

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  7. Changes of this sort are not all or nothing binary. Every little bit helps.

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  8. Reading through these comments, I never realized how many belligerent old men in slacks and loafers, and old flyover state Karens who coo about "classic elegance" and "southern prep," read this blog without ever understanding word-one about its basic organizing New England ethos—an ethos that has always had, as its foundation, a sense of thrift and lack of frippery, and a rock-ribbed awareness of a responsibility for the stewardship of the land. The aforementioned from aways can argue like prima donna fishwives over cuffs-or-no-cuffs, or where "the preppiest places not in New England!" are, but God forbid you ask the to consider the environmental impact of their excesses. Poke that balloon, and the high-pitched squeal it emits is full of complaints about the trauma of a childhood full of old clothes, and every reason why they're too special to do their part, and how "it won't make a difference anyway," because they're too busy licking the pages of the LL Bean catalogue to learn the first part of what any of it is actually about.

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    1. Well, I guess I'm guilty of some things, having been born in 1946, and not in New England. Not even close. But I did spend the summer after I finished high school working on a farm in Massachusetts. It's something you should all have done. You can't get any closer to the environment than on a farm.

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    2. Anonymous 6:09… We’re not sure how readers will feel about your “licking the pages insult.” Nor are we sure about how readers will react to your prose. Go back and rewrite it concisely. Please. Your sentences wander “like the wild geese in the west.”

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  9. Only WP contributors could suggest that anything from H&M could find its place in second hand stores! It's trash which should be forbidden to import!
    I don't believe that H&M had ever such different quality in the US to Europe.
    "We can have fewer, better things in our lives" Yes, definitely!
    Stay away from H&M and other conglomerates like this one!

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  10. A rather hot topic it seems!

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  11. Ahem. Poshmark online has a wide range of prices as well as name brand clothes. Well run thrift shops also offer price variety with a lower limit on highest prices.
    The last I bought new, excluding under garments, was a coat from online, designer brand that now sheds what looks like chicken feathers through the fabric. As in, too cheap to add a liner for the (down?) feathers. I will be very surprised if any LLBean garment sheds feathers.
    Online neighborhood websites have folks swapping, selling and giving away things that otherwise would have been bought new that will add leftovers to the trash pile. There are more sources for quality used products than I've seen in my life time (70+ yrs).
    I grew up on hand me downs and hand sewn clothes.
    Fashions today online have improved style wise because overseas companies pay attention, and, have cheap labor. If there are no American made markets that can compete, then it is what it is. Sewing machines can be bought used at bargain prices. Being resourceful is good.

    Blogs that post about fashions, with links and possible commissions, nearly all promote high priced clothes. There's no way I will buy a hundred dollar tee shirt that I can buy at a thrift store for ten or less.

    Good post on an important subject.

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  12. One more comment and that about cheap clothing. There is a market for cheap clothing and by that I mean that it doesn't cost much. Naturally it's going to be of lower quality, both in workmanship and material, perhaps even in style. It isn't like there was a time when clothing (and most everything else) was low priced and of high quality. That's not realistic. The real difference between then (probably before trade with China was normalized) and now is that we used to manufacture it here. Now we import it. China isn't the only place "stuff" comes from.

    An old book I have says to buy whatever is cheap and available locally. You're allowed two tunics, two cowls, shows, a fur-lined cloak if conditions require it, and so on.

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  13. In theory buying used is a wonderful concept but in practice for me it hasn’t worked. The problem being is if it doesn’t fit you can’t return it it. I’ve been stuck with quite a few things that didn’t work out and reselling is more hassle than it’s worth.

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  14. Natural selection has weeded out the poorly made clothing. Only durables resell, and there are zero worries about shrinkage. Used clothes have a "patina." They look well-loved, and the cost is such that one doesn't feel bad about mistreating them.

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  15. In childhood, shoes, sock and underwear were the only items that I received new. To be honest, I hate shopping and find that it would take a lot of time for me to build the wardrobe I want if I were to rely on secondhand finds. The consolation is that if I don't wear something out it does to a charity shop and not a landfill. However, the old adage "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" is in full effect in my household.

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