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The shop has won several accolades,with students taking part in the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Youth mentoring program and addressing the UTS Start-Up Conference at ICC Sydney last June.
Rochelle Dias,another year 12 student who helps run Santa Sabina’s op shop,said buying secondhand did not have the ease of buying new.
“Op shops like Salvation Army aren’t in a shopping centre,” she said. “So,when you go out to look for clothes,you only see brand-new clothes.”
Dias said part of the group’s success had been providing online browsing and payment options that you don’t get at traditional op shops,which are her generation’s preferred way to shop.
Dr Taylor Brydges,research principal at UTS’s Institute for Sustainable Futures,said Generation Z’s love of ultra-fast fashion was a perplexing trend,as it seemed incoherent with their concern about climate change.
“Pre-COVID,this group was following Greta Thunberg. They were out on the streets,concerned about over-consumption,” she said.
“So,why is it that this is not translating through to their consumption behaviours?”
Answering that question is part of the research work at the Institute. However,Brydges said it was clear Generation Z had a fundamentally different relationship with social media compared to older generations.
As well as relentless targeted advertising,social media profiles also encourage over-consumption,she said.
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“There is this overwhelming pressure to look a certain way,but really to look ‘new’ because everything you’ve worn has been photographed,” she said.
However,Brydges was hesitant to lay too much blame on the consumer.
“So much responsibility lies with the brands putting these products on the market and the lack of regulation that has allowed it,” she said.
“You can say the 17-year-old girl needs to change,but she’s just a small part of it.”
The federal government’s Seamless scheme will involve a 4 cent per garment levy to create programs that will encourage sustainable,durable and recyclable design by 2030.
Big W,Cotton On,the Sussan Group and The Iconic are among the major retailers that have signed up to the scheme.
In February,federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said she expected more brands would join,and she would consider intervention if they did not.