“I want to stop buying fast fashion, but most slow fashion brands are lightyears out of my price range,” Julie, from Portland Oregon, is quoted saying at the top of a New York Times article titled “I Want to Buy Vintage and Used Clothes Online. But How?” Julie goes on to ask for advice about buying used clothing.
Julie’s concerns are those of a generation. An antipathy for fast fashion is certainly in vogue, largely due to the textile waste the industry generates. As the New York Times wrote in 2019, “Future archeologists may look at landfills taken over by nature and discover evidence of Zara.” A 2019 Forbes article listed abysmal working conditions and other environmental factors as central concerns. Even through this well-informed dislike, buying a shiny new garment is still an enticing prospect. What better way to start a new year than by purchasing new things? Buying new clothing is not necessarily wrong; there are steps to take so that you are making more responsible choices.
If you are buying new, there are two crucial things to keep in mind. First, try and find out the conditions under which the garment was made. Some companies, like Everlane, will have a link in the webpage’s footer that leads to this information. Second, before you make a purchase, think about when you’ll wear the piece. A good rule of thumb — is to buy something only if you can think of five outfits you would wear it with. Everlane’s Organic Cotton Box-Cut Tee is a go-to shirt for me and is a good example of a staple that can be styled in a number of ways. This outfit-planning process ensures that you will actually put this new item to good use.
However, many youngsters are buying used, as can be seen en force here in Eugene. Ryley Steel, a UO senior, said his motivation is “primarily price” and described the prices of certain in-demand used items, like leather jackets, as “a real racket.”
Take the very trendy Carhartt jacket, for example. Prices range from $60 or less on eBay or at used clothes stores to $240 on brands like the Los Angeles based Unsound Rags.
The problem is not so much that people are purchasing such jackets from places like Unsound Rags; it’s that the reselling process takes away that opportunity from people who might actually need a warm, heavy-duty coat for practical reasons. Buying used clothing is not always free of its own complications.
Last November, the New York Times published an article oriented around a streetwear experiment; André Wheeler wrote about the night he wore a blue YZY GAP jacket around SoHo. Wheeler wrote that sporting the jacket “transforms you from a plebeian to a shapeless, off-duty celebrity ready for a paparazzi shot.” He also said it sparked enthusiastic interactions with passersby.
Outfits have come to be understood as signposts, indicators of the wearer’s interests and inner workings — sometimes often, sometimes not. I would encourage you to find your GAP YZY jacket — whatever it may be. Personally, I always feel slick when wearing a denim jacket. My family has been living in San Francisco proper for over 100 years, and so I feel a kinship to Levi’s denim specifically. Levi’s truckers can be bought secondhand from the company itself, and there are always tons on eBay. Levi’s has made its trucker in just about every modification you can imagine from sherpa lined to deconstructed to a collaboration with the late great Virgil Abloh.
My final word isto wear what makes you feel your best. After all, what’s cooler than being cool?
