Outdoor clothing brand Patagonia has long promoted the idea of purchasing secondhand clothing whenever you can. Through the company’s Worn Wear program, customers have been able to shop for used items or sell their old goods for cash on a separate website from patagonia.com.
This past Black Friday, Patagonia upped its commitment to the ‘buy used’ movement by adding a new feature to its main website. Now when shoppers browse through the new items they want to get, a secondhand version of the same item is listed right next to the new item. This not only makes it easier to opt for a used version of the item, but it also normalizes the idea of buying secondhand even further.
As Katherine Martinko of Treehugger put it, the fact that Patagonia itself is listing the secondhand item is comforting to shoppers who may feel skeptical about an item’s quality and condition.
The environmental benefit of shopping for used items over new ones is clear. According to Patagonia’s CEO Ryan Gellert, buying a used garment extends its life on average by 2.2 years, which reduces its carbon, waste, and water footprint by 73 percent. On top of that, shopping for secondhand clothing can expose you to a whole range of stylish, fun clothing items from a different time that you might not see in stores anymore.
Recently, we wrote a piece about how to become a pro at thrift shopping. You can find that story right here.
