Every year, 92 million tons of clothing end up in landfills. The major contributor to this is a consumer demand for fast fashion– items that are produced quickly and cheaply and then sold at a low cost.

Fast fashion is the second-biggest consumer of water and responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions—this number is larger than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

This industry is growing at an exorbitant rate. This year, the fast fashion industry is valued at $167.02 billion. By 2032, that number is expected to reach $291.1 billion.

Because of the fast fashion phenomenon, on average people are buying four times the amount of clothing per year than people did in the year 2000.

A vast majority of people do not need four times the amount of clothing than they did three decades ago. But, still, people choose to put money back into the corporations destroying our earth—and our bank accounts.

While items can be bought cheaply, clothing made from low quality materials and construction require frequent replacement. In some cases, clothing only lasts a couple wears. With frequent replacement, in the long run, consumers will end up paying more low-grade products than they would for more expensive, high-quality clothing that will last them a long time.

Companies like Shein, Zara and H&M—while popular—are not worth their prices if you cannot enjoy wearing their pieces for longer than a few washes. These three brands take up 79% of the fast fashion market share.

Of the 60 million factory workers employed worldwide—mostly in the global south—less than 2% actually earn a living wage. Overseas workers in the fast fashion industry are paid as little as $1.58 per hour. Garment workers endure unsafe conditions, wage theft, exhausting hours, minimal pay and gender-based harassment.

Instead of building trust and innovation in design, modern fashion companies are focused on generating artificial scarcity, engineered obsolescence and manipulative marketing to drive overconsumption and create feelings of inadequacy in consumers.

Fast fashion is caused by the constant change in trends. One minute something is in and the next it’s not. This constant change leaves people buying new stuff rapidly and throwing old things aside. According to Vice, “while fashion historically moved in 20-year cycles (e.g., 70s styles returning in the 90s), this cycle has accelerated significantly due to instant digital trends.” Is there an end to this madness and overconsumption? The easy answer is no. As long as social media exists, fast fashion will as well. Social media is the driving point for fast fashion. Internet celebrities post their favorite clothes and products, next thing you know, it’s considered the next best thing.

As prices keep inflating, products continue to become more expensive than ever before. It’s not just grocery store products, either—it’s things like clothes, makeup and jewelry. It feels like a letdown every time you go shopping to pick up a clothing item that you love, just to put it right back after checking the price. Products that are now on clearance are selling for prices like $30 or more—prices that used to just be the regular price of clothing.

When it comes to choosing between a $30 top and buying five small necessities, it makes more sense to buy the small things.

Which is why people should begin to switch to thrifting for their clothes. You can find unique pieces of clothing for extremely low prices and buy clothes without hurting the environment.

Stores like Hollister have begun selling tops in the babydoll style for $30-40 when thrift stores sell tops just like them for $5 at most, but with distinctive patterns in all different colors.

You also don’t have to go to the nicest thrift stores to find good items. You can go to Goodwill and walk out with huge piles of clothes. And these piles of clothes may have cost over a hundred dollars, had you gone to even just a store like Target. At Goodwill, it usually costs max $40.

Along with that, nothing compares to the feeling you get when you’re going through racks forever and then you find that piece of clothing that may just be the cutest thing you’ve ever seen, and the best part is, likely no one else you meet in your life will have that same piece of clothing.

But the biggest benefit of switching to thrifting is on the environment.

When it comes to healing the environment through thrifting, there are many ways you can go about this. Goodwill, for example, has a rewards program through which you can donate your own clothes for store credit. You can also earn points towards the store just by buying clothes.

This system is a great because it encourages customers to donate their clothes instead of putting them in a landfill and polluting the environment even more. A win for customers and the environment.

While there are some cons to thrifting, such as dirty/stained clothes, each time you choose thrift stores over the mall, you are helping the environment single-handedly. Plus, you’ll walk out with twice the amount of items from the thrift store for the same amount of money a smaller amount of clothes would cost at the mall.

The best part about thrifting is the creativity and individuality of it. Fashion is not just the clothes we wear. It is a certain type of art specific to a person.

Thrifting forces you to examine clothing and think about how you can style certain pieces. You are required to use your imagination to come up with possible outfit ideas that would work with unique items of clothing.

Also, even if you aren’t interested in fashion, you can still pick up any type of shirt or top to style with any pair of pants or shorts. It’s a cheaper and eco-friendly way to shop.

Most of the clothing items found at Goodwill or Value World are pieces not seen recently on anyone else. It’s a certain feeling of accomplishment when someone asks about your outfit and you get to explain how you found the pieces at different thrift stores and put them together to make your own masterpiece.

Buying clothes from the mall or online fashion websites is always understandable. Of course, it can be easier than rummaging through racks of clothing to find something you enjoy, but even one step in the right direction can help improve our environment.