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Although consumers may wish to act in environmentally responsible ways, informational barriers can prevent them from accurately understanding the true environmental costs of their consumption choices. We investigate how presenting different types of environmental costs (CO2 emissions, energy consumption, or water usage) affects willingness to purchase second-hand clothing. We measure changes in stated purchasing intentions and, using multiple price list, incentivized choices in a large, nationally representative sample of Italians (N = 10,496). We report three main findings. First, all information treatments promote second-hand adoption, but the choice of metric matters: water-based information generates the strongest effects than CO2—the dominant metric in sustainability communication. Second, pro-environmental behavior amplifies responsiveness, particularly for water-based information, while need for uniqueness acts as a barrier, with high-NFU individuals requiring more compensation to switch to second-hand. Third, local environmental conditions do not systematically moderate treatment effects. Our findings indicate that reframing environmental information from CO2 to more tangible metrics like water can meaningfully enhance sustainability campaigns, though reaching beyond already environmentally engaged consumers remains an open challenge.