The rapid purchase-to-discard ratio of fast fashion created the piling up of clothing in landfills, often made from synthetic materials which do not decompose easily.

When consumers throw away clothing in the garbage, not only does it waste money and resources, but it can take more than 200 years for the materials to decompose in a landfill. During the decomposition process, textiles generate greenhouse methane gas and leach toxic chemicals and dyes into the groundwater and our soil.

There is also the unmet potential of clothing which could be resold, and its lifetime extended- as opposed to manufacturing new clothing which requires more energy and water use, and is associated with more carbon emissions.

Finally, there are lack of incentives for people to responsibly pass on or resell their unwanted clothing due to the associated costs- be that time or monetary (e.g. shipping).

thredUP addresses these problems through providing an easy way to redirect unwanted clothing and thus divert it from landfills.

It also provides a second-hand marketplace that encourages buying second hand and diverting ‘new new’ purchases, thus hopefully slowing down resource depletion.

thredUP also provides a monetary incentive for consumers to give them their clothes, thus making them more attractive than a local textiles bin. They are also helping other stores integrate resale, growing their impact. 

Currently, customers can turn their old clothes into shopping credit at Reformation or Cuyana, with more to join soon. thredUP is also launching their own stores as well as collaborating with brands to create resale shop in shops, for example with Macy’s.

According to the thredUP website, since its creation in 2009, it has processed 100 million items and displaced a total of 1 billion lbs of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) up until 2021. 

Photo by Sarah Brown on Unsplash