Sew it seams...

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend," croons Marilyn Monroe in the iconic 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Well, no more. Today's youth are not seeking out sparkling new jewels or freshly seamed garments, but rifling through musty shelves for pre-worn treasures.

Gen ZShort for Generation Z, meaning people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s. consumers have created a new trend: something old is something new. Whilst sales decline month on month for cheap but unsustainable fashion brands such as Shein, the pre-loved economy is thriving.¹

Statistics show a 149% growth in Britain's clothes resale market between 2016 and 2022, and the market is expected to double in size within the next five years to a staggering £12.6 billion.

The cost of living crisis is certainly a factor driving this new wave of consumer behaviour. Studies suggest that two-thirds of people purchasing second-hand goods cite expenses as their main motivation. But there is also a market for "luxury second-hand", which outpaced new luxury sales by five times between 2017 and 2021.

Many will welcome the shift. Fast fashion has made buying new into - some say - an over-affordable habit. Nowadays, people spend a lower share of their income on clothing than ever before, but fast fashion has doubled overall clothes production in the last two decades.

But what some try to market as a great equalisation - fashion is no longer the reserve of the rich - incurs a huge environmental cost in the form of pollution, emissions, soil degradation and a loss of biodiversityBiodiversity is all the different kinds of life you'll find in one area - the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world. Each of these species and organisms work together in ecosystems, like an intricate web, to maintain balance and support life. . The human cost, too, is immense, with cheap attire often being manufactured in sweatshops for just £3.50 an hour.²

And some say the success of fast fashion is also symptomatic of a culture in the throngs of voracious overconsumption. A rapid turnover of newly manufactured, dirt-cheap clothing allows consumers to make low-cost, low-risk, low-maintenance and convenient fashion decisions which fit neatly into a fast-paced capitalist lifestyle.

Meanwhile, a turn towards pre-loved items coincides with the growing trend of "slow living" - rejecting hyper-capitalism and taking joy in living a more humble lifestyle.

Some say we are exaggerating the problems of buying new. After all, fast fashion actually only accounts for 20% of the overall market in clothing. And some sustainable brands are creating new clothes with record low emissions.

Likewise, buying second-hand is no guarantee of sustainability. Donated clothes are often shipped across the world to places like Pakistan to be sorted, then sent to middle-man companies in Europe before being sold to vintage and thrift brands across the world, where the globe-trotting garments are found by consumers convinced that a new second-hand t-shirt will keep their carbon footprint small.

Nor does it ultimately solve the problem of overconsumption. As half a million people post their #ThriftHauls on Instagram, buying dozens of new items with the intention of wearing them only once or twice, we might surmise that second-hand fashion is feeding the dragon of overconsumption, not slaying it.

Yes: Buying new clothes might seem cheap, but the costs are huge for our planet. The fashion industry generates more emissions than aviation and shipping. In buying new, you are selling your (and our) future on Earth.

No: For people with lower incomes it is important to have cheap and convenient fast fashion options. And for people who have the money, there are more sustainable brands that still allow you to buy new.

Or... It is unethical to buy - full stop. All spending incurs a cost, and to minimise it we need to stop overconsuming. Spending money on second-hand clothes is not a guarantee of ethics.