Welcome to the Tweet Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette, hey girl. And you are tuned in to Tweet Trends.
It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Welcome back. Today is National Second Hand Wardrobe Day. Let's get started.
Although the millennials and some celebrities out there as well have caused people to view secondhand wardrobes in a different light, like they've actually made it kind of cool to do, there are still people out there that are dead set against the idea of a secondhand wardrobe, even though they can save money and have a positive impact on the environment. There are just some people that would not be caught dead in secondhand clothes. But they'll be the first ones to run out to the store and spend $200, $300 on a pair of distressed or destroyed jeans, which is absolutely crazy to me. Now, granted, I was given that concept from my mother as she helped cultivate that.
And I guess that's the other part of that other side of the coin that, depending on how you were raised with the type of morals and beliefs you had about certain things, there are certain things that just wasn't going to happen. One going to go down. My mother was not going to let me wear pants with the knees busted out in them. I don't care how popular, how much everybody else had them on.
It was not going to happen. But that's story for a different day. That's completely different story. But what we're talking about today is the fact that it's a National Secondhand Wardrobe Day.
And you would be amazed to find out what type of impact just the clothing industry has on our environment to start with and why it is such a good idea to consider secondhand shopping. OK, so I was today years old when I found out that the average lifetime of a garment is estimated to be around a period of three years. And then once that time has elapsed, people tend to just throw it away. Being lazy, you know, I can't tell you how many people I've talked to during these COVID times that are saying, oh, yeah, I went through my closet and got rid of stuff.
And I was like, oh, really? So you donated it? And they're like, well, no, I didn't think I could because of the virus. So I just do it away.
And you're like, seriously? Like, oh my gosh, like, really? You just do it in a trash? To me, I couldn't do that.
I couldn't just throw good clothes in the trash. But for some people, they look at it and they're like, well, that's not good. Because it has a hole in the knee or the shirt got a snag in it. And then some people just clearly move away from an outfit or an article of clothing or shoes because it's not in styling anymore.
It was a trendy piece. It was good for the time being. But now nobody would be caught dead wearing a vet. Therefore, it's got to go.
I need to make room for something else in my closet. So when people just throw away their clothes and their shoes, they just toss it in the trash. What happens next? Let me tell you what happens next.
It ends up in a landfill somewhere. And 80% of the stuff that ends up in landfills as far as clothes and shoes can be recycled. The percentage that is being recycled, the things that people are actually sending other places, only 25%. So when you look at all these different thrift stores around, Goodwill, and places like that, that's only 25% of it, guys.
The rest of it is rotting in landfills around the country. And think about it. If you had clothes in your washer or dryer, well, let's say the washer because they'd be wet in the washer. Let's say you had wet clothes in the wash.
After a while, it starts to smell. It's going to start to get molded. That's what happens to the fabrics and fibers that we put in the trash and just let it go off to a landfill. Can you imagine how funky it must smell at a landfill with all this clothes just piling up in there?
And then that's not even the craziest part about it. Synthetic fibers don't decompose quickly. It could be hundreds of years before it'll decompose. And then on top of that, items like wool, fabric like wool, it releases methane gas into the atmosphere.
And you know what methane gas does? It contributes to global warming. So there are so many positives as to why you should recycle by just dropping your stuff off. You can go to a good will, drive up to the back door and just leave your stuff there.
You don't have to get a ticket from anybody if you don't want to. And I mean, especially if you're not into wearing secondhand clothes, at least do the plan of the favor and give your stuff to one of these places where somebody can actually use it. They don't put all of the stuff out on the floor. Some of the stuff is so ratty that they're like, you know what?
We can't do anything with this. But you know what they do? There are places out there that will recycle the stuff that they can't even use. And there you go.
We get that whole little recycle wheel going and we're kind to our planet. We're kind to each other. You know, we get to live another day because the other thing that I didn't mention so far was that the resources on this planet are finite. And I didn't realize this either, that the clothing industry, textile industry, they run on high energy, high water usage, and they use a lot of toxic chemicals.
All reasons why you should consider recycling your stuff. And don't just think of recycling as, well, that means I'm going to take it off my body and it's going to go to somebody else. No, you got to think outside of the box. Old clothes can be turned into insulation for buildings.
Yarn. Furniture stuffing. Paper. Playground equipment.
And then those cool cushiony playground floors, you know, outside. All of those things are created from recycled products, textiles, clothes, shoes. So come on guys. We really need you to consider recycling.
Is that your grandma's coat? Can we go through shopping? Bottom line, what can each one of us do today for this National Second Handboard Drove day to have a positive impact on our world as a whole? What can we do?
Well, get your paper and your pencil out because I've got a gang of things, a lot of suggestions for you. Okay? Let's start off with just general basic stuff. First thing you can do, you can donate your clothes.
If you go through your closet, if you go through your shoe racks, don't just throw it in the trash, take it to one of these places like a Goodwill or Salvation Army or whatever places in your area. Do it that way because one that keeps the clothes out of the landfills. You can even, some of these places even have where you can call them and have them come pick up the stuff from your house. If you don't want to waste your gas on it, then have them come to you.
But that's step number one. Step number two, if you have children, consider getting your kids clothes second hand. They grow so fast. It's not even funny.
It'll make your head spin. So when you think about the fact that this summer, my child has this set of clothes by next summer, nine times out of ten, they're not wearing those clothes because they don't fit anymore. But if you invest in second hand clothes, then there is that recycling circle that you've got going and it's not a bunch of new clothes that's being pumped through society dumped into landfills. You don't have any of that and it's so much easier on the environment.
So those are two very practical moves. Now, let's get into a little fun stuff. Halloween. Rather than spending a gang of money on some designer costume, design it yourself, go to the thrift store and make it an event.
Have your friends, everybody get together. Hey, what do you want to be? What do you want to be? Let's go to the thrift store and see if we can't put that outfit together for Halloween for you from the stuff there.
Why not? It only makes sense. Another thing, make it a competition. Now, I may be dating myself to even mention this, but back in the day, there was a show on the style network and it was called The Look For Less.
The host was Elizabeth Hasselbeck and what it was is they would have Joe Schmo off the street, just a random person and, well, not a random person. They actually applied to be on the show, but they would give the person a picture of a high fashion look and give them an hour and I think maybe $200 to then recreate that look on a budget. Do something like that with your girls. Have a fun little like a spa day type thing and then let this be one of the activities where everybody has the same picture, get your favorite fashion magazine, get the same picture and then everybody goes to try to duplicate that look off of the stuff from the thrift store.
Now, don't get it twisted. The thrift stores have some nice stuff and especially if you go to the ones in the high rent district, okay? If you go to the ones in the right neighborhoods, you're going to find all your name brands. Who knows?
You may even find some red bottoms in there because people that have a lot, they give a lot and they're not going to send the ratty stuff there. Those may be there, things that they throw in the trash. I have an issue with that. Send it all there because the people that good will and salvation army, they'll go through the stuff and determine what can and cannot go out there and the stuff they can't.
They know where to send it. They just don't put it in a landfill. They know exactly where that stuff goes. So those are my uber practical ideas and suggestions.
Oh, let me say this, a little transparency here. My wedding dress came from a thrift store. Seriously. My wedding dress came from a thrift store.
I don't even know that it was $50. It had some, I guess, sun damage to it. It had been in the window and it wasn't the material. It was the sequence that were damaged and my mother, now granted my mom is crafting.
So everybody's mom might not be like this, but my mom hand stitched new sequence on my dress. You couldn't tell it. There was no cloud over my head that said, oh, look, she got this from the thrift store. And I saved a gang of money because I know some people that have invested a lot into a wedding dress and what you wear it once, you take a few pictures in it and then what?
Seriously, your kids not going to want to wear that dress when they get married. Very rarely does that happen. So like I said, those are my uber practical tips. Now here are those other extra little gems for you.
This is an organization called Go Green Charity Recyclers. You can find them on Twitter at GGCRRecyclers, R-E-C-Y-C-L-E-R-S. There's also Planet Aid. You can find them on Twitter at Planet Aid, just like it says, P-L-A-N-E-T-A-I-D.
And then there's of course, tried and true Salvation Army. You can find them on Twitter at Salvation Army US. There's also Goodwill and I cannot forget the crumb to the crumb. From Amal Goers, go to H&M.
Yes, you can find them on Twitter as well at H&M. H&M has a bin. I don't know if you don't read their literature, you'll never know it. But they have a bin.
You can bring your old clothes to H&M. And they'll give you a percentage off of your purchase by donating. What? They already have their prices as it is.
So hello. So those are my tips. If you didn't get it, rewind it, make sure your pencil is sharp or the Japan has ink because you need to get this stuff down. If we all work together, we can make this world a better place and recycling is one of those ways that we can start.
It was 99 cents. That was today's episode of Tweet Trends. And yes, I did get a little wordy. However, this is something that's very near and dear to my heart.
I am not too proud to go do a little bit of second-hand shopping. It's not that serious, guys. You can do it. And nobody's going to talk about you.
And if you feel like you have to go to a Nordstrom or an even Marcus in order to have people say good things about you, like, oh my gosh, she's such a good dresser. Well, if that's the most that people have to say about me in this lifetime, then I'm doing something wrong. But that's personal opinion, do you boo. But at least consider doing a little something for our world as well.
And so before you go and clean out your closet, do me a favor, head on over to Twitter and follow me at hay. That's at he. That's at he. E.
V. E. T. T.
E. Or look for the hashtag tweet trends. You can also find me on Instagram. Almost forgot what it was.
You can find me on Instagram as well as on Facebook, except on Facebook is at hay. Yvette. And then the number one do that share it with a friend. I think that if maybe people don't know, maybe they're not aware of what clothes actually goes to the environment.
So let's get that awareness out there and let's do some good for the hood.