What is Second Hand September?
Second Hand September is a campaign started by Oxfam GB which asks people to pledge to resist new and only buy second hand clothes for 30 days.
The Bad News- The Impact of New Clothes
The facts about the fashion industry aren’t pretty 😬 Here are some harsh realities:
-
The production of new textiles contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined (House of Commons)
-
It can take an estimated 20,000L of water to make just one pair of jeans and a T-shirt (Oxfam)
-
Over two-thirds of textiles are now made from materials derived from fossil fuels, like polyester and nylon (Changing Markets)
-
It takes 20,000 Litres of water to make 1 cotton T-shirt and a pair od jeans. This would take about 13 years to drink! (Oxfam).
The Good News- Why Buy Second Hand?
The solution is complex, but with the fashion industry playing such a key role in the climate crisis, it’s clear one of the best things we can do for our planet is consume less and reuse more ♻️
If everyone chose to buy 1 item second hand instead of new this year, it would save:
- 204 million kgs of clothing waste (the weight of 1 million polar bears)
- 25 billion gallons of water (the equivalent of 1.24 billion showers)
- 7 billion lbs of CO2 emissions (the same as taking 500,000 cars off our roads for a whole year).
Small Actions Make a Big Difference
Whether you’re new to second hand, struggling to resist new, or have been thrifting for as long as you can remember, if you chose to swap new for second hand (even if it’s just once!) you can have a huge impact.
If you’re up for a challenge, why not take the Oxfam pledge and say “no” to new and “yes” to second hand for a whole month? You can do it! 💪
