The clothes we wear not only represent who we are, but where we’ve come from and how we acquire them. This theme is most apparent in the venues people use to purchase clothing. Buying first-hand retailers is one way, but buying second-hand, like thrift stores, and gaining clothing through hand-me-downs is another way their personality shines through.  

Hand-me-downs happened to be the most prevalent option given to me as a child, and despite getting my first job in high school, I still heavily relied on these passed-down items due to an inability to travel on my own. This circumstance didn’t change until I finally started attending college.  

Naturally, lamenting our problems became a regular pastime for my roommate and me, and one day, among the slew of complaints, she mentioned somewhere along the line that she had too many clothes. When I mentioned that I had too few—as in I lacked proper clothes outside multiple black T-shirts—she made an offer.  

“Let’s clean out my closet,” she said. 

The fashion industry is a rapidly changing landscape, one that can prove to be quite expensive for the avid participant. This can especially make it difficult for those trying to expand their collection in an inexpensive way. For college students, including those with no help from outside resources, closet cleanouts can be one way to affordably upgrade your wardrobe. From there, it was easy. She got rid of old clothes that no longer served a purpose, and I got to expand my wardrobe entirely for free.   

AI is a popular avenue for many looking to alleviate the struggle of choice. While this makes building or buying a new outfit easier than ever, AI-generated advertisements, clothing designs and much more have begun to heavily saturate the online world. Not only does this affect which products you buy, but also the way you perceive their supposed quality.  

When it comes to making the choice between buying second-hand or first-hand, two companies that encourage consumers to thrift online—Stitch Fix and Lumi—have come up with an alluring solution online. Rather than worry about how these resold pieces fit before being purchased, you can either use Sitch Fix’s try-before-you-buy or Lumi’s personal AI stylist. Though thrifting, even in this form, is preferred for preserving the environment, the use of AI consumes large amounts of water when being used, impacting the Earth in a negative way.  

Despite this, thrifting makes a huge difference. The benefits to thrifting include less clothing ending up in landfills, fewer wasted resources and reduced chemical pollution, and when it comes to benefits for the consumer, there are even more. Not only can you save money like I mentioned previously, but you can update your style wardrobe with a higher peace of mind.  

For students in university, this cheaper alternative becomes incredibly important, especially for Oli Harrison, a senior theater major at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La., said she “would much rather thrift,” adding that most of the time you’ll find good quality, long-lasting clothes. 

Despite finding good pieces for cheap in these thrift stores, she states that, despite thrifting’s reputation for being a cheaper alternative, the production of fast fashion and deceitful AI ads has made it increasingly difficult to find the high-quality pieces she desires.  

This desire for original, high-quality items can sometimes lead to more personal practices, ones which not only involve the mending of clothing—which Harrison participates in—but the creation of entirely new pieces.  

Creating one’s own clothing gives room for more originality that you might not find in local retailers and ultimately gives the person producing clothing a greater sense of creative freedom. While it doesn’t hold the same environmental value as thrifting, creating new works uses resources that could be preserved through the former method. Creating one’s own designs and patterns allows room for a more personal experience and unique designs you might not find elsewhere.  

In a world where fashion values quick availability, the quality of being unique is a precious resource, causing larger companies to leech off of smaller creators.  

In the case of Miles Evans, a senior communication major, the process of creating clothes becomes a safe haven, one that he doesn’t want to slip into the hands of these larger companies. Not only does Miles create his own clothing, but he also sells his pieces as well.  

“Fast fashion and AI clickbait ads have made it extremely hard to sell my work and express myself creatively,” Evans said. In situations like these, advertisements boasting supposed superior products can give other consumers the impression that whatever pieces Miles is selling are cheap and not worth the price they are being sold for.  

Cassey Ho, a designer and creator from Los Angeles on multiple platforms, is a great example of this. Her design, the Pirouette Skort, was copied in January 2023 by the clothing company Shein. The design boasted many features, including a front seam to prevent folding, a lengthened back for better coverage, and a waistband that avoided using elastic materials. Not only was Shein accused of copying the model posing and design, but they were also accused of using AI algorithms to find and copy the designs of other individual designers.  

Advertisements fueled by AI like this could mislead consumers, causing them to purchase cheaply made, AI designed goods. Not only does it prevent consumers from seeing these smaller creators, but it also creates trouble for independent creators who would want to pursue a solution to the problem legally.  

Ads like these take the spotlight away from small businesses that create clothing with intricate detail, intention and attention, and place it onto more easily obtainable, mass-produced products.  

In the end, the best way for college students to save money, and for the average consumer to fight against fast fashion and save extra space in landfills, is to buy and obtain clothing either second-hand or through smaller businesses. Doing so would reduce the profit that larger companies make from lower-quality products and ultimately discourage them from producing more.