April 21, 2022
Editor: Abigail Peacock
Artist: Halley Elliott
We all know how fun the chase is - reaching for something that you can’t quite grasp and devoting all your attention to attaining that special something. When you finally get your hands on it, the feeling of accomplishment is unmatched. Consider the process of sifting through racks of pre-loved clothing looking for the perfect dress for dinner on a summer night, or scrolling through Poshmark searching for the perfect pair of Nike Dunks that will elevate your casual, “cool-girl” aesthetic. This entire operation, from the creative inspiration to the search, to the elevated feeling of fulfillment, is fashion’s rendition of the chase.
In a culture dominated by micro-trends, second-hand shopping builds a more curated and meaningful wardrobe. Thrift shopping allows us to find vintage, one-of-a-kind gems that bring that special element every outfit deserves. We can select unique pieces that speak to our style by sorting through clothing that has withstood the test of time. By shopping second-hand, you commit to patience in developing your taste; you are deliberately not in a hurry and know that good things take time. Devoting time to your wardrobe gives you the opportunity to be thoughtful about what you add to it. Imagine scrolling through TheRealReal and finding the sweater you saw someone wearing last year. You couldn’t justify spending $300 on it then, but for $40 now? The sweater was still on your mind a year later and hadn’t gone out of style, making it an economic, environmental, and timeless steal, and an exponentially more gratifying shopping experience.
Fast fashion is the antithesis of the chase. It stifles our creativity as the drive to wear what everyone else is wearing pushes us to buy clothing that we might not even like, putting money and precious closet space to waste. Through fast fashion, we obtain clothes at a rapid rate, but the satisfaction we get from these clothes dwindles quickly. The dark side of instant gratification is short-lived satisfaction, which then drives us to buy more. The pace of fast fashion and micro-trends gives us little time to consider whether the hue suits us or if the dress will spark joy in seasons to come. We gravitate towards the clothes displayed in Instagram ads rather than what intuitively speaks to us. In turn, we lose valuable creative and individual expression and participate in a cycle that is harmful to the environment.
The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of all of Earth’s carbon emissions, and this number is expected to rise. Choosing to shop second-hand is a direct way to fight climate change. When we shop second-hand, there is no new inventory produced, thus eliminating factory pollution, material waste, and toxic chemicals involved in typical fast fashion manufacturing. Carbon emissions from transporting second-hand inventory and managing thrift stores are pale compared to fast fashion’s contribution to environmental degradation.
Instant gratification is something that we have become accustomed to, and even expect, in every element of life. One-day delivery, ApplePay, and shopping through social media expedite every aspect of our lives, ensuring that everything we do is desperately time-efficient, with emotions and beauty surrounding it stripped away. I am arguing against this culture of hyper-productivity, especially in fashion, which is dynamic, personal, and deserving of the time and creativity that we have robbed it of. Fashion should not be a fruitless, destructive process that restricts our creativity. Rather, we need to remember how much we love the chase and assign that attitude to our wardrobes.