Save money, save water, save the environment…all while looking good.

Maybe it's because I was the oldest male cousin on either side of my family, but I have never had an issue with hand-me-downs.  My three-year-old daughter wears coats, sweatshirts, and occasionally a shirt or two that her sisters (16 and 13 years older than she) or her cousin (3 years older than she) wore. We even have a Cookie Monster sweatshirt that has been worn by a younger cousin of mine (now 21) and down through my son, nephew and niece, and now my toddler - and it will be ready for its next wearer in a couple of years.

Today, I went to a store that has the adult version of hand-me-downs: a clothing consignment store.  For those unfamiliar with the practice, it is a pawn shop, except for things you do not ever need back.  Items generally have a higher value (either fashion-wise or quality-wise) than those donated to a thrift store, and the people who give up their items do so with the promise of a significant portion of the proceeds if the sale goes through.

I like consignment stores because they do two things that - to me - improve quality of life greatly.  First, they reduce the amount of new clothing that we need to manufacture, preserving the embodied energy and water of the original clothing without requiring us to invest more in new clothing.  Second, it keeps still-useful products out of the waste stream, reducing our need for landfill space.  Right now, both of these impacts provides only a small benefit against the scale of each problem, but the impact is real and can expand rapidly.

For example, today, I needed a suit, sport coat, a couple of pair of pants, a pair of jeans, two shirts and a sweater.  (I shop for clothing once a decade, as most of my friends will attest given the unfashionable state of my wardrobe.)  If I purchased these at a lower-end department store, I might expect to have spent upwards of $350-500; at a high-end clothing store, as much as $1,000.  For my whole list, I spent $150.  For the 10 pounds of clothing I purchased today, I avoided approximately 1,500 to 2,500 MJ of energy use, and a whopping 50,000 litres of water (which has its own embodied energy).

Shopping at a consignment store means accepting outdated, but sometimes vintage, fashions.  However the environmental benefits are real, as are the benefits to the pocketbook.  Next time you want or need a new outfit, consider looking up the nearest consignment store in your town.  If it does not work, it does not work…but if it does, it means a great opportunity for you as well as others you will never meet.