Thrifting your way out of fashion’s planetary impact

Fast fashion brands are on the rise, but a growing community of thrift shoppers, clothes swappers, and sustainability activists is offering an alternative paradigm for Malta’s fashion scene.

Fashion Revolution Week, a global campaign that brings together activists and fashion lovers to re-imagine a more sustainable fashion industry, is led by the organisation Fashion Revolution, which has local branches all over the world, including in Malta.

Tamara Fenech set up the Maltese branch of Fashion Revolution in 2018. The group focuses on mobilisation through the consumer side of the supply chain. Instead of feeding the ‘fast fashion’ industry, the group promotes more sustainable consumer choices like buying clothes that last and repairing your own clothes instead of buying new pieces. 

“Sustainable fashion is multifaceted,” she said, explaining that being sustainable in your consumer choices doesn’t have to break the bank either. “There’s second-hand clothes, and you can repair your own clothes.”

To celebrate Fashion Revolution Week, the group set up a repair shop stand at the Earth Day Green Fair in Manikata. Members set up an outdoor sewing station to repair damaged clothes for free, helping people prolong the lifespan of their clothes.

Fenech explained that the event directly ties in with Fashion Revolution’s Made to Last campaign, which promotes buying durable clothes with a long lifespan while giving new life to old clothes that are torn and need repairing. 

“Repairing is the first point of adding new life to your clothes. Instead of chucking your old clothes away because they’ve been torn you can fall back in love with them,” she said. 

‘Fast fashion’ refers to a business model employed by fashion companies to mass-produce catwalk trends with low-quality materials and sell them at cheap prices. Brands like Zara, Primark, and more recently Shein are among the most popular fast fashion retailers in the world today. 

But fast fashion comes at a higher price. Scandals have been emerging for decades on poor working conditions in the labour sweatshops used by these brands. In 1996 one American magazine published a photograph of a young Pakistani boy sewing a Nike football together, leaving the sports brand plagued with sweatshop and child labour allegations. 

Francesca Falzon and Francesca Valletta set up their own thrift shop pop-up to resell their own clothes while raising money for animal charities

The industry also deals heavy environmental damage. The UNDP estimates that the amount of clothes produced annually has doubled since the early 2000s, with almost 100 billion pieces a year produced by 2014. A lot of the pieces end up in landfills as customers are constantly encouraged to buy more clothes to keep up with changing trends. 

In opposition to fast fashion, many girls over the world are instead adopting a ‘slow fashion’ approach to their wardrobe. Fenech said she’s noticed a similar shift in Malta.

“In the last few years, second-hand clothes have definitely picked up. There used to be a stigma around this, but it has definitely changed, especially among the younger generation,” she said.

This shift comes with entrepreneurial opportunity. Francesca Falzon and Francesca Valletta set up their own thrift shop pop-up to resell their own clothes while raising money for animal charities. What started as a one-off event ended up being a regular appointment, with their fifth pop-up scheduled for 8th and 9th July.

“For me and Fran, sustainable fashion is a topic that truly sparks an interest and is something we really bonded over when we got to know each other,” Valletta recalled. 

Preparations for their thrift events start months in advance, when they begin promoting the event on social media. From there, the two start inviting local brands to sell their products at the event, while scheduling dates to receive clothing donations. 

“All the clothes and accessories are donated by the public. We use our social media platforms to reach out to people who are interested in donating their clothes and arrange a drop-off day prior to the thrift pop-up event,” Valletta explained. 

Thrifting is a common way for people to reduce their environmental footprint when purchasing new clothes, but Falzon sees more benefits beyond this. 

“It’s a different and fun way to go about your normal shopping, and you end up finding pieces that are more original than what everyone else is currently wearing,” Falzon said. 

The initiative has also grown over time. More people are attending the pop-ups, and donations have increased as well. “Both Fran and I have been taking it as a great experience to learn what works for our brand and how to make each event better,” Falzon said.

Thrifting has become more accessible in Malta, with second-hand shops slowly sprouting across the islands. Falzon said she feels this growing popularity is mostly down to the current Y2K style craze, which play on the trends that characterised the late 90s and early noughties. 

“The majority of our shoppers are students, so their budgets match better with thrift prices compared to current retail store prices,” she added. 

Thrifting is a common way for people to reduce their environmental footprint when purchasing new clothes, but Falzon sees more benefits beyond this.

Valletta added that heightened awareness on environmental issues has been a contributing factor too. “I think this has created some pressure amongst people to find sustainable alternatives, and thrifting is one option.”

Some manage to avoid spending a single cent by opting to swap their own old clothes in for second-hand pieces. Towards the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic Cecilia Martinetto set up a Facebook group to facilitate this, allowing people to swap clothes and everyday items through an informal barter system. 

The idea came to her after she wanted to change up her wardrobe. “After four years living in Malta I wanted a change in wardrobe, but living in a small penthouse studio apartment meant I didn’t know where to fit anymore clothes. I decided to try and swap them, thinking that someone would end up loving them,” she explained. 

Swapping isn’t limited to just clothes. Martinetto said that people have swapped gym members for beauty services, and others have even tried to swap condoms and tampons. “Leftover food is also a common swap, which I find amazing for fighting food waste,” she commented.

The group started informally, but it has since grown intensely. Martinetto said it is now run by a team of five people moderating the group. “With time we became more organised and introduced new rules such as the creation of an album for each member and a maximum of posts allowed to be published by a person per week.”

One of the administrators is Kristina Felice Pace. She said that the group still receives a lot of membership requests and posts to approve on a daily basis, but COVID-19 meant that member meet-ups had to be put on hold. 

“If swapping were to become a mainstream phenomenon it would be remarkable, however I think we still have a long way to go. That being said, through the past years I think that swapping has definitely become more popular since it is more accessible thanks to social media,” she said. 

What sustainability means to them

Falzon said that, to her, fashion sustainability means avoiding fast fashion while supporting local brands and ethically-made clothes. “My stance has been to have wardrobe basics that match your style which you can very easily thrift and create different outfits with them. Trends change too quickly and I feel like it’s not only unsustainable for the environment but also for your wallet.”

“I shop from thrift shops, vintage stores, and hand-me-downs, with absolutely no shame – as long as they’re comfortable and will serve their purpose.”

Valletta thinks of fashion sustainability in three parts. She said that it’s important for people to reflect on what needs to be done to mitigate issues stemming from unsustainable clothing consumption practices, while remaining aware of the environmental problems of the overall fashion industry. 

“Lastly, being able to engage in proactive and environmentally-friendly practices in terms of the way one consumes clothing. This can be achieved through the long-term use of clothing, thrifting, buying less, and so on.”

Martinetto insisted that sustainability is the key to a better future. “Humans rely on natural resources for business, activities and survival. Ignoring sustainability can lead to the exhaustion of natural resources,” she said. 

But ultimately, sustainability for Martinetto comes down to the small changes that people can do to help care for the planet. “Making these changes helps protect animals, plants and our natural resources so that future generations will be able to enjoy them.”

Felice Pace, an earth systems student herself, put her thoughts on sustainability most concisely. “Sustainability is the way of living our day-to-day life without jeopardising the future of our children,” she said.