ageedizzle

Well until very recently I had a shared laundry set-up, where I was sharing two laundry machines with everyone in my apartment building. That might explain why it’s all black. I don’t think its actually burning theres probably just a lot of gunk in the system

Okay this is a satisfying response, thank you. I’ll have to test that out with the white towels. I’ve never noticed that before but it makes perfect sense.

i see. But why?

Serious question. I know this may sound silly, but why does the lint change colour then? Like, if I dry a load of white clothing then why does the lint still come out black?

Something to consider: damage from drying machines is apparently one way we inadvertently injest microplastics (the synthetic materials in the clothing gets broken up and then is ingesting through the skin). Might be something worth avoiding for your baby (though the convenience of a dryer is still hard to argue with).

I know this question is intended as a joke but it has me thinking. What is lint, actually? If its from our clothing then why is it always the same colour? Like, why can I put in a load of white clothing but the lint is still black? Is the lint burnt? Or is lint a byproduct of laundry soap? Or is it both from our clothing and our laundry soap? I genuinely don’t know. I’ve never thought about it before

Yes. There are also second-order effects at play here. Buying these materials second-hand may normalize their use, or even contribute to fashion trends, which may make other people more likely to buy those materials first-hand. This would of course result in financial support for the leather and fur industries. That said though, these second order effects are very unpredictable and hard to measure, and their strength would vary a lot person to person, depending on how influential someone is.

Yeah the supply and demand thing is key here. People in developing countries are exploited because there is a financial incentive to exploit them. That financial incentive comes from people buying their products directly, because that is how they generate revenue. But there is no way they can generate revenue if you only buy their products second-hand, so its not incentivizing them to maintain their sweatshops or whatever.

The most damage buying second-hand can do is by generating revenue for these companies indirectly. For example if OP was in position where wearing these items contributes to fashion trends that cause others to buy the items directly. But unless OP is an Instagram influencer it something (which is doubtful, given that they’re on lemmy) then these indirect, second-order effects are very unpredictable and hard to measure.