Every year about 35 million Halloween costumes are thrown away. In other words, Halloween is one of the biggest contributors to fast fashion. Not only is this not cost efficient for the buyer, but it also heavily impacts the planet.
Some of the most popular companies like H&M and Forever 21, are known for providing people with cheap, one-wear purchases, rather than taking the time to produce good quality, long-lasting products. The worst part about this is that most of the time when these costumes or articles of clothing don’t get purchased, they just get thrown out. These companies could easily be donating them to shelters or thrift stores, but since they would make zero profit from this decision, it doesn’t concern them.
Halloween costumes are notorious for containing materials like lead or phthalates, the same materials used to make plastics. When these costumes are thrown into landfills, the environmental repercussions include soil and water contamination, which negatively impact both humans and wildlife.
If you’re looking for a way to push back against the fast fashion lifestyle, a good place to start is by donating your Halloween costumes. This also works when looking for a Halloween costume.
In the Boston area there are many places to donate or purchase clothes second hand. Some top picks are Cradles to Crayons, Global Thrift, Goodwill, and, local to BC, The Career Closet. All these places offer low-priced or free articles of clothing, and even if you’re not looking to purchase a costume, they’re always accepting donations.
Cradles to Crayons focuses on helping kids in need, and all their items are free of charge. Winters in Massachusetts are known for being brutally cold, so if you’ve dressed up as a business man or a snowboarder, you could potentially donate your costume.
With the donations from the people in the community, each year they continue to provide a cost-free outlet for children and families who are facing financial barriers. They have numerous locations throughout the country, but the closest one to BC is located northeast of the Newton campus. Students can get there by either taking the red-line or the bus. Not only will donating articles of clothing help these children, but it will promote sustainability.
The next location is Global Thrift located in Waltham, Massachusetts. This is a hot-spot for a lot of local good finds. The neat thing about this organization is that they don’t just sell clothes and take donations, but they also have a lot of events like block parties and live DJs that come and entertain the market. They’re open Monday through Saturday and accept all new or slightly-used articles of clothing.
This would be a great place to donate your Halloween costume, and maybe after, you could even go shopping for some fresh finds.
The Career Closet at BC also takes Halloween costumes, however, there is a catch. Since the Career Closet provides students with business casual attire that is new or slightly-used, it has little room for traditional costumes, but if you were, for example, Men in Black, they would accept your blazer.
Donating Halloween costumes is something that most of society doesn’t do. Whether that be because of convenience or lack of information on where to donate them. However, it is extremely important to take part in this practice because not only are you giving said pieces of clothing another purpose, but you very much could be helping a child in need. By reusing clothes or getting them second hand, you are working against the fast fashion industry.
Some helpful tips if you’re not necessarily in the place to be donating past costumes is to shop your own closet, reuse a previous costume, or turn casual/everyday clothes into a temporary costume. All these solutions are both sustainable and cost-efficient, and will help make the Halloween season more fulfilling, since you’re not only going to look more stylish, but you’re contributing to making a more sustainable future.
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