This blog is on a mission to get plastics out of fashion and out of our waters. You can read way more about this on this post. We need your help. I am going to write some of the biggest producers of clothing and tell them to stop using ANY plastic-based synthetic fabrics. Join me in speaking up. You don't have to be as long-winded as me, you just have to say something. Our voices will amplify each other. 

from the gap - this model is not impressed

Art Peck (CEO of Gap Inc),

 You have a big problem, but it isn't what you think it is.

I have read that The Gap is having some challenges. Your brand is actually made of multiple stores- Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta, and apparently the only store that is doing well is Old Navy.

Business Insider pinned Old Navy's higher popularity on lower prices. In other words, Old Navy is perfectly practicing fast fashion. They see this as a good thing, but the moral cost of this "success" is high. And the bottom will fall out, because it isn't a deal if the clothes fall apart immediately.

So what are you leaning on? Lots of plastic-based, synthetic fabrics. To keep costs low (and follow the Old Navy model) you are going all in on fast fashion, making cheap plastic junk instead of the kind of clothes that would actually last.

Plastic seems to have snuck into every corner of your Gap fashion line- your athletic wear has it (pretty normal at this point), but so do almost all of your dresses and even some of your denim. Basically everything in Old Navy is made of plastic (and lasts about 6 minutes) as well.

So it's pretty clear you are just trying to double the Old Navy model at your Gap and Banana Republic stores as well. In a way, I get it. If I want to invest money in

This is a big problem. I am sure you know this, and you have made the decision to chase profits anyway, but I want you to know that I notice, and I still think you can do the right thing.

We know that the clothes you are making and selling in your Gap, Old Navy, and Athleta stores are doing unfathomable environmental damage. Every time these items are washed, they shed plastic into the washing machine and out into water sources. The fibers are very small, but each load of laundry can send thousands of them out into our water every wash.

There are now billions of these tiny plastic threads in our water. Scientists have found them in the most remote corners of our oceans, in much of the food we eat (including almost all salt), and in human stool. This would be horrifying enough, but we now know that plastic is poison for humans. We know it is linked to hormonal and endocrine problems, even cancer. It becomes clearer and clearer that the chemicals in plastic are doing serious damage to our health.

So, making plastic clothes is basically like shooting poison into the water in every corner of this Earth. Later, when we will see plastic like asbestos or other toxic chemicals, your company (and its willingness to pander to fast fashion) will be seen as a villian, unless you make a change now.

So, doubling your Old Navy model- cheap plastic clothes, cheap labor- only adds to your responsibility for this problem.

So I am asking you to do something surprising.

Give up the plastic clothes. Stop making them. You can even make a big deal about it to get some good press for The Gap. Your stores still have a lot of pull, and you sell so much in a year. Think how much plastic you could keep out of the world by simply becoming a plastic-free company. If the Gap is having an identity crisis, why not stop racing to the bottom, and instead become a company that stands out for doing the right thing?

Even your athletic wear can be low plastic or plastic-free. I have done the research; companies are figuring out how to make great leggings and athletic clothes without plastic.

I get that this is a scary concept. Wearing something from Old Navy is basically just putting on a plastic bag, so this move would be way out of your current business model. But it is the right thing to do. And just maybe, doing the right thing would be enough to set you apart.

Thank you for reading and considering. Your company can be better than plastic.

Sunshine Guerrilla



Finding synthetic fabrics in your closet? Write the companies that produced that clothes and tell them to stop with all the plastic clothes! 

Dear ThredUp,

I am obsessed with your store. My sons’ and my wardrobes are now about 90% secondhand, and so much of that is thanks to you. When I can’t track something down locally, I can usually find it on your site.

I recommend you constantly to everyone. I switched to secondhand clothes for environmental reasons- shopping your secondhand site means fewer clothes are going in a landfill and we don’t have to support the often unethical manufacturing of clothing. Plus, our boxes of clothes come wrapped in paper instead of plastic! You have made it easier for everyone to save money, do the right thing, and shop secondhand. Truly, my love for your site could not be deeper, and I totally believe in your vision of a circular fashion economy.

That said, I have a bone to pick with you.

When you announced that you were making your own clothing line, I was so excited! I loved the concept and when I first saw the prints for the shirts and dresses I thought they were just gorgeous.

Then I looked closer, and my heart broke a little.

About half of the clothing in your new Remade line is made of plastic-based synthetic fibers. Remade, in theory, is such a genius idea; you stuck to staples, not trendy pieces, with long lives ahead of them. You also have a buyback promise, so when people are done with the clothes, you will actually buy them back.

I love it! But here's the thing. Every time you wash a plastic-based synthetic fabric (like the polyester and elastene in your clothes), the fabric sheds tiny plastic microfibers into our water sources. As the fabric gets older and looser, it sheds more and more plastic pieces each wash.

These microscopic pieces of plastic are a very, very big deal.

We know that these plastic pieces are one of the biggest threats to our environment and to our existence. This plastic in the oceans outnumbers the start in the sky, and as of now, it is impossible to clean up. Scientists now find tiny microplastics from clothes in every recordable corner of the oceans. Every water source. Most salt. Even in human feces.

But what can a tiny piece of plastic even do? The truth is we don't even know the full extent of the harm these tiny shreds of poison are doing. We know that plastic is linked with hormonal changes, endocrine problems, and cancer. We know what some of the plastic chemicals do (cancer), but so much is still unexplained.

What we do know is that plastic is poison. If you knew the clothes you were selling was blasting asbestos into people's water, would you do it? Of course not! You guys at Thred Up are way to awesome for that! But history will see this the same way.

 You show amazing concern for the environment all over your site (moreso than basically ANY other online store I can think of), I could not believe you would send even one extra piece of plastic out into the environment. Please stop this trend.

If you want to do more to STOP plastic microfibers and synthetic fabrics, why not add a reminder on all the secondhand clothes that all synthetic fabrics shed plastic. Thhis could help people become more aware of the problem and be more mindful of what they are buying.

Please stop selling plastic clothes. You are too good for this.