Sustainability in fashion is now strongly advocated for in the fashion community with people supporting local shops and businesses in Columbia, recycling and donating their clothing items to various causes around the area.
Local clothing stores and shops around Columbia are making efforts to promote recyclable fashion by teaching people in mending clinics, encouraging shopping at local stores and visiting tailoring shops.
Soda City regular Pannerpete Vintage opened its storefront in Five Points in March 2023, providing vintage clothing and accessories, as well as the ability to maintain and prevent wasted clothing.
Co-owner and repairs department manager of Pannerpete Vintage, David Hicks said many people do not consider the lifeline of their clothing, and that people can restore their clothes to wear for longer.
"Even if they're only worn another 10 times, that might be twice as much as it has ever been worn, and all the resources that were put into those clothes aren't totally going to waste," Hicks said.
Hicks said the vintage store offers mending clinics for customers to learn how to repair their own clothing and bring it back to life.
In these classes, people can learn about various styles of stitching, practicing on set stains and holes in clothing sent by the store and, lastly, try to fix pieces of their own clothing all within a three hour timeframe.
Hicks said what makes the classes accessible is that anyone is capable of learning to do their own maintenance to their clothes with time and effort.
"If you take 30 minutes of (your day) to fix that rip in your favorite shirt before it becomes so big that you can't fix it, maybe you can keep that shirt for longer and enjoy it for longer and not have to go and buy a new one."
Hicks said he would also recommend tailoring and alteration shops around Columbia to customers due to their more advanced equipment and experience.
Although owner of His and Her's Tailoring shop Valerie Williams said tailoring and repairing clothing has become a dying trade over time due to a lack of interest from the youth, she still has a deep client base developed over time by serving the Columbia community.
Opening in 1972 , His and Her's Tailoring has many repeat customers from decades ago varying in roles and jobs across the city of Columbia like local high schools and the Columbia police department.
Williams said the shop does various types of fixes for clothing like sewing sleeves, adding custom patches for hats and fitting jackets and shirts to a person's liking.
Local clothing store Sid and Nancy also practices sustainable fashion and supports various organizations within the Columbia community by shopping and selling clothing items from smaller businesses. It also works with other companies to donate unwanted items towards poverty stricken groups around the area.
It is a feminine-based clothing store that has been open in Five Points since 2007. It is a buy-sell-trade store that has an open environment with customers while encouraging new looks and styles.
Sid and Nancy also recycles clothing that doesn’t fit its store aesthetic to Palmetto Thrift, a locally owned thrift store, instead of throwing it away. Palmetto Thrift in turn donates to many organizations in the Columbia area, like women’s shelters.
Sales Associates Savannah Young and Kirstyn Dietrich said keeping fashion as sustainable as possible keeps exclusiveness and variety in each thrift store, while also catering to a collegiate and youthful audience through affordability.
"If you can come in here and find an Urban Outfitters top for $12 rather than $100, that's such a unique and affordable find that will always bring people in."
Hicks said thrift stores encourage upcycling trends by giving customers an extended period of time to access items rather than discarding unwanted items.
"There's stuff in here that I've had in here for months that the right person still has not come along," Hicks said. "If it had gone, if we hadn't gone to that thrift store, that person would not have walked in right after we did, so it would have ended up probably in the trash."