In the age of micro trends, overconsumption is subtly being normalized to a dangerous degree.
After a long day at school, a girl drops her bag on the floor, gets onto her bed, and lets out a deep, exhausted sigh. Unconsciously, she pulls out her phone and opens TikTok only to be immediately confronted with an ad. Anxiously skipping past it, she scrolls for a few minutes through “get ready with me” (GRWM) videos, “spend the day” with me vlogs, and random memes.
Not even 15 videos later, she lands on another ad. This time it looks like all the other videos she just watched, but the link for the girl’s purse is right there near the caption. It’s such a cute purse, she’s seen it everywhere. She clicks on the link, but notices a hesitation. She feels judged. Or watched. She feels like it’s wrong.
To fit in and keep up with the current trend cycles, Gen-Z is partaking in mass overconsumption. Participating in these trends is not necessarily wrong, but the act of buying to then dispose of it later because it’s no longer trending is crippling our planet.
While there are many ways to curate a personal style in an ethical way, consumer patterns now are products of unoriginality and scarcity mindsets that hinder the ability to rationalize sustainable shopping.
Clothing is one of those things that can be easily bought, but it’s not easy to dispose of. Mass production of any kind is detrimental, but the fashion industry is a waste giant.
85% of all textiles go to the dumps each year and just washing clothes alone releases 500,000 tons of microplastics into the oceans, equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles, according to Earth.org.
Fast-fashion brands are able to produce clothes in as little as 5 days, providing a constant flow of inventory. This also makes them accountable for 20% of the overall global wastewater, Earth.org found, but companies are not being stopped.
GlamourDDive, a YouTuber and dumpster diver, has over 150 videos going behind the buildings we all shop in. She sifts through the of brands such as Coach, finding perfectly usable merchandise that ultimately would go to waste.
That’s direct corporate wastefulness.
The product’s perceived shelf life is over, even if it’s not food, and it’s no longer profitable for the company.
When fast fashion brands use cheap materials, their clothing feels cheaper and wears out quicker than clothing made of cotton or leather. It can cost corporations as little as $0.25-0.75 per shirt.
“I think we are used to unethical clothing being too cheap. I think instead of asking the question of why sustainable clothing is so expensive, we should be asking why cheap clothes are so cheap, at what expense,” ASG member Isabel Rodriguez said.
ASG now runs Comet Closet at Palomar’s San Marcos campus, where free donated clothes are available to anyone. There are sustainable options such as this to find clothing you haven’t seen thousands of other people wear online.
Objectively, as a buyer, you are wasting money on something that is so cheaply made, even if it feels like money was saved in the transaction. If you have to buy five $10 tank tops a year, why not invest in a multi-use piece that’s $50 but has longevity?
The leather industry alone produces 800,000 tonnes of waste, according to Kresse Wesling in an interview with Burberry. On the bright side Wesling explained his company, Elvis and Kresse, haspartnered with brands like Burberry to reuse 120 tonnes of leather scraps.
These scraps that would have otherwise been thrown away are now being reused and resold. However, corporate greed still exists, and leather scrap ottomans are sold as luxury items with a hefty price tag.
Sustainable fashion perpetuates that “I want it until I look at the tag” feeling. Brands sell these longlasting and ethically sourced pieces, but for upwards of $50 a shirt they shock a large portion of the population.
But it has longevity. Again, take the extra time to think —
Why pay $10 five times?
Palomar student Lyrik Martinez stated, “It’s a gray area since, yes, staying on trend is a big deal in the fashion world, but at the same time, it’s overworking for the creators because they have to be on top of every single trend that comes out.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the world experienced an economic recession, resulting in a frantic hoarding mindset, especially regarding money. SHEIN was one of the online fast fashion brands that were being used during COVID-19 due to its accessibility.
Consumers became accustomed to the prices these companies offered, and with everyone locked inside, attention turned to social media for connection. Inflation and financial insecurity rocked the world, but there was comfort in the people who kept us entertained.
The world is still recovering and there are irreparable changes to the way we shop as consumers. But because these impulsive habits have been kept up, fast-fashion companies remain funded.
SHEIN is one of those companies that is still popular today but has been the subject of multiple allegations of harsh working conditions. According to a 2021 article from the BBC, workers reported working three shifts per day, which is only one day off a month.
There is no real way to get clothing items for extremely cheap, made with good quality materials, and be ethically sourced. But there are ways to curb direct involvement and support of the fashion industry.
One way to combat the social and environmental impacts of the fashion industry as a whole is to practice sustainable shopping, and it can be affordable.
Thrifting, reselling, and giving clothes to people in your life actually makes a change. It’s perfectly possible to curate a personal style and get more valuable or higher-quality items through these avenues.
Apps like Depop and Facebook Marketplace allow those who prefer online shopping to continue to sift through the hangers by scrolling. It’s even possible to do pick-up if the seller is local. Quick service is preferred to lengthy shipping waits of 5-7 business days.
Locally, shops such as Flashbacks in Carlsbad, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) thrift store and Brother Benno’s in Oceanside, and Straight from the Heart Resale in San Marcos offer accessible and fashionable clothing.
There are even locations such as Seahive in Oceanside that specialize in vintage clothing. What’s offered in vintage stores differs from thrift stores, and the price ranges reflect that. However, vintage stores have pieces that have already lasted a long time and can be recycled.
Pieces that last have value. That’s how you beat overconsumption, take something used and reuse it. Until you can’t anymore.
Maybe it’s the shortened attention spans or constant overstimulation, but this generation is beginning to lack creativity. They see a creator wearing something, buy it, and wear it the exact same way.
This cyclical nature of fashion has been ever-present. Jacob Jacobey claimed that consumers have a set cycle of acquiring, consuming, and disposing of goods and services, according to the article “Reacquiring Consumer Waste: Treasure in Our Trash?”
Consumers aren’t confined to just one form of acquisition.
They have the power to acquire their goods in a specific way that provides them with the best possible consumption experience and doesn’t contribute to mass waste.
You don’t have to thrift or buy from eco-friendly brands right off the bat. A great way to start sustainable shopping is to curate a capsule closet.
The concept of a “capsule closet” has existed for much longer than this generation, but it recently had a resurgence. It starts with knowing your style and what type of basic and statement pieces you’ll need. If something is going to be worn every day, invest in the ethically sourced and quality option. Then, add accents to your closet, highlighting different aspects of your style. These are best sourced second-hand.
There are millions of ways to put together different pieces of clothing, and even ways to rework the silhouette of one article. If we can start by minimizing our buying there’s one step complete.
People shouldn’t be shamed for wearing the same outfit or shirt every other week. Clothes were made to be reusable. Matching items with different outfits is the whole reason why fashion even exists.
This lack of originality and drive to duplicate funds fast fashion. An introspective moment needs to be taken, evaluating the real implications of supporting outsourced work and contributing to landfills, while also denying self-expression and clinging to invisibility.
Being seen shouldn’t be so scary. Wearing your heart and mind is not a cry for attention, embarrassing, or too much. Authenticity and vulnerability are natural, and denying yourself feeds dark mindsets, such as detaching from the fact a child sewed your shirt.
