Buying Used Clothing To Reduce Plastic Consumption

Recognize these?

If you received new clothing for Christmas, you probably had to snip/chew your way through a few of these. Many used clothing stores don’t use them. New clothing stores buy Tagger Tail Fasteners in packs of 5000 for about ten bucks. A piece of string could conceivably serve the same purpose, but tagger guns with plastic fasteners reduce labor. My mom used to buy me plaid shirts wrapped in plastic at Woolworths. My kids prefer to buy their own clothes and buy used more often than new.

I am not convinced that buying used clothing is the best choice with regard to the environment and social justice. The global clothing industry is a very complicated monster with a lot of sad stories. Buying durable clothing and caring for it well seems like the best way to go. Increasing the demand for organic, fair trade and/or sweatshop free clothing can only help matters.