myfi-space
shop sustainably on and off a budget -nev
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hey honey bunnies!!! sorry for the hiatus, senior year has been really busy for me lately, but i’m trying my best to be back and update on the same schedule :) today i’m gonna talk about the different methods i personally use to sustainably shop to avoid contributing to the fast fashion industry. if you want to understand why i chose to work against buying fast fashion, check out “a rebuttal to the trend of fast fashion” also under the shopping section on the site!
one that i love to do is go thrift shopping! it really is so much cheaper than buying anything in-stores or online and you really get to branch out of current microtrends and social media hype to figure out items that you find inspiration from. i personally go to goodwill bins every so often (even though it’s a little far from my house) because their prices are by the pound which makes it super affordable. as i’m typing this, i’m literally wearing a jacket i got from the bins. the clothing items may be used, but most of them are in really good condition and ethically you’ll be saving a lot of the clothes from being thrown away. my advice for any goodwill bins though is if you are financially well off, don’t wait on the lines for when new bins are brought out; let the people who need it more have first pick.
on the more pricey side, there are several brands that specifically produce all of their clothing items or other products sustainably. many of these are small businesses with very few workers, so items tend to be on the more expensive side to account for the time and labor put into creating those items. you can often find a lot of these brands on social media, (i seem to be introduced to a lot of them on tiktok), and many will set their shops up on well-known websites and apps, like on etsy or depop. there are larger brands that are still sustainable though, like reformation, patagonia, and levi’s!
even if you don’t have goodwill bins nearby, there are still so many thrift stores across the united states to choose from and it’s worth it buying affordable clothing while saving it from becoming textile waste. disclaimer: don’t be one of those tiktok sellers who buys a massive haul of clothing from thrift stores then marks up the price drastically on reselling apps. that’s a lame move; it’s one thing to resell them at the same price so people who are not able to spend their time thrift shopping can access them, it’s another thing to take an affordable method of sustainable fashion and make it inaccessible to the people who truly need it.
these methods mostly work for all price ranges, so you can filter everything based on your own economic situation. i personally combine both ranges: i like to buy affordable sustainable clothing to build up my wardrobe and form my style while accentuating my style by buying pre-used/pre-made or sustainably made luxury items. it's how i got a pre-owned louis vuitton murakami baguette that regina george herself wore ;) i hope these methods help you out with your sustainable shopping ventures, and this is nevaeh hopping out <3
now these brands, as i said, can be a lot more pricey, especially when compared to the insanely low prices of shein or dollskill. a common rhetoric and misconception is that sustainable fashion is not accessible to those of lower economic standing or larger clothing size. i think in this conversation, we absolutely should not judge people who still buy from fast fashion companies because it is true that not everyone has the money or the options to buy from 100% sustainable brands. however, i think a lot of people haven’t been exposed to the more affordable methods of buying sustainably, which is what i will go into right now :)
speaking of reselling apps though, my second and often used method of sustainable fashion is buying from reselling apps! my personal favorites are depop and poshmark, but i also have ones like mercari and ebay. when it comes to my favorite apps, there will be items that are not affordable at all, but there are ways to find cheap items. one thing you can do (which sounds counterproductive but actually isn’t) is to specifically filter for the really well-known fast fashion brands. by buying these cheap resold fast fashion items, you will save your money while also making use of an item instead of it being thrown out. you’re also not causing any more of the clothing to be produced since you’re not buying from their official websites! if you want to find items that are made to last longer, i will often do the opposite and filter for price levels under $5-10 and exclude fast fashion brands from my search. then, you will find many buyers who are offering low prices for items that are good quality, just pre-loved.