The face of thrift has changed tremendously, it wasn’t always the cool thing to do.
Now you will find everyone racing to shop at the thrift store for great deals on quality items. Also, with the recent shift in many of our economic climates, it seems like thrifting is on many people’s lists instead of going to retail stores or malls.
There are so many great things about thrifting, but did you know that it means you’re also a superhero?
That’s right and here are the four reasons why!
You are supporting charity
Most thrifts stores are nonprofit organizations. This means when you shop you are also giving back to your community. Stores like Goodwill and The Salvation Army employ and train millions of people for jobs. Specifically, people that may have a difficult time finding a job, are disabled or veterans.
In fact, The Salvation Army is an evangelical Christian church, and Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ while helping others without discrimination.
You are an earth saver
Yes, shopping at thrift stores makes you an earth saver because by giving new homes to old items you are impacting the earth positively. This means less of it ends up in landfills over time where they can sit for years.
Since the evolution of fast fashion, it has been easier to acquire cheaper clothing, quicker. Whereas people used to spend a good chunk of their money on clothes (about 20% of their income), now it is easy to get a ton of clothes for similar prices.
Not to mention the clothes were usually pretty well made. The fashion industry has grown tremendously over the past 100 years, making it more competitive and unfortunately more wasteful as the sheer amount of clothing produced has dramatically increased.
Americans throw away about 21 billion pounds of textile waste, 10 million tons of which are clothing per year.
About sixty percent of clothing produced is made from synthetic materials like plastics. This means when simply thrown away, they can sit in landfills for years. Sometimes hundreds of years!
By buying second hand you are helping to prevent this wastefulness. So congrats you earth saver you!
you are a water conservationist
Did you know it took about 2,700 liters to make that cotton t-shirt you have on or 1,800 gallons of water for the jeans.
The cost of production for our clothes is not just monetary, it takes tons and tons of resources to create just one item, including water.
Well, if you thrifted them, then you just helped save a ton of water!
YOU ARE A POLLUTION FIGHTER
An article by SERC Berkley noted that the production of clothing generates greenhouse gases equivalent to driving over eighty miles!
That’s a lot of pollution. There is also the fact that about 20% of pesticides used worldwide is for cotton plants. And guess where a lot of these pesticides end up, in our water supply!
By second-hand shopping you aren’t decreasing the pollution of our water and air, so thank you.
You are a family shero
By thrifting, you are essentially saving a ton of money.
Many of the items would cost up to 10 times the amount you spend on it in the thrift store.
This means you are doing your own family a great service by shopping at the thrift store, make sure you remind them of this every chance you get!
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