A thrift store is often considered a unique adventure to find one of a kind items on a weekend afternoon and while that’s true, a thrift store is also a critical need in fashion circularity and local economy.

The week surrounding April 24, is globally deemed Fashion Revolution week every year, in commemoration of the garment factory collapse in Bangladesh, Rana Plaza. From that tragic event, citizens have called in the fashion industry to incorporate all sides from production to consumer to end of life and every aspect in between. Major themes are transparency on garment factory workers, textile components, caring for your clothing and promoting secondhand.

Thrift shopping is vital to the human and ecological factors of combating excess in the marketplace and because so much is being produced than we can make use of, much of it ends up in thrift stores. It is why you can often find many items new with tags at a thrift store, one of the misconceptions of shopping these outlets, garments can be new, barely worn or well loved, vintage. And while thrift shopping has increased in popularity over the years, the fact remains that manufacturing is at unjustified levels for secondhand to keep up, when the world’s most popular fast fashion websites upload 2000 new items minimum daily. This has significant costs to both humans and the environment, these are all factors that have become more openly discussed through Fashion Revolution week and all the sustainability resources in the past few years.

What can we do? Buy new only when required, when it’s an item you know you need and make many uses out of. Make secondhand and thrifting your first choice when it comes to shopping. Mend your clothes as needed, reunite with the idea of repairing what is broken instead of tossing. These are only a few of the conversations and ideas that have come from Fashion Revolution week, turning tragedy and disaster into ways we can be better to our clothing, the earth and those who make our clothes.