At Target, a display for the Stanley Valentine’s Day cup collection is swarmed by shoppers, some walking away with three or four of the same cup in hand. The display is sold out in four minutes. Scroll.
The viral TikTok jumpsuit. Run, don’t walk. Scroll.
A woman lies in bed with the viral face-slimming strap. She has it linked below. Buy now. Scroll.
The viral TikTok jumpsuit, but in brown. Scroll.
Themes of overconsumption are visible every day, especially on social media. Some purchased goods, like clothes, are used once or not at all before being thrown out.
“You’ve got issues of planned obsolescence, where clothes may not be made very well so that they fall apart quickly,” said Kevin Smiley, an assistant professor in LSU’s sociology department. “Which, of course, makes you buy more.”
Microbiology sophomore Lillian Lemann generally donates her clothes once she’s done with them, but she’s gotten pieces from fast fashion company Shein for game days that she didn’t donate because of their condition.
“I just throw them away because the quality isn’t suitable,” Lemann said.
Fashion sophomore Martha Rigney compared the quality of some fast fashion brands to that of a paper dress popularized in the 1960s. Created as an easy way to try out bold prints without the fuss of alterations, large companies began to use the dresses as artistic advertisements. Even Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign commissioned a paper dress design. These dresses were designed to be worn once or twice and then disposed of.
“Shein is essentially just making disposable clothing, but fashion is not supposed to be like that,” Rigney said. “Fashion is the outward way of communicating who you are to other people visually. It really shows people what kind of subculture you associate yourself with.”
The effect of a social media-driven marketplace is sometimes referred to by researchers as attention deficit fashion. Microtrends are a manifestation of this phenomenon; these are fashion trends that briefly surge in popularity before disappearing into obscurity. Some examples of microtrend aesthetics include coastal granddaughter, quiet luxury, vintage Americana, office siren and, more recently, the mob wife aesthetic.
“Now, everybody is wearing the same thing. It takes some individuality out of it,” Rigney said. “It really pressures you to follow whatever is trending at that time rather than being able to put together pieces that represent you.”
The motives for consumption aren’t always just about utility, either. It’s a social process, Smiley said.
“People often want to position themselves in terms of their status in addition to class,” he said. “It’s indicating that you’re a member of the group, that you should be recognized in a certain way for having these products available to you.”
Michael Mamp, a professor and the director of the LSU Textile and Costume Museum, said, especially in America, “our identity is linked to what we own and how much of it we own.”
The pack mentality is real, according to Joshua Howard, who teaches a social media and digital branding class at the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication.
“As much as we love and crave individuality, we crave community more,” Howard said, “and consumerism gives us an opportunity to find a community and put on a hat whether it’s authentic to us or not.”
According to Howard, online shopping allows an immersion into that experience.
Rigney also noted online shopping requires less deliberation than in-person purchasing. Transactions are only a click away, so consumers wind up purchasing items they might not have bought in-person.
“You can’t just go on social media for mindless entertainment anymore,” Rigney said. “You’re constantly being sold something.”
Howard said another factor in overconsumption patterns is the scarcity mindset. When the word “viral” is attached to a product, it automatically introduces the idea that everyone is getting it and it will sell out. Consumers fear scarcity and will buy the product, making “viral” a self-fulfilling prediction.
An example of the scarcity mindset Louisiana sees nearly every year is the wipe-out of necessities during hurricane season. If no one acted out of fear of missing out, then shelves wouldn’t be empty. However, because people believe this will be their last chance, it can become a Herculean feat to find toilet paper during a hurricane warning.
In relation to “viral” products or trending items, Howard said there comes “a kind of FOMO,” a fear of missing out. His solution? Think more about what is being marketed, and that it’s curated to specific consumers.
“Really it comes down to greater self-regulation and better self-leadership, which is hard,” Howard said. “Leading yourself well in a healthy state, whatever healthy looks like for you, is so incredibly challenging.”
Fashion senior Hannah Bienvenu has recovered hundreds of pounds of textiles left in the dumpsters at the end of the school year outside residential halls at LSU. She runs a resale business and can repurpose pieces, but she said many “still have tags on them or are still in the envelope it was shipped in.”
Bienvenu suggested hosting a swap event with groups instead of throwing out pieces or donating, as 84% of clothing donations wind up in landfills, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“There’s constantly going to be advancement,” Howard said, “but the tactics, the techniques, the persuasion, the psychology around it will remain the same. But oftentimes people forget that and they think that this is brand new and it’s never happened before. But then you take a step back and you realize, no, this has happened before.”
The eventual end of the paper dress trend in the 1960s came with the introduction of hippie culture and the mood shift to an overall disapproval of frivolous consumption. Socially, mindsets began to change, and, by consequence, the production market had to follow the consumers.
With the comparison of the disposable products of our past and our present, it isn’t unrealistic to hope for a future in which buyers are more intentional with their purchases.
“It’s important to realize that as things advance, nothing really changes,” Howard said.
