Noted: Tracking Your Used Clothing | The Etsy Blog

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Your daily source of inspiration for creative reuse and mindful consumption.

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[Background on, & press coverage of, Unconsumption can be found here and here.]

Consumption is a word used to describe acts of acquisition – generally, the acquisition of things, in exchange for money.

Unconsumption is a word used to describe everything that happens after an act of acquisition.

Unconsumption is an invisible badge.

Unconsumption means the accomplishment of properly recycling your old cellphone, rather than the guilt of letting it sit in a drawer.

Unconsumption means the thrill of finding a new use for something that you were about to throw away.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a service like Freecycle (or Craigslist, Goodwill, or Salvation Army) to find a new home for the functioning DVD player you just replaced, rather than throwing it in the garbage.

Unconsumption means enjoying the things you own to the fullest – not just at the moment of acquisition.

Unconsumption means the pleasure of using a pair of sneakers until they are truly worn out – as opposed to the nagging feeling of defeat when they simply go out of style.

Unconsumption means feeling good about the simple act of turning off the lights when you leave the room.

Unconsumption is not about the rejection of things, or the demonization of things. It’s not a bunch of rules.

Unconsumption is an idea, a set of behaviors, a way of thinking about consumption itself from a new perspective.

Unconsumption is free.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Founder & Editor: Rob Walker, journalist, Savannah, GA

Editorial & Community Manager: Molly Block, marketing and business development geek, Houston, TX

Brian W. Jones, designer & writer, Göteborg, Sweden

Kashvi Kumar, Environmental Studies and Economics major at New York University

Deirdre Nelson, ever threading artist, Glasgow, Scotland

Shanna Trenholm, writer. catalyst. force of nature. San Diego, CA

* * *

Alumnus & Unconsumption logo creator: Clifton Burt, graphic designer, Portland, OR

Further information about Unconsumption can be found here.

7:09 am - Wed, Mar 28, 2012: 74 notes

Noted: Tracking Your Used Clothing | The Etsy Blog

An article in GOOD reports that only a shocking 15 to 20 percent of clothing donations are resold in U.S. thrift shops. The rest is either sold to become industrial wiping rags, recycled into insulation, or shipped to other countries. While the most desirable vintage items are sold to Japan, Africa receives the bulk of our secondhand clothing, making it one of the continent’s top imports. This exchange is documented in films like T-Shirt Travels, which shows how imported American used clothing is responsible for killing off the Zamibian clothing manufacturing industry.

Perhaps the most surprising statistic in the article is that Americans only keep 21 percent of the clothing we buy each year. The facts are astonishing: not only does America export the majority of its donated clothing, we simply can’t reabsorb the amount of clothing we give away. We have an overwhelming excess of garments. No longer a hand-me-down culture, cheap clothing prices have made it affordable to buy into new trends and toss out last season’s look.

I bolded the bit I personally found most surprising. I’ve read quite a bit about the ecosystem of donated goods, particularly apparel. But I can’t recall seeing a stat about how much or how little clothing we buy we actually hang onto. The number is so stark I’m not completely sure I accept it — do people really get rid of almost 80 percent of the apparel they buy every year?