Happy Earth Day! Yes, I know Earth Day has already passed (the past 2 weeks have been very hectic), but I really wanted to share my love of thrift shopping and secondhand clothing! Two Earth Days ago, I vowed to reduce how much brand-new clothing I bought. Why?

Manufacturing clothing comes at a huge cost to the environment.

This is especially true for all of our favorite fast fashion brands. The focus on constantly putting out trendy new collections at low prices is particularly bad for the environment. Toxic chemicals are often used for bright, vibrant colors. Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, after agriculture. The manufacturing of polyester clothing is massively contributing to plastic in our oceans. What little clean water we have is being used to farm cotton. It requires about 2,700 liters to grow enough cotton for a single cotton t-shirt. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s just ridiculous.

And that’s not even factoring how much clothing goes to waste. Fast-changing trends and low prices have allowed people to consume more. People buy more clothing but keep it half as long as we used to. It has become cheaper and more convenient to throw away clothing than to mend it. Clothing now seems “disposable”.

Secondhand is way cheaper.

I love shopping. I also love being able to pay for my car, my rent, etc. Buying secondhand makes both of those things possible. One of my absolute favorite brands is Hell Bunny Vixen, and their dresses are usually around $90 brand new. (Sometimes more T_T) However, I’ve been able to find so many adorable Hell Bunny Vixen, Unique Vintage, and Modcloth clothes secondhand for as cheap as $12! The best part is that they are always in excellent used condition.

This is possibly my favorite secondhand purchase. I had been in love with this dress for ages, but it retails for $102! I bought this gorgeous Belinda dress by Hell Bunny Vixen secondhand for only $14 and $4.99 shipping. When I wore it to my brother’s wedding, my mom couldn’t believe that it was secondhand. She thought I was lying.

In fact, many of the clothes I wear on my Instagram are secondhand. I bet you can’t tell which ones! 😉

Where do I shop secondhand?

If you live in Las Vegas, one of my new favorite places for secondhand in Las Vegas is Zia Records. They sell secondhand clothing, books, vinyls, and CDs. I love just walking around and seeing what I can find. I like all thrift stores, but Zia Records is the best.

Although Las Vegas thrift stores are thrilling, most of my clothes are from Poshmark. You can buy directly from other people and even sell your own clothing on Poshmark. I’ve been able to reduce a lot of my clothing waste by selling clothes. I’ve also gotten really lucky with some amazing pinup and vintage finds on Poshmark! If you’re interested in signing up for Poshmark, use my code CHASIEMAE when you sign up to get a FREE $5 credit.

While buying one less brand new dress from Forever21 can seem like a small action, the ripple effect of many small actions is extraordinary. Let’s use these small actions to take care of our planet!