Fast fashion is flooding fashion stores, but lifelong savers aren’t giving up

Sue Carmichael rummages through a rack of skirts at her local op shop in Goulburn, New South Wales.

The time saver doesn’t have to look at the markings to know which ones are from “one of those chains”.

She pulls one out to prove it.

“The elastic is going down and it feels good, but your eye can tell,” she says.

The 58-year-old buys almost exclusively second-hand.

Today, she’s looking for a pair of white shoes for a function in Brisbane, but says it’s getting harder and more expensive to find such good-quality items at op stores.

The rise of fast fashion has disrupted the traditional clothing life cycle with fewer garments designed with second or third owners in mind.

A woman pins fabric to a mannequin. Laura Washington encourages her students to look for second-hand clothes.(Supplied: Laura Washington)

The director of The Fashion Design Studio at TAFE NSW, Laura Washington, says fast fashion is the antithesis of thrifty heirlooms.

“The lifespan of these clothes is greatly reduced: things like the fiber line (the weave of the fabric) gets out of proper alignment after one or two washes, the clothes come apart much more easily, because it’s the construction and sometimes poor workmanship or fast workmanship,” she says.

But amid reports that the golden age of thrift stores is over, veteran shoppers say there are still treasures to be found if you’re prepared to wade through the fast-fashion glut on the shelves.

Ms. Washington describes herself as an avid thrift shopper and encourages her students to look for thrift to get back to work.

“I can still find those little treasures,” she says.

“It just takes a little longer and you have to look a little more.”

change demand

An Australian Fashion Council (AFC) report published this week found that Australians bought 14.8 kilograms of clothing each year, or 56 new items, at an average cost of $6.50 each.

Much of it ends up in landfills: 10kg per person is thrown away every year.

The author of the AFC report, Peter Allan, told ABC Radio Sydney’s Drive program that the amount of clothes bought has doubled in 25 years, but the public is demanding change.

“Consumers are now turning that around and saying, ‘We’re looking for something more durable,’ something that’s a little more timeless in style and trying to extend the life expectancy of our clothes,” he says.

The industry has responded by setting up the National Clothing Products Stewardship Scheme to find ways to reduce textile waste, including a proposed tax on clothing imports.

That’s good news for long-term trade buyers.

Salvos Stores customer experience manager Aife O’Loughlin says dealing with the volume of fast fashion is a big challenge, but she is optimistic the Australian industry and consumers are changing their habits.

She says that after having this conversation many times over the last five years, she is seeing a change.

“[There’s] this priority and this local focus within Australia around what we’re going to do, how we’re going to mobilize the industry, how we’re going to make changes and how we’re going to engage charity retailing to keep products in circulation for as long as possible,” he says.

Meanwhile, Ms O’Loughlin says there are no hard and fast rules for dealing with fast fashion donations.

“Obviously it all comes down to the condition the item is in and whether or not it will be sold in the local community,” he says.

thrill of the hunt

When Alex van Os was growing up in Avalon, on Sydney’s northern beaches, he didn’t want to wear what everyone else wore.

Charging

He preferred to rummage in op stores.

“I already had a strong sense of personal style at a young age, even in elementary school, and I think op stores just allowed me to experiment,” she says.

Now, as a sustainability stylist, Ms van Os says the volume of fast fashion on the shelves has used up some of that joy.

“The shelves are so full when you walk into fashion stores, which is great, but you have to sift through so much fast fashion,” she says.

She remains a strong advocate of buying from charity op stores.

“Whether I only find maybe one item instead of maybe before I find three or five items, I still know my money will help someone else and keep clothes from going to landfill, which is very important to me,” He says. .

Digital sales platforms have also changed the second-hand clothing market, with premium items being sold online.

Salvos stores are among several charities that operate online stores to sell select brands and coveted vintage pieces.

But for loyal op shop customers, nothing beats the thrill of discovering a treasure in person.

“An op shop is a place where you can clear your mind, because it’s a different kind of buzz in the shop: it’s not music going and ‘sell, sell, sell,'” says Ms. Carmichael.

“There are people with stories.

“You have to find that beautiful piece of fabric or that beautiful clothing or that piece that really suits you.”

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Source: www.abc.net.au