There are a lot of people who claim that an average person selling clothing they found for super cheap, is "stealing from the poor." I've had feelings about this concept for years, even before I started reselling myself. So, I've done the research. Here is each unethical claim I could find about reselling.
Stealing from the Poor
One important issue people bring up is that your stealing quality clothing from the poor. While I believe this comment is coming from good place, the fact of the matter is there is so much quality clothing that thrift stores can't move it fast enough. In fact there is an overabundance of textile goods in thrift stores. So much so that only 10% of donated items end up being sold. Often clothing donated items are sent overseas. An estimated 700,00000 tons are exported every year. This mass amount of clothing actually creates a huge problem in the towns they arrive in. The abundance creates less demand and puts local textile workers out of business. A large amount of these clothing items end up in landfills, overseas.
It's not just Ghanna that is suffering, Chile too.
This overabundance in thrift stores is due to fast fashion. There is no shortage of affordable clothing for the poor. There is a shortage of where to put unwanted clothing. While fast fashion and large companies are at fault, one small way we can combat this disaster is to purchase used clothing and wear our clothing longer. Some of the ways to do this is purchasing from thrift stores, selling from thrift stores, and buying from resellers.
Access to Affordable Plus Size Clothing
This is another issue I find comes from the right place, but does miss the mark. As we discovered above clothing is in abundance and this also applies to plus size options. Unfortunately access to affordable and sustainable is still limited. This isn't the fault of resellers. This issue comes from issues including cost of material, cost of manufacturing, and simple fatphobia in high end fashion.
This issue is deep rooted and a lot more complicated than the fault of resellers. There are sustainable ways to manufacture plus sized clothing that haven't been put into practice on a large scale just yet. I'm looking forward to seeing bigger brands cater to bigger people.
Scalpers
F*ck these people. To me, this is actually stealing from common people. These people will create bots to purchase from online drops from brands like Nike, just to instantly resell the items with a 50% - 100% markup. These people ruined Squishmallows and Pokemon cards for me. They would buy out what was intended to be a child's toy and sell them for hundreds. Just to turn a buck. For many it was a way to survive, but for others it wasn't.
Don't get me wrong, life is hard and for many people -myself included- reselling is a means to survive. I have empathy for scalpers, but I do not agree with the practice. I do not participate and I recommend others to not partake.
Capitalism
Unfortunately we live in a capitalist society. Everything is about consumption, profit, and survival. Our system is inherently classist and patriarchal. Calling a whole group of people that is primarily built up of working class women who are just trying to survive "unethical" when in reality they are (in a very small way) off setting the carbon footprint of major corporations, is f*cked up.
There is no ethical means of consumption under capitalism.
Until there is a huge political shift in the country there will be no pure form of ethical consumption. This applies to everything. So, instead of attacking the average worker for their side hustle to survive, let's support each other. That's the only way to progress.
I know this post kind of went away from the main topic but that's kind of how my brain works.
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