Let's say I need some X. Last week I bought a base layer because it's getting cold here.
I can order, or buy in a store, a brand new X trivially. I don't actually need a brand new X. A used X would do me just fine.
But the difficulty in doing so is ridiculous in comparison. Cottage industry eBay stuff (that you have to order online) vs. an entire infrastructure built around producing and selling new stuff.
Amazon also sells 'Warehouse deals' of returned product at a discount.
There are also chains of 'buy/sell/trade' stores like Buffalo Exchange, and many local vintage and consignment stores.
But there are significant challenges when you introduce all the ways that used products can deteriorate, plus the challenge of discovery and managing a stock that can potentially include 'everything ever produced in history' rather than 'this season's SKUs'. Plus the 'Market for Lemons' issue that many people generally get rid of things when they've failed somehow, and only sometimes is the issue 'I don't like this thing's style anymore'.
I generally thrift & vintage stores more interesting than new clothing stores, and enjoy the thrill you get when you find something you could never find new for a very good price, but the tradeoff is that it takes significant effort to find clean reliable basics in your size in the used market, as people generally keep those things until they wear out, and it's basically impossible to keep a full size run of anything used in stock.
eBay is full of their used stuff and some neat retro gear.
A crappy shirt or dress can’t get upcycled or recycled whatever. It ends up in a dump and people need to buy new fashionable stuff.
Movies, TV shows, celebrities and currently [social media] influencers are the ones creating this demand, sometimes with their own overpriced crappy brands.
You might have trouble finding a used A/C in the middle of July, and you might have to try a few locations to find what you're looking for, but it's less trouble than plenty of stuff that people do to be more eco-friendly.
Buying a used base layer on eBay is not ridiculously difficult as compared to buying a new one from other online retailers. Amazon is certainly easier but compared to going to an online store like REI, I'd say it is comparable.
Are you saying that the brick and mortar stores? REI I believe has used gear in their brick and mortar store, the selection is probably going to be all over the place but I'm not sure how a single store would guarantee a used stock. I think their used inventory is listed online. There's also good will and other consignment shops and things like that.
I'm wondering if what you really want is better marketing for used services to increase awareness. That seems pretty legit. Maybe there's an opportunity there to really blast out a marketing/propaganda campaign to get this concept burned into consumer's minds?
Walk into an REI and there might be five or ten choices, all probably pretty good, and you can try them on right there and read reviews and specs and information about the materials.
On eBay there are probably (I'm guessing) millions of nondescript black base layers in any number of condition, with an enormous range of fits for the same "size", fabric of unknown type & performance, total lack of reviews, etc.
It's an interesting sort of problem. There's surely countless garments that would suit you fine for a tiny amount of money, but finding them in the ocean of garments that would not is a miserable chore.
The first group will never consume enough cloths to make use of what the second group discards.
Part of the problem is the number of clothes that don't last long. They are expensive and wear out quickly.
Another part of it is culture. How many people can pull off wearing clothes from 10 or 20 years ago without being judged for doing so.
This is a larger problem than sharing and availability. It's cultural.
The example I hear a lot for some reason is power tools. Yeah it would be great to share power tools because you only need them once or twice... but you only buy them once or twice otherwise. It’s a good idea to help poor communities consolidate resources but it’s hard to help large communities reduce their eco foot prints
That is to say that I don't actually think it drives economic growth overall. It may do within a specific sector at the expense of others.
If something is bad for economic growth, whose growth matters? Ecological arguments are perhaps one of the better things to consider because at the end of the day it may kill everyone. shrug
Yes, that's the point! I take the world without the economic growth where people are happy with what they have over one with economic growth and unsustainable level of CO2 emissions.
You know, people of poor and underdeveloped countries have the right to aspire to a better life (and yes, that means owning more than a couple of ragged t-shirts and eat meat often than twice a month)
Wouldn't the money going to clothing just go to something else? It's not like the workers or company owners would sit on their hands when fashion stops being profitable.
The people... well this hypothetical is extreme so it’s hard to say. But populations of workers have been abandoned in the past before and it varies. It’s fully believable that they would just not have anything to do and would... idk... protest.
That might be an improvement over what we have now? But I suspect that it's hardly ideal. Unless you were geographically restricted in what you could order. (ie - No ordering some wiz-bang base layers from a family that happens to be in Norway when you live in Minneapolis.)