Not only is there a hugely positive social and environmental impact to buying second-hand clothing, you can create your own style for less. Shopping this way saves you cash as well as reducing carbon emissions, water usage and energy. It prevents items ending up in landfill or incinerators. Excitingly, the second-hand clothing industry has been gaining a lot of traction recently and possibly due to the pandemic it has seen exponential growth all around the world.
By being the “one stop shop”, Rumage.com helps make buying second-hand clothing easier! It helps your money go further and the planet in one go.
Be that savvy shopper, go and find lots of beautiful and unique pieces that have only been worn a handful of times. It is a great way to make fashion more sustainable and be yourself!
Water and energy
Did you know that 2,700 litres of water are needed to produce a single cotton t-shirt according to the WWF? That’s enough to sustain one person for 900 days.
Did you also know the Aral Sea in Central Asia has completely dried up due to water diversion for the cotton industry, it was the worlds 4th largest lake.
Think on that for a moment……..
…….AND almost 20% of the world’s wastewater is produced by the fashion industry.
Greenhouse gas
A report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation states that the clothing industry is responsible for 10% of worldwide carbon emissions. Globally this means that it creates 1.7 billion tons of CO2 each year. Staggeringly this is more than all air and sea travel combined. We can expect their greenhouse gas emissions to still rise 50% by 2030 if nothing is done.
However, when we buy second-hand clothing, we are able to save about 500 pounds of carbon emissions every year. It reduces our water, waste, and carbon footprint by more than 80%.
Landfill
Sadly, in the UK we still chuck into landfill 366,000 tonnes of used clothing every year according to Wrap. The throw away culture since the 80’s has fuelled this industry, but the art of make do and mend which our grandparents employed, is slowly but surely returning. Consumers are not only becoming more conscious of the social and environmental impact their habits have, but are discovering the joy of the hunt and the opportunity there is to be cool and brag about the bargains you find!
With more selling sites appearing every month in this sector, reflecting the uptick of interest, it really is easy to go back to the reuse, re-purpose and repair philosophy.
Be cool, be unique, be you. #GoRumage with us at rumage.com!