First off, Happy Earth Day! The first Earth Day started in 1970 after a major oil spill brought environmental issues to the public consciousness. Since then, we’ve made some progress, but there is still a lot of work to do – specifically in the area of fashion.
Some stats:
According to Earth.org, out of the 100 billion garments produced each year, 92 million tons end up in landfills. That means a truck of clothes ends up in a landfill every second…
Despite efforts to get manufacturers to cut emissions from garment production, global emissions will increase by 50% by 2030 if we keep going in the direction we’re in...
The average consumer throws out 81.5 POUNDS of clothing each year…
The number of times a garment is worn has declined by around 36% in 15 years...
According to ThredUp, buying just one secondhand garment could lower CO2 emissions by more than 2 billion pounds - the equivalent to taking 76 million cars off the roads for a day...
It would also save some 23 billion gallons of water and 4 billion kilowatt-hours of energy...
So, why vintage?
For me, the answer is made up of a couple parts, but to put it simply: I love a perfectly pre-worn, pre-loved garment, and I want to always be mindful of what I’m putting on my body and how it is impacting the world around us. Refer to the above statistics.
I was about 17 years old when I was in NYC on a day trip and walked into an open-air market on Broadway near East 4th Street. The open lot doesn't exist anymore and years later I can't pinpoint where it was, but it was cool. This was the year 2000, so online shopping wasn’t really a thing, especially for secondhand clothing. If you wanted something vintage or from a specific era, you had to hunt. I was just getting into vintage shopping and found it to be so intriguing especially as it gained buzz in the 90s. You see, fashion has a 20-year cycle, meaning that trends and styles typically repeat every two decades (think of how the 70s had a resurgence during the 90s). There was something really cool about how a garment could last so long, and how it had a story attached to it. Also, the 90s is arguably kind of the last decade for a lot of great things before the internet infiltrated our lives. Not trying to sound negative here, the internet serves a purpose, but back then, being offline meant you were forced to explore and discover things IRL. It was also the decade during which a lot of big companies started moving production (if they hadn't already) overseas and out of the USA.
I digress. Aside from the trend of vintage clothing, I loved getting a garment that someone had already perfectly worn in for me (I’m talking the perfect burnout to the fabric and mini holes, not necessarily stains, though some stains are cool). And, it had a previousl life and story attached to it. I also liked the idea that somewhere out there some other people had the same shirt and held onto it, and that finding it in present day wouldn’t be as simple as walking into a retail store. There’s a bit of a race to finding the perfect vintage items and the reward is getting something someone can’t really presently find and then giving it a second life and making it your own.
My love for vintage has not wavered, but what became more apparent to me in those early days was the positive, environmental impact buying secondhand has. In the back of my mind I always figured buying something used is better than buying something new. But, the impact fast fashion and the industry’s greenwashing tactics has had on our modern world is detrimental. Especially in the last 20 years. I won’t reiterate the above stats, but we know now more than ever (thank you, internet!) that our purchasing choices affect our everyday lives. Not only does the fashion industry create a ton of garments, which is wasteful enough, we need to consider what happens to the fabric scraps that can’t and don’t get used. We need to rewind a bit in the production process and consider that to even knit a roll of fabric consumes energy. Rewind even more and consider there is a ton of water used to process fabrics, and more water to even grow the natural fibers. The list goes on and on. But, consider that adding something already made to your wardrobe versus something new takes away all the previous steps and saves a little bit of impact. Multiply that by the billions of consumers on the planet and we can slowly, but surely, make a difference. It’s very obvious, but what it boils down to, really, is our behaviors; we need to re-learn how to consume things, and do it better.
Before I write a book here on how much I love vintage and why it’s so obviously good for the earth, which in turn is good for us and the ones we love, let me just say this: Don’t buy something today. Or, if you do, buy something used and already made. Think about the actions you take when buying, and really, REALLY think about from whom you’re buying. There are brands out there doing amazing work to keep the machine of the fashion industry moving (it’s not going anywhere, let’s be real) and doing it in the most eco-positive ways. Then there are the brands (you know who they are, and you know who you are) that are quite literally killing the planet for profit. We have choices and it boils down to the choice we make.
JIMTAGE is starting small because a) it takes time to find true vintage garments made in the 90s and decades prior, b) I want to curate something that’s inherent to the JIMMY brand and aesthetic, c) slow fashion is a good thing and worth waiting for.
So, stay tuned. Now that JIMTAGE is live, I’m going to put in more time and effort to bring truly unique, beautiful, made in the USA garments that you’re going to hold on to forever. And, if like the decades, your style changes, be sure that vintage garment goes to a good, new home. Because one person’s tee, is another person’s treasure.
