The shirt you are wearing used 4,000 litres of water to make, and those jeans you just bought: 7,600 litres. Even your phone, small enough to fit in your pocket, required over 12,700 litres.
Every time someone buys a new item, the Earth’s resources are placed under stress. Producers are constantly forcing the next new product in our faces. Trends are rolled out on a conveyor belt and excessive demand is so ingrained in our society that the cost of production is rarely questioned. We are currently consuming resources at nearly double the speed of the Earth’s regenerative capacity. If everyone consumed at the rate of the average American, we would need five planets’ worth of resources just to keep up. We are using resources that we do not have, at a rate we cannot sustain.
Overconsumption is a worldwide crisis. Each step of the production cycle, from material extraction to waste disposal, poses a threat to our planet. Products are made, habitats are lost, people are exploited, the planet grows hotter, but the hunger of the modern world remains unsatisfied. The cycle continues.
In a materialist society where convenience is highly valued, it is often difficult to break away from the consumerist cycle. The products we have at our fingertips are the drivers of overconsumption. Planned obsolescence in tech or fashion, and intentionally complicated designs, gives products a short life span. Repairs are often costly or difficult, and upgrading the product is presented as the best and only option.
Today, items are made to be cheap and disposable, not durable and long lasting like they once were. Customers can heavily influence this throwaway culture and the surge in low-quality production. We need to rethink how we consume. We should rent or buy second-hand where possible and favour higher-quality items that protect our planet instead of exploiting it.
Positively, the second-hand market has grown significantly in the past few years. In the UK, over 70% of consumers bought or sold used goods in 2024, with 63% making regular second-hand purchases. This expanding market is a glimmer of hope for our rapidly depleting planet. Products are being reused and passed from one consumer to the next rather than tossed into landfill. Items are cared for and repaired before moving to a new owner, where the cycle can continue.
Our individual behaviours can have significant impacts on the product market, and businesses are starting to recognise this. The rise in second-hand, sustainable consumption threatens the fast fashion, throwaway business model. By changing the way we consume, companies are forced to change the way they produce. Companies like Patagonia, Levi’s, and Unilever have embedded sustainability into their brand, and each one continues to be a thriving enterprise.
The Patagonia shirt you’re wearing used hardly any water to make, and the Levi’s jeans you just bought will use less than 3000 litres in their lifetime. These products are made with the environment at their forefront, they are made to last, and they are a result of consumer values driving real change.