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What’s Fueling Fashion Over-Consumption? And What Can We Do About It?

As the year comes to a close, we’re back on our soapbox about over-consumption, especially in fashion. Although we don’t mention fast fashion in this article, we are looking at you, Zara, Shein, and others who are pushing out low-quality, highly trendy stuff that usually ends up in the landfill. This article places a focus on several of the online resale platforms that make buying and selling fashion easy for consumers—even profitable—enabling a circular lifecycle and helping to reduce fashion’s horrendous climate impact. If you know of resale platforms we haven’t discussed here, please add them in the comments section, with a few words about how you have used them!

Monday, November 11, 2024

As GlobalData recently posted, “The idea that you can click to purchase what you see your favourite celebrities in has on the one hand made fashion more accessible than ever, but on the other, opened doors to a level of convenience that is driving a culture of overconsumption with significant environmental impacts.”

They note that consumers can purchase items with just a few clicks—anytime, anywhere. And this, of course, is not limited to fashion. You might be watching a program on your smart TV and see something you like. Click! It’s yours. Or you get an email from Amazon: “We found something you might like.” I don’t know about you, but it seems like I get those daily, if not more frequently. Click! It’s yours. And if you are a frequent shopper or use apps like Apple Pay or Shop, or even Amazon, you don’t have to enter anything except size, quantity, and perhaps color. Click, click, click! It’s yours.

As Global Data points out, this level of convenience drives impulse buying. You might not buy these things if you are browsing on Amazon or other ecommerce sites, or heaven forbid, you are browsing in a bricks and mortar store.


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About Cary Sherburne

Cary Sherburne is a well-known author, journalist and marketing consultant whose practice is focused on marketing communications strategies for the printing and publishing industries.

Cary Sherburne is available for speaking engagements and consulting projects. To get more information contact us.

Please offer your feedback to Cary. She can be reached at [email protected].

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