How Social Media Fuels Fast Fashion

Social media holds considerable power in today’s world–power to enact positive as well as negative change. In the case of fast fashion, social media often promotes negative change.  

Fast fashion is all too familiar to those concerned about the future of our planet. This industry causes serious environmental and social harm at every stage, and as it has become more prevalent, word of its consequences has spread. 

Social media plays a significant role in the success of the fast fashion industry through the culture it creates and the techniques brands use to reach broad audiences.

One way that social media boosts fast fashion consumption is through “haul culture.” We’ve all seen the videos of influencers sharing the massive amounts of clothing they just purchased for a new season or a trip. These hauls are only possible with the availability of cheaply-made clothes that can be quickly produced and bought for little money. 

The most common haul is a Shein haul–this company not only sells fast fashion products but each individual piece of clothing (and there’s typically a lot) comes individually wrapped in plastic. Other fast fashion brands popular on social media include Urban Outfitters and Zara, though these hauls are not typically quite as large because their products tend to be more expensive than Shein.

While hauls are fun to watch, they promote harmful ideas about clothing consumption and encourage viewers to overconsume. Many influencers post these videos unprompted for the sake of content creation and sharing. However, hauls are often subtly paid for by brands to encourage viewers to imitate the wardrobe and lifestyle of their favorite influencers by consuming the same clothes in the same excessive manner. Once people buy these clothes and wear them maybe once or twice, they see the next haul video with new trends, causing them to once again overconsume to keep up.

Hypertrends are styles that become popular very quickly and go out of style even quicker. The fast fashion industry encourages hypertrends, but social media is the reason that these trends are rising into and out of style more rapidly than ever. While fashion trends used to be defined by the decade, trends now change by the year or even the month. 

Fast fashion brands partner with social media companies to create and target ads to users. Social media platforms collect data on users and sell that data to other companies to help them target their advertisements to the most profitable and vulnerable audience. Advertisements are hidden within the depths of social media, often going unnoticed. However, they are also often placed on user’s screens offering one time only flash sales, encouraging them to make impulsive and unnecessary purchases. Brand advertising through social media is problematic beyond fast fashion because it encourages unnecessary consumption of other types of goods–however, fast fashion brands often advertise the most aggressively and tend to be promoted in ways that encourage the least sustainable forms of consumption.

The promotion of the fast fashion industry through social media goes beyond the obvious direct consequences of the fast fashion industry. Some social media users may not have the time or resources to know about the consequences of fast fashion and therefore don’t understand the quality level of the product they are buying when it shows up in their feed. 

Even for those who do have an understanding of it, companies often use greenwashing, making weak or untrue sustainability claims to convince users to buy their products. Fast fashion’s reliance on social media also brings up the incredibly complex question of data privacy and how much control these social media platforms and their algorithms have over the decisions that we make. Ultimately, social media has played a key role in the rise of fast fashion, and the industry would not be as lucrative as it is without it.

What you can do:

Remain vigilant! Gain a deeper understanding of how social media plays a role in your own life as well as society. To learn more and be truly terrified explore these resources.

• An Ugly Truth, by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang
• The Social Dilemma
• The Great Hack

Once you have a better understanding of the role that social media plays in your consumption, you can be more resistant to the pulls of fast fashion and trends. Consume consciously!

Support sustainability influencers over influencers who promote fast fashion products and brands.