Major US department store chains JCPenney and Macy’s have both announced they will debut selling used apparel through partnerships with San Francisco-based fashion resale company ThredUp.

JCPenney said on Friday that 30 of its stores will start offering a seasonal array of resale handbags and women’s fashion from the secondhand apparel company, with the assortment uniquely branded in a 500 to 1,000-square-foot presentation. To keep things fresh, the department store chain said it will be switching up the curated assortment of ThredUp items on a weekly basis.

JCPenney is following in the footsteps of Macy’s, who also announced it had been trialling resale services in 40 of its stores across the US through a ThredUp partnership. The company said the move would allow it to “reach Millennials and Gen Z who are passionate about sustainable fashion and shopping resale.”

The rapid purchase-to-discard ratio of fast fashion and 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 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/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 thus encouraging 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, thus growing their impact.