I LOOOOVVE shopping. Who doesn’t? Buying something new is exciting no matter if it’s only a bottle of shampoo or those boots you really needed. I mean, I don’t necessarily enjoy walking around a shopping mall for hours on end, or stripping down in a change room and trying on 5 pieces of clothing that don’t fit remotely close to how I expected, but I love online shopping. Browsing the web, getting an Instagram ad that Sephora is having an end of summer sale and then spending the next 45 minutes scrolling through their website trying to decide if the added cost of shipping makes this sale worth it.
More than anything I love tracking my packages online like it’s my day job, and getting good morning texts that read “your package has been delivered”. Oh, and I would be remiss if not to mention the fact that I don’t only love shopping for new stuff, thrifting is also super important to me, both online and in store. Recently I’ve made an effort to only buy second hand items since learning how corrupt and harmful the Fast Fashion industry is. But that’s a whole other topic for another time, so I’ll just get to the point.
What I don’t love is the underlying feeling of guilt after clicking “place order”. For a few reasons:
1 – Spending money, duh, the gut wrenching feeling of further draining my bank account
2 – Knowing that whatever I am buying is definitely unethically sourced (came from a factory in a third world country and was manufactured unethically and unsustainably)
3 –The fact that I DID NOT NEED IT.
Yet, I can’t resist.
For decades we have lived in a world where it’s so, so easy to have all kinds of fancy (yet inexpensive) things delivered to our doorstep overnight, and we need to change it.
Since I first learned about the devastating truth of the fashion industry, I thought that the solution to Fast Fashion was buying second hand, since it doesn’t contribute to mass production and it’s cost effective. The reality is that even though buying used items is a step in the right direction in terms of sustainability, it doesn’t address the real problem: we as people of the 21st century must consume less.
A huge dilemma that’s come to light is that people go to a thrift store and buy 15 things guilt-free because it’s so cheap, and it’s not coming straight from a Fast Fashion company. The problem with this is that it perpetuates the practice of unnecessary consumption, which puts a strain on the second hand industry. It forces stores to increase their prices due to a surge in demand, and therefore makes it more difficult for people who actually depend on buying used items to afford clothes and other goods.
The main message is that the world would be a better place if each of us could consume less, and appreciate all of the perfectly good items we already have. I am really trying to resist the temptation to jump at every opportunity to have something new. I have literally been scrolling through the Aliexpress website searching for Lululemon dupes the entire time I’ve been writing this article. But I’m resisting! I don’t need more stuff!!!! Trying to stay strong out here.