By
AFP
Revealed
February 5, 2025
Recovering South Korean shopaholic-turned-climate activist Lee So-yeon used to purchase new garments virtually every day — till a $1.50 winter coat triggered an awakening that stopped her procuring solely.
South Korean local weather activist Lee So-yeon, who has not purchased any new garments for the previous six years and now has a wardrobe consisting of used objects that she obtained from family and friends – Pictures: Anthony Wallace/AFP
Whereas wanting on the ultra-cheap padded jacket at an H&M store in america, the place she was working on the time, Lee requested herself how any merchandise of clothes could possibly be bought so cheaply.
The 30-year-old launched into a deep dive into quick trend manufacturing strategies and was horrified on the human, social and environmental toll hyperconsumerism is having on the planet — and on the psychological well being of girls who make and purchase low cost garments.
“I used to buy one new outfit each (working) day of the week,” Lee advised AFP, including that every merchandise from main excessive road retailers would usually price lower than a greenback.
However the purpose the garments are so low cost, Lee discovered, is as a result of the ladies who sew for firms are paid little, whereas the enterprise mannequin itself is inflicting vital environmental hurt.
Lee stopped shopping for any new garments — and has not bought a single quick trend garment since her epiphany round six years in the past.
Her far more compact wardrobe consists of used objects that she obtained from family and friends, together with a classic leather-based jacket that after belonged to her mom.
In contrast to quick trend objects, which are sometimes designed to be thrown away after just some wears, every bit is irreplaceable as a result of it carries a singular story and historical past, she stated.
“Ultimately, the most eco-friendly clothes are the ones already in your wardrobe,” stated Lee.
Break the cycle
Lee now organises clothes swaps together with her family and friends, and has written a guide to advertise the thought of valuing clothes for “the story behind it,” reasonably than chasing ephemeral developments.
She is a part of a small however rising international motion searching for to advertise second-hand clothes and assist folks — particularly ladies — choose out of the cycle of over-consumption.
The app Fortunate Sweater gives a platform for customers to commerce objects from their closets with one another, focussing on sustainable manufacturers, founder Tanya Dastyar advised AFP.
“We’re programmed to believe the only way to express my fashion or show that I’m beautiful or trendy… is new outfits,” Dastyar stated.
“But you can still be fashionable and feel good and look great and not have to do that,” she stated, including that though buying and selling garments didn’t have the identical fast dopamine hit as making a fast-fashion buy, it was much more rewarding over time.
The app’s rising uptake signifies that persons are hungry to shift their relationship with clothes and consumerism, she stated.
Individuals realise: “I don’t have to follow trends and I can just dress in a way that feels comfortable to me,” she stated. “Is that like a mass market thing? No. But do I feel like it can be a movement? Yes.”
For Lee, breaking the cycle of low cost clothes consumption helped her enhance her psychological well being.
As a teen, she would fear about what to put on on faculty journeys — when uniforms weren’t required — not less than a month prematurely and would buy groceries to ease her fears.
“I felt a lot of pressure about how others would see me,” she advised AFP.
However studying about Bangladesh’s 2013 Rana Plaza tragedy — one of many world’s worst industrial disasters that killed greater than 1,130 garment manufacturing unit employees, most of them younger ladies — was a turning level.
The manufacturing unit employees died making garments for “women like me”, Lee stated.
No second-hand?
The worldwide trend business is without doubt one of the most polluting, accounting for as much as 10 p.c of greenhouse gasoline emissions, in line with World Financial institution estimates.
Most trendy garments are made from artificial supplies like nylon and polyester, that are basically plastic and don’t biodegrade in landfills, business knowledge reveals.
Maintaining garments out of landfills may help, however in South Korea, many nonetheless keep away from used clothes, stated Kim Dong-hyun, who runs a used clothes export manufacturing unit.
“People often don’t look favourably on someone wearing used clothes because they are seen as unwanted items,” Kim advised AFP, noting he has discovered soiled diapers and meals waste within the assortment bins.
South Korea is the fifth largest exporter of used clothes on this planet — and activists say many clothes are basically dumped in creating international locations, which lack the capability to course of them.
At Kim’s second-hand clothes manufacturing unit in Paju, outdoors Seoul, a mechanical claw categorised piles of used garments to be exported abroad.
“Many people treat the clothing collection bin as just a trash can,” Kim stated.
