It’s not uncommon for people in 2024 to attempt to fit into certain aesthetics. It seems like a new “core” or type of style comes out every month; cottagecore, dark academia, clean girl, alt. Essentially, any outfit pieced together has had a category named after it. This is the result of “micro-trends” as they pre-package aesthetics for buyers.

What are Micro-Trends?

Mostly found on apps like TikTok, micro trends are short-lived fads in fashion that are easy to rapidly produce and sell. Oftentimes, the brands that produce these fads are extremely shady with the best allegations being underpaying their workers to the worst allegations being having child workers. Regardless of this, big fast fashion brands like Shein still get billions of dollars because they make cheap, fast, aesthetically pleasing clothes. (See below chart). This contributes to the bigger issues of over-consumerism in fashion and poor work environments as hundreds of people scramble to buy new cowboy boots or oversized jeans to fit a certain look.

How does this affect us?

Succumbing to fast fads impacts how often we keep and use the clothes we already have; after the mid 2010s to early 2020s it became more common to quickly dispose of garments, leaving tons of waste for landfills. I personally have thrown away clothes that no longer suited the image of myself that I wanted and have contributed to fast fashion in order to fill the gap in my closet.

By following these fast paced trends we make it hard to keep up with what’s “cool” in order to fit in. Micro-Trends take away from experimenting with clothes and finding your personal style as many teens flock to what’s well known instead of trying something different. They also make us drain our pockets; the average American spends around $1,700 yearly on fast fashion alone (PBS.org).  The demand to adhere to trends is almost higher than the demand for the clothes themselves.

Okay, so what can we do instead?

“The Earth is great but like… I want to dress cute.” I am happy to present you with tons of solutions to these problems! Instead of buying from fast fashion brands you can:

1. Thrift → Thrifting is an amazing option as it saves clothes from being sent to the landfill and isn’t very expensive.
2. Make your own clothes → This isone of my favorite solutions and one I do often; it allows me to be creative and show my own personality. However, it is very time consuming and can be inconvenient.
3. Support a small business → Buying clothes from local shops is a great way to be mindful of the environment and avoid giving more to big corporations. It can be pricier though as many small businesses are run by one person or a small group requiring more resources, time, and care.

By using different methods of getting clothes we can successfully limit fast fashion usage, unnecessary waste, and develop our own aesthetics.