Wardrobe Crisis

View Original

Ep 104 ADAM MINTER - REUSE, RECYCLE & THE SECOND-HAND ECONOMY

See this content in the original post

We have a Patreon page. Love the podcast? To support, Click here .

EPISODE 104 FEATURES ADAM MINTER

Are you into vintage shopping or second-hand style? Join the club. Whether you're glued to Depop, buying high end designer vintage or an committed charity shop trawler, secondhand has lost its stigma in fashion circles. 

Recommerce is growing. According to Thredup, preloved fashion is on track to eclipse fast fashion within a decade, while 64% of women have either bought or are open to buying used clothes. But... hat doesn't mean the world isn't drowning in unwanted stuff. 

This podcast goes live on Black Friday. On this holiday and sales frenzy last year, Americans spent $6.2 billion on Black Friday, up 23.6% on the previous year.

Much of this haul will end up on the bin. We're still discarding clothing and other unwanted items at a record rate. So what happens to all our stuff when we’re done with it?

Meet the recycling obsessive who grew up on a junkyard and now works for Bloomberg. Adam Minter, author of Junkyard Planet, has a new book out. This one's called Secondhand - Travels in the New Global Garage Sale (Bloomsbury) and to write it he travelled all over the world talking to the people who deal in trash. In this fascinating interview, Clare picks his brains about everything from how metals get recycled to the politics of exporting our trash.

MUSIC is by Montaigne, who sang this special acoustic version of “Because I love You” from her album Glorious Heights, just for us.

Can you help us grow? Tell your friends about Wardrobe Crisis, or leave a review in your favourite podcast app.

Clare & the Wardrobe Crisis team x