One of my resolutions for 2020 was to stop buying from fast fashion brands. I decided I no longer wanted to support an industry that has poor ethical practices and detrimental environmental impacts. So this year, I have tried to reduce the number of clothes I buy, and I have only bought second-hand. Here’s what I’ve learnt from my experience.

1. Second-hand clothes are easier to find than I expected

Charity shops can be a goldmine for amazing bargains, if you get to know your high street and where the great stuff hides on it. But failing that, Depop will always be there for you, even when lockdown shuts everything else down. I’ve bought everything from cocktail dresses to gym clothes on there. Turns out, secondhand clothes can be as easy to find as new clothes – you just have to know where to look.

2. Shopping second-hand is a nicer experience

Whether in a high street store or scrolling online, fast fashion surrounds you with images of perfect people. Conforming to a really specific standard of beauty is sold as essential to succeeding in life. For me, all it does is make me compare myself to other bodies.

But in second-hand places, I just don’t have the same problem. Even when clothes are modelled on other people, they seem more real to me, more relatable, and less unattainable. Maybe it helps that they’re not all edited and made up professionally, and put in the most perfect lighting and poses possible. Somehow, shopping for second-hand clothes makes me feel like the clothes are actually for me, not some perfect impossible version of me that doesn’t exist.

3. You don’t need a new outfit for every occasion

I promise no one will judge you for wearing the same top twice in a row on your Instagram feed. The myth that you need a new outfit for every new event is ludicrous, but that can be hard to recognise if you’re used to searching for a new dress every time you’ve got a party coming up.

Admittedly, this year has made it a lot easier to get away from this habit, considering social events have pretty much disappeared in COVID times. Still, dropping this routine is something I will be taking with me into post-pandemic life. If I love a dress enough to deem it worth buying, it deserves to see the spotlight on more than one occasion.

4. Your style can be whatever you want it to be

Trends can be loads of fun, and they can be really inspiring if you fancy changing up your style a bit, but it’s okay to let them pass you by too. The aim should be to pick out clothes you will still want to wear five years from now. Obviously, there can be exceptions to this rule. But for the most part, if you know in your heart you’ll never wear a particular outfit once the trend for it is gone, it might not be the best thing to jump onto. Finding stuff you love regardless of what the rest of the world thinks of it at that particular moment in time is a better way to have a chance of still liking it later down the line.

5. There might actually be such a thing as too many clothes

Okay, so if clothes and fashion are something that brings you joy in life, maybe it’s a bit harsh to say you might have too many. But it is definitely possible to have too much of the same type of clothing. If you wear a certain item loads, it might be sensible to have a few similar versions of it, but it’s worth thinking about how often you actually will wear it. There’s only so many going-out-tops I need in my life before some of them inevitably get relegated to the bottom of my wardrobe and I end up never wearing them (and that was before 2020 made going out a bit impossible).

If you already own three little black dresses, you probably don’t need another one, even if it does look incredible on you. So I’ve learnt to properly think through what I already own before deciding to buy something new just because it suits me.

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This is all just from my experience, and it might be totally unrelatable if you’ve got a different dress size or a completely different style, or a different way of thinking about clothes entirely. But for me, I’ve found it a lot easier than I ever expected to give up fast fashion. You don’t need to end all unnecessary purchases or swear off the entirety of fast fashion to make a difference. Reducing the amount of money you put into the industry is a great step towards more ethical consumerism. Thinking more carefully about each piece of clothing you buy, and where you’re buying it from, is a good place to start.

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