By Jessica Scott-Reid
Jessica is a Canadian writer, animal advocate and plant-based food expert. Her work appears regularly in media across Canada and the US.
Earlier this month, The New York Times declared the golden age of thrifting over. Once an endeavour to find unique vintage treasures, or just more affordable versions of last season’s looks, thrifting has recently attracted another market segment: eco-conscious consumers. Buying second hand helps quell demand for more items to be produced and reduces waste. However, as The New York Times reported, second-hand shops are now filling up with the very fast fashion that many thrifters actively work to avoid, leaving eco-conscious fashionistas seeking a new way to shop. Enter: high-quality consignment.
Consignment shopping has been around for decades. The basic premise, originating in the 1950s, is the re-sale of used items, including clothing, through a third party, usually a storefront, with each party getting a portion of the profits. Consignment shopping is also often associated with higher quality products, items that can stand the test of time and maintain quality and value after being enjoyed by one owner, maybe two or even more.
It is this focus on high-quality, long-lasting items that lies at the heart of today’s resurgence of interest in consignment shopping among eco-conscious buyers. Carin Boda and Saskia Tracy are the creators of COCO’s Closet, a consignment shop that operates via Instagram and ships across Canada, selling carefully selected, higher-quality clothing brands from and to women in their community.
Photo: COCO’s Closet
“We want to buy and sell items that we love, and that we think our customers will love," say the pair, "and by doing that we hope to recycle more items with longer life spans than a thrift store might. We believe that higher quality clothes from reputable brands will usually last longer, and therefore be able to be recycled more often and ultimately stay out of landfills for longer than most fast fashion brands.”
Textiles have become one of the worst pollutants on earth. According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), “textile mills generate one-fifth of the world's industrial water pollution,” and in China alone, textile factories release about three billion tons of soot into the air every year. A report by The World Counts also found that fashion is responsible for 92 million tons of solid waste per year. And a landmark report from resale service ThredUp, found that the global textile industry produces more carbon emissions than the airline and maritime industries combined.
Rachel Solomon is co-owner of luxury consignment shop So Over It, which works with consigners from Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg, to sell nationwide online, and also through their storefront in Winnipeg. They offer a rolling collection of top designer clothing, shoes and accessories that Solomon believes can stay in circulation for decades. “That’s the whole foundation of our business,” she says, “keeping these items rotating and being re-purposed.” The hope, she explains, is that one high-end handbag, for example, “will be owned by 10 women in a lifetime,” rather than each person purchasing new items, driving demand for more to be produced, and then all ending up eventually being discarded.
Photo: So Over It
Curating a select inventory of well-made items for women and men is key says Solomon — there are no flimsy fast fashions at So Over It — as is helping to maintain items as they show some wear. “We want to do our best to repurpose and repair something in-house,” says Solomon, “not only to extend its life but also maintain the [re-sale] value.” Then that product can be sold again and again. “That’s the circular model,” she says, “that’s what we want.”
“We are aware of how much impact the fashion world has on our planet,” adds Boda and Tracy. “The constant cycle of what’s ‘in’ at the moment, how many resources this cycle consumes in order to continuously produce, sell, toss and begin again, over and over. COCO was born from a desire to reuse our beautiful things, and to find new homes for items that deserve a second life.” The pair say they’d love to think that their small business and the growing community with whom they work “make a little blip of an effort to reduce this impact.”
So, while the golden age of thrifting may be over thanks to donated fast fashions now saturating second-hand shops, perhaps the golden age of consignment shopping, the re-selling of specifically high-quality fashion, will give it a new lease on life.