Tailgating season is a time for Tiger pride, fun and alcohol. It’s a highlight for many students, but one of its most underrated purposes is as a fashion show. Everyone dresses up in their cutest attire. As college students, it is difficult to pay for the most fashionable outfits and prepare for the season, but there is an alternative—thrifting!
Thrift shopping has become more popular in recent years with the resurgence of vintage fashion. Many shoppers are opting for more unique finds in lieu of trendy fashion items. By thrifting, fashionistas are not only embracing their unique styles, but also saving the planet.
The fashion industry has been a major contributor to the climate crisis, especially with fast fashion, inexpensive clothing that is mass produced. Forever 21, Zara and Fashion Nova are some of the most popular fast fashion brands. The low prices attract many consumers because they’re more accessible than high-end clothing lines. However, when these clothes are produced, massive amounts of carbon and other chemicals are released into air and waterways.
Fast fashion brands are successful because they are accessible to most people. Unfortunately, this popularity means that many Americans are buying into an environmentally unfriendly system. According to Drop4Drop, an advocacy group for fresh water, 1 kg of cotton requires 10,000 liters of water. Millions of people around the globe do not have clean water. Using that much water on fabric is ridiculously wasteful.
Business Insider reports that the fast fashion industry is the source of 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and is responsible for 20% of the world’s total water pollution. The severe damage done to the environment is not worth it, even if these poorly designed clothes are popular.
While the environmental effects are hardly seen in the West, they are very noticeable in the third world countries that produce the clothes. Additionally, people of all ages are employed to work ridiculous hours in dangerous factories for wages they can’t live on. That treatment would be unacceptable in the West and should be harshly criticized.
Thrifting lessens the amount of money given to the industry. The practice also creates a cycle of enjoying fashion, trading it to the next person when you’re done. An entire outfit can be purchased under $20. For a college student, that is a dream come true.
Additionally, thrift stores have lots of interesting finds. Nearly every brand has the same type of clothing, made of the same fabric with the same patterns and same designs. It’s monotonous. In thrift shops, you travel through former decades, finding authentic designs unlike those that are so horribly recreated today.
There are several thrift shops to visit near campus. The Purple Cow is a fairly large thrift store on Perkins Road, a Goodwill is on College Drive and a Plato’s Closet is on Airline. You can find unique pieces for reasonable prices and support these local stores. It’s a win-win situation.
If you’re looking to find more eccentric pieces, there are sustainable brands that are dedicated to creating interesting items in a moral fashion. The Reformation is a store that boasts of having the some of the most sustainable clothing around. The only way you could go greener than that is by going naked. While the prices are on the higher side, their dedication to creating clothing ethically go hand in hand with lessening your carbon footprint.
Above all, fashion is used to tell stories. Through the trading and reselling of clothing, a story of sustainability is told. The fashion industry is the antagonist, killing our land. Be the hero and resist the allure of unethically made fashion. Put an end to the wasted water and unconfined chemicals affecting our wildlife and fellow humans. In the name of good fashion, consider thrifting your next outfit.
Erin Stephens is 19-year-old journalism sophomore from Brusly, Louisiana.