Beyond the environmental impacts, we have labor concerns, fair wage concerns and the safety of workers.

As of 2022, Depop had over 30 million registered users. Of these Depop users, over 90% were found to be under the age of 26, according to Time Magazine.

As the app has grown, it has provided users with an alternative to the fast fashion industry. Depop consumers stop textiles from going into landfills each year by reselling and buying clothing items. There are currently over 16 million items for sale on Depop.

Miami and the surrounding Oxford community have come up with their own local counterculture of fashion, as well.

Zero Waste Oxford, a student-run organization at Miami, encourages students to think more critically about where their clothes are coming from. One way they do this is by setting up a thrift shop in the Armstrong Student Center every month.

The president of the organization, senior English literature and philosophy double major Ryan Rosu, said that even if they are not making a large-scale impact on the state of fast fashion, they are at least saving a few pieces from going to the landfill.

“Our pop-up thrift shop in Armstrong takes donations from anybody — a lot of which are fast-fashion pieces from places like Shein,” Rosu said. “Reselling these pieces makes the labor of that piece so much more valuable. And people really do buy them from us, which is great. It is nice knowing that we have extended that life cycle.”

Some fast fashion retailers, including H&M, are showing signs of change to become more sustainable. H&M hopes to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040. It also has plans in place to help offset the remaining 10% and reach net-zero emissions.

Until then, consumers can know for certain that they are making a difference by avoiding fast fashion consumption and shopping with resellers like Depop or the Zero Waste Oxford thrift shop.S