Delphine Devos, owner of second-hand clothing business Delirium Thrift in Montreal, has a keen eye for fashion and loves shopping for clothes that make her feel most authentic. But while scrolling on TikTok, she saw something that upset her.
She saw a video of a girl critiquing a new leather jacket she found on a fast fashion website. It was $400, in the colour “vintage black”— a shade meant to create a distressing and pre-worn look.
Devos said it’s “absurd” people will spend that much money on one item from a fast fashion store.
“If you can spend $400 at H&M, you have better things you can go and spend your money on,” she said. “You can get so much more with that $400 by shopping second-hand.”
”Every day, there are at least 30 to 50 similar leather jackets just sitting at your local thrift shop priced at $50-$100.”
As Canadians continue to face sky-high inflation, the lure of fast fashion – a booming trend before the current cost of living crisis – has only become stronger. Fast fashion refers to stores that sell cheaply made clothes for low prices.
Shein, the “ultra-fast fashion” company based in China, for example, produces hundreds of daily new styles for its brand. In November 2023, Shein’s mobile app was downloaded over 275,000 times by Canadians, according to information compiled by TechReport.
While already growing in popularity, the online fast-fashion industry grew exponentially when the pandemic struck, shuttering brick-and-mortar stores. At Shein, for example, a key retail partner shared in early January that Shein’s annual revenue for 2023 is likely well above $30 billion.
As Canadians struggle to cope with high living expenses, the temptation to buy cheap threads is higher than ever.
Retail with a risk
Fast fashion products may be cheap to buy – but they come with a heavy cost on other fronts, from the exploitation of garment workers to toxic waste and excessive water consumption.
The waste generated by the pursuit of instant shopping gratification is staggering: roughly 18.1 billion pounds of garments are thrown away every year when 95 per cent could be reused or recycled, according to ThredUp, an online thrift and consignment store.
However, a growing number of consumers are looking for alternatives to fast fashion amid a rising awareness of the environmental and human rights toll of trendy cheap clothes.
One of these alternatives is investing in sustainably made clothing.
Many sustainable fashion companies strive to use materials that are both environmentally friendly and long-lasting.
Frank and Oak, a sustainable clothing brand based in Montreal, uses materials such as hemp, yak wool, and Seawool—a new yarn-like material made from oyster shells and recycled bottles made from Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), which is commonly used for packaging drinks.
Elisabeth de Gramont, head of impact for Frank and Oak, said their team searches for innovative solutions to material-related problems.
“Our design philosophy goes beyond deciding to use recycled polyester. It is really thinking about what are different types of fibres and blends that we can use that are both innovative and make interesting products, because we are still an apparel company. We know that people express themselves through fashion,” she said.
De Gramont said the company runs a mill in Taiwan that takes discarded oysters from the food industry to make the Seawool that Frank and Oak uses for some of its shirts and sweaters.
New circular models of material-making, where existing fabrics are reused to make new garments, contrast with fast-fashion companies’ widespread use of synthetic fibres.
Frank and Oak was hit hard by pandemic shutdowns and went bankrupt in 2020, de Gramont said.
The company restructured, with new owners coming in to shake things up and save the day. Since then, it has seen “double-digit growth every year,” according to de Gramont.
“The consumer base is expanding, and the operational changes that we’ve made have been very effective in making the brand better, the product better and the customer experience better,” she said.
De Gramont said a shift in consumer attitudes during the pandemic has contributed. She said the pandemic has made people rethink their fashion choices, choosing to ditch fast fashion instead.
“I think post-COVID, more people have become more conscious about sustainability and the environment,” she said.
According to a report by a UK-based consulting company, the ethical fashion market reached a value of more than $7 million USD in 2022 and is expected to continue growing.
Investing in better materials or pieces that have a longer life beyond trends could also save consumers money in the long run.
Amelia Bennett, a fourth-year bachelor of biology and humanities student at Carleton University, said inflation is causing her to cut down on the amount of clothes she buys and has prompted her to invest in higher-quality items.
“I only buy things that I know are going to go with other pieces I already own. I also don’t really buy much new clothes, maybe five or six new pieces a year, but I usually invest in high-quality items,” Bennett said.
Kelly Drennan, founder of the Toronto-based advocacy group Fashion Takes Action, said consumers should consider not only the price of the item but also the cost-per-wear.
“If you’re going to buy something new, make it an investment. If you paid $80 for something, you’re going to cherish it a lot more.”
“Let’s say you pay $20 for something, but it’s super trendy, and you only wear it five times in a season. The cost-per-wear would be about $4. Now, let’s say you buy something that is less trendy, it’s, like, a black top, and it costs $50. You paid more at first, but if you wear it 25 times this season, the cost-per-wear is down to $2,” she said.
But not everyone can afford sustainably made clothing or invest in higher-end pieces.
Turning to thrifting
Drennan said shopping second-hand is also one of the ways consumers can be more environmentally friendly while not breaking the bank.
“You know, we could probably survive on this planet by just re-wearing what’s already out there […] for the next 50 years or more,” she said.
Raising awareness of the environmental toll of fast fashion among young people and promoting alternatives such as thrifting, are important aspects of Fashion Takes Action’s programming, Drennan said.
“We have been working with students from ages eight to 17 since 2014, and to date, we’ve delivered that program to over 33,000 students across Canada. We can’t change anything if you don’t know what the problem is,” she said.
One of the group’s most notable programs is the #IAmAThrifter campaign for high school students, a social media content creation program that can count towards volunteer hours to promote better fashion practices.
“If we could teach them that it’s not only the right thing to do, but that it’s cool, chances are that they’re going to spend their babysitting money, or when they get their first job, on thrifted clothes,” Drennan said.
Marie-Michèle Larivée, a trend forecaster and consultant based in Montreal, said that the younger shoppers are becoming more sustainability conscious but don’t necessarily have the money to buy from more expensive brands.
She noted this cohort is increasingly turning to second-hand clothing.
“Fashion is a mirror of society,” Larivée said, explaining that the pandemic has shifted the way consumers think about clothes.
She said the popularity of thrifting and consignment shopping is rising among those wanting to buy sustainably while saving money – a trend that was launched in part on social media by Gen Z shoppers.
“The [looming] recession is only increasing the [interest in] … this movement to buying second-hand,” she said.
Devos said she used to shop solely at fast-fashion stores, but the cost-of-living crisis has put an end to that.
“Of all the things I have to spend money on, fashion is at the bottom of the list. I have to pay for groceries and rent first,” said Devos.
Emotional connections through sustainable shopping
Even before the inflation crunch, Devos said she was disillusioned with fast fashion and felt she was missing something.
“I realized fast fashion doesn’t fulfill my needs in terms of self-expression,” she said. “It’s not because it’s cheap that it means it’s good. I realized that there are so much more clothes out there than what is being sold in-store at the mall,” Devos said.
While living online during lockdowns, she started seeing TikTok videos about shopping second-hand.
“It was kind of like a discovery. I was like, ‘Oh, wow, there’s so many things out there.’ I can
express myself freely without falling into trends,” Devos said.
Devos started to buy more second-hand items over the course of the pandemic during the same time that she launched Delirium Thrift in 2021.
She operates it through the online store Depop, her social media accounts (TikTok and Instagram) and in-person at flea markets in Ottawa and Montreal.
Shopping for second-hand clothing meant she could “still have cheap things” that were “a better investment for the planet as well as the economy of it all,” she said.
Devos said the allure of thrifting is not just the cheap price but also the uniqueness of the
pieces.
“Thrifting kind of pushes you to figure out what you truly like, because there are so many things when you go into the thrift store and not one single thing is the same,” Devos said.
Thrifters often take pride in their finds. According to ThredUp,72 per cent of thrifters say they feel proud to share with others that their outfit is second-hand.
This personal connection with fashion purchases is fundamentally different from what Drennancalls the “disposability mindset” that fast fashion creates.
A similar sense of personal connection is also part of the appeal of sustainable clothing brands, Larivée said, noting that the more value someone ascribes to an item, the more they cherish it.
“I think sustainable brands are really good at storytelling and putting their values in their clothing,” she said.
De Gramont describes a similar dynamic at Frank and Oak, saying that customers talk about having an emotional connection to the brand. She said this is important to “getting people to want to keep something and wear it for a long time.”
Other saving-friendly options
Other environmentally friendly options for cash-strapped consumers include making clothes last longer by mending and embellishing them, and thinking of new ways to style old pieces, said Osmud Rahman, professor of fashion at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Renting and trading clothes are also becoming increasingly popular options, he notes.
He imagines depots similar to the “take-a-book, leave-a-book” boxes that have been springing up in neighbourhoods in recent years, where people can trade clothes the same way they borrow a book at their neighbourhood’s little free library.
“You don’t need to pay anyone, but after you use it, you wash it and then return it. And then, at the same time, you can also borrow something from other people,” he said.
Devos said she trades clothes with her friends to freshen up her wardrobe.
“When I’m done with a piece, the first thing I do before selling or donating is ask if somebody else would want it or would want to trade pieces,” she said.
Rahman said that consumers can revolutionize the fashion industry by shifting their shopping priorities.
“If we change our mindset and the way we shop, then we can change the whole fashion system.”
Featured graphic by Alisha Velji/the Charlatan.
