Is buying second-hand really such an ethical option?

In recent years, thrift stores have become increasingly popular, largely thanks to Gen Z, who have made them trendy through social media. Buying second-hand has become both a political and cool act, allowing individuals to show their environmental commitment while expressing original style through unique items. However, are these practices truly as ethical and sustainable as they claim to be? Recently, France 2 aired a documentary titled Very Bad Fripes, exposing the dark side of the second-hand industry—a market worth 1.16 billion euros in France, according to L’Écho. This documentary aligns with other investigations, such as one by The Guardian, which have also examined the downsides of this booming market. At the heart of these issues lies a common factor: waste management, which has become a major challenge for this supposedly more sustainable model.

The textile second-hand industry generates an enormous amount of waste, most of which ends up in third-world countries. As The Guardian explains, charity shops sell only 20% of the donations they receive. The unsold items are then purchased by foreign aggregators and exported, often to Ghana, the largest importer of used clothing. Most of these items end up in Kantamanto Market in Accra, the world's largest second-hand clothing market. While some of the exports are resold by merchants in local markets, the remainder ends up as waste, often illegally burned. These textile wastes then flow into the Odaw River, Korle Lagoon, and the sea, eventually accumulating on beaches and causing severe environmental damage. In other words, Western countries are displacing their waste to resource-limited nations, where locals have no choice but to dispose of the unsold goods in their natural environment, leading to pollution.

This reality is far from the glamour displayed by some thrift stores, whose supposed sustainability and ethics are now under scrutiny. Beyond environmental consequences, another moral issue arises: accessibility. Initially, second-hand shops like Oxfam or the Red Cross were intended for low-income individuals, providing affordable clothing well below the average market price. But today, we are witnessing a kind of gentrification of these stores. Buying second-hand clothing has become so trendy that the increase in demand has driven up prices, making these items inaccessible to those in financial precarity, for whom they were originally intended. On social media, users proudly showcase their purchases from the most fashionable thrift stores, further encouraging the public to visit and search for hidden gems. While these videos may have innocent intentions, they only amplify the issue.

Nevertheless, the goal is not to demonize buying second-hand or donating used items to charity shops as inherently bad. Far from it—these alternatives are preferable to regularly purchasing from fast-fashion brands. The fundamental issue is overconsumption. Whether in fast fashion or second-hand, the primary problem is buying items that will only be worn a few times before being discarded. Perhaps it's more responsible to buy an H&M t-shirt and wear it for years than to buy a blouse on Vinted that will only be worn 2–3 times before being abandoned. To this day, "ethical fashion" almost seems like an oxymoron. The industry must work harder to define it in ways that integrate ethics, accessibility, and inclusivity.