What else can we do?
Yvonne Wong said that she sometimes browses vintage shops to pick up premium brands or fashion items that are still in pristine condition at lower prices. As part of this little experiment comparing fast fashion and vintage, she took me to Green Ladies & Green Little, a second-hand store located in Wan Chai, and helped me style two looks with vintage clothes.
In the video, the two outfits from Zara already exceed the HK$1,000 budget, and most of the fabrics are synthetic fibres and polyester. However, at the second-hand shop, the combined cost of two outfits is roughly half that of Zara’s, while the fabric actually feels more comfortable.
Wong said that whilst online clothing reviews are certainly worth consulting, it also has drawbacks.
“Although reading reviews of brands and clothing online can help clarify your thoughts and decide whether something is suitable for you before making a purchase, people should not blindly rely on influencers’ reviews," she said.
Sometimes those reviews are actually advertisements, or the influencer’s height and weight are different from yours, leading to disappointment and unnecessary waste when the item doesn’t meet your expectations," Wong said.
Steven Chan said that blindly following trends is not a good way to showcase personal style.
“In addition to buying secondhand clothing, we can also go to clothing rental stores to rent items like suits, formal dresses, and wedding attire that are not worn often, in order to avoid unnecessary waste," he said.
Karen Ho said that schools and local communities could organise more swap-and-trade campaigns, which would provide residents with another way to give away clothes they no longer need.
"These swap events make the flow of unwanted clothing transparent for the public, allow people to meet the recipients in person, and ensure that the clothes reach those in need," she said.
There are plenty of reviews on Xiaohongshu about women’s clothing from both online and physical shops.
Kennedy Lau packed up some clothes she had worn only once or never worn at all and decided to take them to a second-hand shop to sell on consignment. Among them were sports-brand tops, items bought online, and some fast-fashion pieces.
“There’s been a swap challenge trending on Xiaohongshu recently, so I’ve started swapping clothes I no longer wear with a close friend. Surprisingly, it’s worked out really well, and it’s also helped prevent clothes from going to waste,” she said.
“I believe that to truly protect the environment, retailers also have a responsibility just as much as consumers do. For example, they should provide more information like how garments are manufactured and whether they use recyclable fibres,” she added.
Before taking them to the consignment shop, Lau washed and folded the clothes she no longer wanted.
Ho said that Hong Kong could consider introducing a system similar to the EU’s Digital Product Passport, requiring all garments sold to be accompanied by labels providing traceable information on their origin, materials and environmental footprint, thereby enabling consumers to make purchasing decisions from a more sustainable perspective.
“Consumers obtain most of their information from retailers, who have a responsibility to provide the public with information on sustainability,” she said. “ If consumers are not informed, they will not know what kind of garment they are buying, nor whether it has caused environmental damage.”
She said that the government should also focus on education to foster public awareness of environmental issues when shopping.
“Nowadays, many retailers’ advertisements are highly effective at stimulating the desire to buy, yet the public has received little guidance on how to choose durable clothing; no one teaches people how to assess whether a particular item is worth purchasing,” said Ho.
“Many people mean to do good; when they no longer want clothes, they put them in the recycling bins. However, as each organisation has different criteria for what constitutes recyclable clothing, if people do not check these criteria beforehand, it is more likely to end up in a landfill, as it is not suitable,” said Karen Wong.
Ho said that people often fall prey to the “feel-good factor”.
“People simply feel good about putting their clothes in recycling bins, believing they have done a good deed and helped protect the environment, but in fact, the opposite is true. We still need to focus on public education to raise awareness of clothing recycling,” she said.