Secondhand shopping is widely embraced as a greener alternative to fast fashion, offering a way to extend garment life and reduce demand for new production. Yet new research from Yale University challenges this assumption. The study shows that people who frequently buy used clothing often purchase large quantities of new clothing as well, which means that resale is not lowering overall consumption but instead amplifying it.
A growing resale market that doesn’t slow new buying
The study, published in Scientific Reports and based on a nationally representative survey of 1,009 Americans, found a positive relationship between secondhand purchases and spending on new clothing. Younger shoppers and people who shop often showed the strongest pattern, indicating that buying used garments typically supplements rather than replaces new purchases. Meital Peleg Mizrachi, a postdoctoral fellow in Yale’s Department of Economics and coauthor of the study, explains that while secondhand markets are often viewed as an environmentally friendly solution, they may unintentionally encourage unsustainable buying habits and faster wardrobe turnover.
How fast fashion fuels the cycle
The findings echo wider research on the fashion industry’s environmental impact. Fashion contributes between 2% and 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than international aviation and maritime shipping combined. Fast fashion’s accelerated production cycles have dramatically expanded the volume of clothing entering the market; global garment production has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, and clothing consumption has risen by approximately 400%. In 2023 alone, an estimated 2.5 to 5 billion unused garments were produced and added to global waste streams.
Why donations don’t solve the problem
Although donating unwanted clothing is widely encouraged, most charitable systems are overwhelmed by the sheer volume they receive. Much of the surplus ends up in markets across the Global South, where the local ecosystem can no longer absorb it, or it is ultimately discarded in landfills or incinerators. The Yale study suggests that secondhand buying, rather than slowing this waste pipeline, may accelerate it by giving consumers a perceived outlet for constant turnover.
The high-consumption secondhand enthusiast
Survey results showed that a large share of respondents had bought secondhand clothing at least once, and many of them also reported high levels of consumption in both new and used apparel. People who are active in resale tend to return items quickly, keep garments for shorter periods, and often increase their rate of secondhand buying year after year. According to Peleg Mizrachi, this group is motivated by novelty and by the desire to stay aligned with rapidly changing trends. As a result, they discard clothing while it is still in excellent or even unused condition, generating more textile waste than consumers who shop less frequently.
Generational and gender differences
Younger people showed much stronger engagement with both the primary fashion market and the resale economy. Participation in secondhand buying was especially high among individuals aged 18 to 24, while people aged 65 and older were far less involved. Students were the most active secondhand consumers, and women overall reported greater participation in both used and new clothing markets than men. Interestingly, a person’s knowledge of fashion’s environmental and social impacts did not reliably predict sustainable behavior; many well-informed consumers still engaged in high volumes of buying.
Psychological drivers: rebound effect and moral licensing
The researchers used two behavioral theories to explain these patterns. The rebound effect describes how people tend to consume more of something when it feels cheaper, cleaner, or more efficient; in this case, buying used clothes can reduce guilt or perceived environmental cost, making people more comfortable with buying additional items. Moral licensing occurs when individuals justify environmentally harmful behavior because they believe they previously made a virtuous choice. Purchasing secondhand clothing may give shoppers a sense of moral credit that then encourages them to buy more new garments.
Why policy change is needed
Peleg Mizrachi argues that policy intervention is essential to align resale practices with sustainability goals. She proposes requiring resale platforms to disclose their environmental metrics, including how unsold inventory is handled and how shipping contributes to emissions. At present, neither the United States nor the European Union regulates the secondhand market. Recognizing resale as part of the broader fashion system, she says, would be an important step toward reducing the industry’s environmental burden.
