Sustainable fashion will dominate the general direction of fashion

A Global Look At Second-hand Fashion Traditions And Future

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q4sg78fgfvjcguyopgxbe/Interview.MP4?rlkey=x6nkdy2ek1jmh62pud0yqftq3&dl=0

Nowadays, with the rapid development of society, consumers' demand for fashion corporate transparency, environmentally friendly consumption and corporate social responsibility practices is growing, and sustainable development has become a crucial theme in the entire fashion industry chain. At the same time, the fashion industry is entering a new era in which style meets ethics of responsibility. With the prosperity of the planet as the background, this paper mainly discusses the global culture of second-hand clothing (Figure 1) and its future fashion trend from the perspective of sustainability, and takes second-hand clothing as the theme point (Teng Xun,2024). In the process of investigation, the team mainly interviews people from different countries and collects and analyzes data existing on the Internet to infer its future trend. At the same time, the society can improve the attention to sustainable fashion, so as to protect the environment and solve the earth's existing problems.

Figure 1, Paris. Photo: Amelia Wood, 2010.

Second-hand clothing has gone beyond the barriers of time and space to become an important part of global trade and social life. By proposing why people still buy and wear second-hand clothes in times and regions with relatively abundant material conditions, as well as the differences in the circulation of second-hand clothes in different times and countries, the paper re-examines the history and past of the global circulation of second-hand clothes from a social and cultural perspective, and at the same time, it can glimpse the changes in the lifestyle and cultural concepts of people around the world through the circulation of second-hand clothes. It also could provide a new window into the world.

THE BIRTH BACKGROUND OF SECOND-HAND CLOTHING MARKET

The origin of the second-hand market dates back to the 1960s and 1970s. According to a report (2019), it indicated that Japan's economy continued to grow at a high rate, people accumulated a lot of wealth, and global consumption became the norm for the Japanese people of that era. Until the 1980s and 1990s, when the bubble economy burst and the economy fell into long-term stagnation, the Japanese people had to tighten their belts, readjust their consumption and lifestyle, and return to the tradition of saving. This means that the second-hand goods market came into being, on the one hand, people reduce the purchase of new products, and gradually turn to second-hand goods.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SECOND-HAND CLOTHING MARKET

The significance of second-hand clothing market is mainly divided into the four points：

1. THE MATERIAL NEEDS OF LIFE

Second-hand clothing becomes a tool to fight poverty. According to Tan Meng (2021), she indicated that from the 13th century to the early 20th century, the second-hand clothing trade was the preserve of people with fewer incomes as a way to obtain subsistence goods at lower prices. This means that some people in less developed areas can obtain clothing at a lower price to meet their material needs in life.

2. AS AN IDENTITY TAG

Second-hand clothing has become a way for people to pursue a special sense in the era of mass production. According to Rickettes (2019), he indicated that since World War II, wearing second-hand clothes has become a way for the younger generation to express their sense of rebellion, and as western culture spreads to the east, it has aroused strong reactions among Japanese youth. This means that second-hand clothing and its retro trend have become one of the symbols of current fashion, and more people are sought after under the "star with goods" effect.

3. AS A KIND OF SPIRITUAL COMFORT

Under the influence of many merchants, artists and people's life ideas, second-hand clothing has gradually been accepted by the middle class and the rich, and has become one of the ways for people to assume social responsibility. The famous second-hand store Goodwill rescued second-hand clothes from the waste station and named them "thrifty", which gave consumers a sense of social responsibility and made them more secure in the consumption of new goods (Waxman, 2018). In addition, With people's attention to the protection of the earth's environment, second-hand clothing trading, as a kind of moral economy and green consumption, has become one of the efforts of individuals to maintain the sustainable development of the earth. The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world after the oil industry, and the landfill and destruction of unused clothing has a huge impact on the environment. Therefore, in the pursuit of a healthy life, people participate in the resale and exchange of second-hand clothes. In the past 10 years, about 6 billion pieces of clothing have been re-used through the second-hand market, saving about $390 billion and reducing nearly 116 billion pounds of carbon emissions (ThredUp,2021). This means that more and more people choose to buy second-hand clothing to assume their social responsibility, and reduce carbon emissions by recycling second-hand clothing to achieve the coexistence of the nature.(Figure 2)

Figure 2, Website, Picture, 2023.

4. AS A MEANS OF SOCIALIZING

Second-hand clothing and other second-hand items become one of the ties that individuals build with the community. Wearing second-hand clothing is a way of social interaction, integration into local society and equality. According to an interview (2023), Yuting Chiang indicated that she especially likes to buy the second-hand items, not only because of the price, but also because they are so collectible. The process of finding used items is also very fun, and people can also meet and make friends with the same hobby. This means that The second-hand goods market has now been accepted by the younger generation, and a vintage boom has been formed. “With the improvement of people's environmental awareness and the change of consumption concept, the second-hand clothing market is gradually maturing, and its scale is constantly expanding. In 2019, the global second-hand clothing market was valued at $28 billion.” (Xiao Ye, 2023)

I came into contact with group members from different countries with different cultures. Through online research and study on the same topic and many offline group exchanges, I have a deeper understanding of the culture and market of second-hand clothing, and at the same time, I am more determined to engage in the study of sustainable fashion. In the early preparation process, we started from the perspective of environmental protection and sustainable development, and concluded that second-hand clothing is one of the most important forms of sustainable fashion. After that, the definition of second-hand clothing and the cultural sources of its market are presented in the form of slides, as well as some future development trends of the second-hand clothing market, so as to analyze nine advantages that people should support the purchase of second-hand clothing. With the deepening of the research, due to the different cultures of the members, we came up with the idea of interviewing each other's views on second-hand goods, and then put it into practice, and finally presented it in the form of video.

In addition, i always had a strong interest in sustainable fashion, but the focus has always been around how to innovate and explore sustainable clothing fabrics. Through this cultural exchange and learning, I have broadened my understanding of the diversity of sustainable fashion development methods, such as the recycling of second-hand clothing and zero waste of fabrics. At the same time, the school is offering a course on fabric zero waste, so I applied it to my own project. In the process of research, I learned about many artists in this field. For example, Issey Miyake (Figure 3) cleverly divides a piece of fabric into structural lines with the method of folding, so that the clothing becomes a great sense of collective design without wasting a piece of fabric. By making precise calculations of the fabric, Daniel Silverstein (Figure 4) makes it fit together like a jigsaw puzzle to achieve a cut with almost zero waste. These became my inspiration for the project.

Figure 3, Internet, Picture, Issey Miyake, 2019.

Figure 4, Weibo, Picture, Daniel Silverstein, 2021.

To sum up, I can further confirm that in the future, sustainable fashion will definitely become a major trend respected by the fashion industry. With the change of people's concept of second-hand clothing, the increasing sense of social responsibility, and the expansion of the market scale, second-hand clothing will be accepted and adopted by more people. This has also promoted my research on sustainable fashion to a greater extent, thumaking my project more complete.

REFERENCES

Teng Xun. (2024). Inventory of sustainable development trends of the fashion industry in 2024. https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20240101A028DT00

China Network. (2019). What is the reason for the popularity of the global second-hand economy? https://ent.china.com/gundong/11015422/20190827/36918069_all.html

Tan Meng. (2021). From material exchange to daily life: the world society behind the circulation of second-hand clothing. Regional and National Research Institute of Peking University.

Rickettes, L. (2019). “Dead White Man’s Clothes,” in Fashion Revolution.

Waxman, O.B. (2018). “People Have Been Reusing Clothes Forever But Thrift Shops Are Relatively New.”

ThredUp. (2021). 2021 Resale Report.

Kuar, L. (2023). Second-hand clothes culture. A Interview.           

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GKf1-U_6yN47KM8IeGqZrcwrhzsQHMjj/view

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 1, Paris. Photo: Amelia Wood, 2010.

Figure 2, Website, Picture, 2023.

Figure 3, Internet, Picture, Issey Miyake, 2019.

Figure 4, Weibo, Picture, Daniel Silverstein, 2021.