By Carley Taylor

Jasmine Durrah, student of fashion design, does in-store alterations at Ecologie Vintage and Resale in Kennesaw. She sits in the store surrounded by jeans, buttons, and zippers with her sewing machine in front of her as she talks about how important alterations and buying second-hand are for sustainability.

“I believe that altering clothing and using a seamstress is crucial for sustainability and environmental conservation,” says Durrah.

Sustainability can be defined as when something is accessible to all, affordable to all and is regenerative to the environment, says Lauren Bash, climate activist with a major in environmental science.

On the opposite side of buying second-hand is buying new from fast fashion companies. These places make clothes that are poor quality, barely worn and thrown away as trends change, says Helen Sydney Adams, researcher on fast fashion, in an article for Manufacturing Digital in 2024.

Brands like SHEIN, Forever 21 and many more stick to this system of producing clothing with little care for how it effects the environment. These companies sell clothing nationwide and worldwide while having their clothes made in developing countries like Vietnam, India or Bangladesh with cheaper labor costs and less regulations, according to George Washington University.

“The fashion and textile industries are some of the biggest polluters on the planet, creating 3% of global CO2 emissions and being the second largest cause of water pollution worldwide,” Adams writes.

Even so, it is estimated that over 100 billion items of clothing are made every year. That is equivalent to every single person in the world having 12.5 pieces of clothing. By 2030 global apparel consumption is expected to rise by 63 percent— from 70 million tons to 105 million tons, according to Uniform Market, Global Apparel Industry Statistics, as of August 2024.

Rather than buy from fast fashion companies; alterations can extend the life of used garments and help reduce waste, says Durrah.

Alterations

“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair, Repurpose, Repeat,” says Ecologie Vintage on their Instagram page. It is their motto for how they run their business.

This outlook is what led Ecologie to start in-store alterations. They provide many services like zipper replacement, tear and rip mend, strap adjustment, latch repair, hem on pants, skirts, shirts and cropping.

“Sometimes we’ll manipulate things, like crop things, we cut sleeves out of things, we’ll add a little patch or something,” says Nancy Vann, Owner of Ecologie in an interview for Cobb Life Magazine. “We reproduce whatever’s trending with vintage and manipulate it if possible.”

The trend cycle of clothing has completely changed in the last few years as social media plays a bigger role than ever before. The trend cycle is now referred to as the ‘hypercycle’ in the fashion industry as trends are coming and going faster than ever before with a constant desire for more, says Stella Hertantyo, who has has a Ph.D. In sustainable development and is passionate about slow fashion.

Joelle Ruck, TikTok influencer who lives in New Zealand with a passion for sustainability, is the owner of Riel Store. She takes used clothes and alters them to turn them into something “new” and fashionable for her customers with an emphasis on slow fashion instead of fast fashion.

“For me, slow fashion is being more focused on sustainability and the customer than profit,” says Ruck. “I started Riel because I noticed that the fashion industry was overwhelmed with a constant desire for new pieces with little care for the actual product so on the opposite side, we offer a more slow and considered approach to the clothing sold.”

The change to ‘hypercycle’ was affected by apps like TikTok and Instagram with users being able to consume and take on fashion trends faster than ever before. This is why micro-trends have emerged. The micro-trend is a specific style that quickly goes in and out of popularity and they used to stick around for a few years but now are cycled through in a manner of months or weeks, says Hertantyo.

“As I enter my sophomore year at Drexel University, I’ve already encountered the overwhelming issue of textile waste and fast fashion,” says Durrah. “The practice of repairing garments or learning to do so yourself can significantly reduce environmental impact.”

What now?

Riel Store is passionate about making sure their reworked or altered clothing is done from vintage pieces and recycled fibers which are then given a new lease on life as their customers are buying from a company that is all about being mindful of over-consumption, says Ruck.

When it comes to apparel shoppers in the United States; 83 percent say that the price of an item of clothing is what they pay the most attention to when deciding to buy an item or not. The brand they are buying from does not play much of a role in the decision showing that many would buy from anywhere that has decent prices, according to Uniform Market, Global Apparel Industry Statistics, as of August 2024.

Instead of buying from fast fashion companies paying for a simple alteration or repair is often much less expensive than buying a new garment, which can further extend the item’s lifecycle, says Durrah.

“[I recommend alterations] because sometimes you cannot find what you are looking for and you actually already have it in your closet,” says Aliya Khan, owner of Shoe Repair, Luggage and Clothing Alterations in Kennesaw. “Sometimes it’s just cheaper to get an item altered than buying something brand new.”

Fast-fashion brands use materials like polyester, acrylic and nylon which all contribute to damaging the environment and are not recyclable, according to the Greenly Institute.

The majority of clothes that are bought from fast fashion companies are later incinerated, shipped overseas or sent to the landfill, says Bash.

“I would always recommend researching and finding seamstresses or alterations services before purchasing new items as replacements,” says Durrah.

Buying things second hand from places like Ecologie Vintage or Riel Store can reduce carbon emissions, keep things moving circularly and drastically reduce waste versus buying new, says Bash.

“I know we are all talking about the presidential election, but down ballot elections matter so much too. We’re voting for our judges and our district attorneys and who’s in our classrooms,” says Bash. “If were going to have climate resiliency this shit matters.”