Where fast fashion goes to die

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the “learn to mend” advice is so often overlooked. I know it can’t help when a garment is actually worn out. But I have been mesmerized by the YouTube videos that show you how to mend holes in wool sweaters. My 20+ years old cardigans live on thanks to being able to mend them!

Those accounts are super fun, yes. But also fake. Most sweaters do not get holes in cute places where darning looks fun. They get shrunken, stretched out beyond repair, or they never fit well in the first place. Most pants don't get holes in cute places. At least for me, I wear out the thighs of my jeans first. There's no cute way to patch that.

I DO have a darning loom now, lol, and I have patched a few kid pants and shirts that are super cute. But I hardly think it's a solution and probably all the stuff I've bought for mending is more harmful in the end than whatever extra use I get out of those pants.

With all of these types of problems we should always be highly suspicious of any solutions involving buying anything, even darning looms. It's the reusable cotton tote of it all.

Cute or not, I have gone ahead and patched thighs on jeans. It’s less apparent and for some things, it doesn’t matter. Normalize patched clothes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It gotten even worse with all these "influencers" doing try on hauls for content. There are several who get and post about multiple fashion subscription boxes a week. Admittedly, I used to watch them when Stitch Fix and Trunk Club started gaining popularity and was interested in trying them.

I'm not affected by those influencers at all. I would never, never do a clothing subscription. Problem solved.

There’s one person; problem solved! /s

[Anonymous]

For all the thighs wearing out pants-

https://www.denimtherapy.com/

I got an extra couple years out if some of my favorite jeans.
Big fan!

[Anonymous]

I have been buying from thrift stores since the 1990s. Yes that shows my age. But not only many of my clothes but a lot of my furniture were purchased in thrift stores, yard, sales, etc. and I have some really nice pieces. If you are patient, you would be amazed at what you can find. I'm not saying that everything I purchase is cheap. Just much of what I purchase is second hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a ton of clothes that I bought in the 90s that I still wear and I also wear vintage stuff that was my mom's from the 70s. But sadly in the last year or two middle age has hit me HARD and now I can't buy things fast enough to fit me. I'm sad to see the PPs saying the returning clothes is not good for the environment -- most stores have so little in stock (other than leisure wear) --- I ordered 8 pairs of black dress pants from 2-3 different vendors in different sizes at Christmas and could only find one pair that fit. The sizing was insane -- one pair of 8s from BR was too big, and another was too small. I had zero way of predicting what size I would be in any brand so just kept ordering different sizes. I would love to buy fewer clothes, better quality, but it's so hard to find anything. One thing I love about WFH is that I can wear the same pair of stretchy Land's End starfish pants every day and no one knows. I can even wear my sweater that has a big hole under the arm with it, and again no one knows.

That's great if your self-esteem can handle clothes with holes in them.

Different poster here.

I have a lovely new cashmere sweater that unfortunately got moth holes.

I don't see anything wrong with keeping it for a chilly zoom day.

I hope you don't either.

I get holes in my sweaters ridiculously fast (last month I bought a cardigan that was 50 years old and in pristine condition, and it had two small holes within 48 hours of my first wearing it!), and I also can’t bring myself to get rid of anything that’s cashmere or good-quality wool. I’ve been excited to see the small trend recently of sweaters with multiple colors pieces together. I’m going to try cutting off the good parts of some cashmere sweaters and combining them into a single, hole-free colorblocked sweater.

I also tried making a lap-blanket sized quilt out of cashmere sweaters. It’s soft and pretty, but unfortunately I find it a little too thin to be truly cozy as a blanket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been buying from thrift stores since the 1990s. Yes that shows my age. But not only many of my clothes but a lot of my furniture were purchased in thrift stores, yard, sales, etc. and I have some really nice pieces. If you are patient, you would be amazed at what you can find. I'm not saying that everything I purchase is cheap. Just much of what I purchase is second hand.

How do you get the smell out? Everything I buy from Poshmark smells like perfume.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a ton of clothes that I bought in the 90s that I still wear and I also wear vintage stuff that was my mom's from the 70s. But sadly in the last year or two middle age has hit me HARD and now I can't buy things fast enough to fit me. I'm sad to see the PPs saying the returning clothes is not good for the environment -- most stores have so little in stock (other than leisure wear) --- I ordered 8 pairs of black dress pants from 2-3 different vendors in different sizes at Christmas and could only find one pair that fit. The sizing was insane -- one pair of 8s from BR was too big, and another was too small. I had zero way of predicting what size I would be in any brand so just kept ordering different sizes. I would love to buy fewer clothes, better quality, but it's so hard to find anything. One thing I love about WFH is that I can wear the same pair of stretchy Land's End starfish pants every day and no one knows. I can even wear my sweater that has a big hole under the arm with it, and again no one knows.

That's great if your self-esteem can handle clothes with holes in them.

Different poster here.

I have a lovely new cashmere sweater that unfortunately got moth holes.

I don't see anything wrong with keeping it for a chilly zoom day.

I hope you don't either.

I get holes in my sweaters ridiculously fast (last month I bought a cardigan that was 50 years old and in pristine condition, and it had two small holes within 48 hours of my first wearing it!), and I also can’t bring myself to get rid of anything that’s cashmere or good-quality wool. I’ve been excited to see the small trend recently of sweaters with multiple colors pieces together. I’m going to try cutting off the good parts of some cashmere sweaters and combining them into a single, hole-free colorblocked sweater.

I also tried making a lap-blanket sized quilt out of cashmere sweaters. It’s soft and pretty, but unfortunately I find it a little too thin to be truly cozy as a blanket.

You should have your house accessed for the moths that eat cashmere

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been buying from thrift stores since the 1990s. Yes that shows my age. But not only many of my clothes but a lot of my furniture were purchased in thrift stores, yard, sales, etc. and I have some really nice pieces. If you are patient, you would be amazed at what you can find. I'm not saying that everything I purchase is cheap. Just much of what I purchase is second hand.

How do you get the smell out? Everything I buy from Poshmark smells like perfume.

Yes, this is a big problem for me too. I think it’s usually scented detergent not perfume. If you do a search on dcum you’ll find out that some people love that stuff and some people feel ill just thinking about it. I hate it. Soaking in vinegar helps and I also believe in hanging things in the sun. But sometimes it just will. not. Go. Away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been buying from thrift stores since the 1990s. Yes that shows my age. But not only many of my clothes but a lot of my furniture were purchased in thrift stores, yard, sales, etc. and I have some really nice pieces. If you are patient, you would be amazed at what you can find. I'm not saying that everything I purchase is cheap. Just much of what I purchase is second hand.

How do you get the smell out? Everything I buy from Poshmark smells like perfume.

Wash it or dry clean it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why. should I kill myself looking for nice consignment stores or going through Poshmark when millions of Americans don't care about how much they waste? I only cannot do this. There is no point. I have better things to do with my time (yes, like post on DCUM)

The point is to buy rarely. If you keep your clothing for longer, it's less of a pain to shop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much privilege in this thread. Don't return (even when your body is hard to fit!), don't buy clothes more than once every decade (who cares if you gained 100 lbs!), don't buy cheap fast fashion (spent $100 on a t-shirt to wear to work from home). My thighs wear holes in pants every 6 months. Should I patch them every time and wear my leggings until they're see-through, to just keep them from a landfill? Nonense.

Quite the opposite. Lots of people on here who are too scared or too good for thrift stores.

Then let them save the good clothes for people who need to thrift to afford anything approaching quality clothes.

I'd really love to know where all these quality, affordable thrift stores are. I generally find them to be a waste of time, and full of low quality items like Gap and Old Navy that are overpriced for what they are, but perhaps I am looking in the wrong places? I do buy things for my kids on Poshmark/Mercari, and occasionally for myself, but only things that I am 90% sure will fit.

What I am trying to do as I age is be more purposeful with what I buy. I work from home more these days and don't need as much work attire as I used to anyway.

There is a difference between “consignment stores” that resell high-end, mostly designer clothing and thrift stores like Goodwill or Salvation Army. I shop at the latter for my kids and have found North Face, Under Armour, Nike. I always take a look for myself while I’m there and usually don’t find anything of interest. I have seen some high end womens clothes at thrift stores but it’s like a diamond in the rough.

I hate shopping, and there's no way I'm ever going to browse a thrift store. I only set out to buy stuff when I know what I need, and a thrift store might not even have it. But when I figure out what I want, I DO try to look on Poshmark to see if I can find a used version. It's easier for kids because I'm more confident of fit. Harder for clothes for me but if I know the brand and the sizing it can work.

Checking Poshmark is great! No one is saying you can never buy clothes online or from the mall again, the goal is to do it less frequently.

I see a lot of teens in the thrift stores looking for cool finds and I think it’s great that Gen Z has less of a stigma about buying secondhand and thrifting.

I also appreciate that but let’s not pretend Gen Z invented thrifting. Remember pretty in pink and the awesome thrifted prom dress? I had a great men’s pinstripe overdose blazer that I would wear with a white t and Levi 501s as a nod to the talking heads fashion. I think it was $5 at a thrift shop and was a quality mens suit piece. I also had a great fitted black velvet top from the 1950s with three quarter sleeves that I somehow held onto — I tried to give it to my thrifting teen last week and she declined it but I’m holding onto it in case she changes her mind. I wore that to a lot of parties with jeans and ankle boots!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take care when laundering the clothes you already have so they last longer. Wash clothes less often, turn garments inside out to avoid snags and protect color, stop using dryer sheets and fabric softener, use white vinegar and wool dryer balls instead.

I swear I'm just incompetent on this front. Along with the tears and moths and holes that other PPs mention, I (apparently) am always spilling crap on myself, or getting grass stains & dirt stains from gardening/playing w/ kids outside--none of which I seem to be able to get out via laundry. I'd say 20% of purchases are just replacements for stuff I destroy (though I feel guilty and keep the stained/junky clothes "for messy activities" but then never really want to wear them* so they just stay at the back of my closet or bottom of a bin).

*I do wear them as PJs, but there are only so many of those that one needs!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been buying from thrift stores since the 1990s. Yes that shows my age. But not only many of my clothes but a lot of my furniture were purchased in thrift stores, yard, sales, etc. and I have some really nice pieces. If you are patient, you would be amazed at what you can find. I'm not saying that everything I purchase is cheap. Just much of what I purchase is second hand.

How do you get the smell out? Everything I buy from Poshmark smells like perfume.

Wash it or dry clean it.

Duh? I have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been buying from thrift stores since the 1990s. Yes that shows my age. But not only many of my clothes but a lot of my furniture were purchased in thrift stores, yard, sales, etc. and I have some really nice pieces. If you are patient, you would be amazed at what you can find. I'm not saying that everything I purchase is cheap. Just much of what I purchase is second hand.

How do you get the smell out? Everything I buy from Poshmark smells like perfume.

Wash it or dry clean it.

Duh? I have.

Yeah, as a frequent second-hand shopper who’s sensitive to smells, I’ve found that some of these are impervious to any amount of washing or airing. I’ve even tried multi washes, airing, AND leaving it in a closet for 6 months till the season came back around, and all that did was infect the neighboring items with some of the scent. I’ve always assumed it must be Febreeze because it smells more like chemicals than perfume to me. But maybe it could be the “lasting scent” laundry products? I use The RealReal on occasion and have gotten perfume-y items, but that’s both less bothersome and easier to fade.

Usually I end up eating the cost and just donating the item. Wish secondhand sellers would start disclosing their scenting approach, like smokers / non smokers do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a ton of clothes that I bought in the 90s that I still wear and I also wear vintage stuff that was my mom's from the 70s. But sadly in the last year or two middle age has hit me HARD and now I can't buy things fast enough to fit me. I'm sad to see the PPs saying the returning clothes is not good for the environment -- most stores have so little in stock (other than leisure wear) --- I ordered 8 pairs of black dress pants from 2-3 different vendors in different sizes at Christmas and could only find one pair that fit. The sizing was insane -- one pair of 8s from BR was too big, and another was too small. I had zero way of predicting what size I would be in any brand so just kept ordering different sizes. I would love to buy fewer clothes, better quality, but it's so hard to find anything. One thing I love about WFH is that I can wear the same pair of stretchy Land's End starfish pants every day and no one knows. I can even wear my sweater that has a big hole under the arm with it, and again no one knows.

That's great if your self-esteem can handle clothes with holes in them.

Different poster here.

I have a lovely new cashmere sweater that unfortunately got moth holes.

I don't see anything wrong with keeping it for a chilly zoom day.

I hope you don't either.

I struggle with keeping things like this, honestly. I have a history of OCD and can turn to hoarding very easily if I'm not careful.

I'm the previous hole in my sweater poster. I think the difference is if you can still wear it usefully, it makes sense to keep it. This sweater was one of my favorites and is really flattering on me. I can't wear it to the office because the holes are noticeable when I move around, but it still looks great on my on zoom (so is actually a plus for my self esteem!). It's also fine for wearing on Saturdays when I am just hanging around with the kids, or even wearing to Target is I'm wearing a jacket over it anyway. I actually tried to buy another version of it, but because it was cute and decently well made, of course the manufacturer doesn't make it anymore!

I’m learning to do contrasting color darning (meant to be seen) for my sweaters, and there are Etsy vendors who will stitch something whimsical like a moth over small holes.