Development Research Blog

Ethics and Sustainability

January 30, 2024

Micro-trends and over consumption/production research

In the current time period of the 21st century, social media has consistently been on the rise and due to the emergence of internet celebrities and “influencers” the life-span of a trend is becoming significantly shorter for each one that gains popularity. This is partly caused by the constant information and stimulation our brains are loaded with from current pop culture and internet references, which although can be a sauce of dopamine for many, it can also cause a severe lack of attention span and make the public always on the lookout for the next new thing to jump on top of. This translates into the fashion industry as many consumers are always looking to be the first when it comes to something seemingly innovative and new. As soon as a new product is released the public may jump at the chance to buy it only to realise a week to a month later it wasn’t a necessary purchase and will end up being disposed of as the buyer had not spent long enough considering how the product would benefit their life. This phenomenon brought about the phrase “micro-trend” in which the only desirable aspect is the newness and popularity of the product.

Illustration depicting the idea of “Climbing the hierarchical ladder” in order to gain social status through physical excess.




These micro-trends surge in prevalence as popular creators on TikTok show off the new item which will then be shown by the algorithm to millions and millions of potential customers who will then be influenced to purchase the same product. The buyer may partly want to own the product for its functionality but also to own as a status symbol that displays they’re up to date with trends and are able to afford the item which also ends up making these micro-trends more performative.

Micro-trends also feed into fast fashion as production companies have to keep up with the fast-moving trends and therefore may have to use unethical working conditions to produce these products.

“Everything in excess is opposed to nature.” – Hippocrates 1915

This quote holds a very simple but profound message that simply states that when anything reaches its limit, turns into excess and crosses the boundaries set by nature it becomes contradictory to the natural state of the world. This is good to relate to in every day life as it’s important to live a balanced lifestyle in moderation whether thats food, physical luxuries, exercise etc. in order to live sustainably and stay grounded as a human.

Consumption of Natural fibers and Synthetic fibers between 2000-2017. 

This graph displays the rapid increase over the past couple decades of the use of synthetic fibres. The processing of these fibres are extremely energy intensive and release a lot of greenhouse gases therefore being detrimental to the environment.

Word cloud with words relating to over-consumption online.

Target Audience

The primary demographic that the animation will be targeted towards will range from teenagers to young adults as they are the primary audience that companies under capitalist regimes aim towards. This is because younger people who have less experience dealing with money are more malleable to products being advertised towards them and may benefit from seeing the causes that over-consumption has on the planet. The secondary target audience for this animation are the “trend-setters” themselves that advocate for new, unnecessary products to their more naive audience who don’t realise they’re being advertised to. This also becomes an issue when these creators may not use the product their promoting at all and only do it for monetary and financial gain.

Photo displaying the effects of over-consumption and wasting materials

Purpose

The purpose of this animation would be to try and help the younger generation realise the effects their over-consumption has on the environment and how it isn’t necessary to own the new latest brand only for it to go “out of fashion” a month later. It’s important to recognise that what we perceive in the media as current, trending “must haves” are sometimes just tools to feed the growth of corporations and business and aren’t always done with the best intentions in mind.

Referances:

  • Melanie Suriarachchi (2021) Micro-trends and Overconsumption: Fashion Consumerism in the 21st Century. Available online: https://cainz.org/10066/ [Accessed 29/01/24]
  • Anna Mickhaylyants (2023) TikTok Core: The Fashion World of Today. Available online: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/3/9/tiktok-aesthetics-microtrends-fast-fashion-style/#:~:text=Microtrends%20have%20only%20become%20prominent,sponsored%20posts%2C%20or%20%23grwms. [Accessed 29/01/24]
  • Harriet Noble/Studio Pi (2021) Overconsumption and the environment: should we all stop shopping? [Illustration] Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/may/30/should-we-all-stop-shopping-how-to-end-overconsumption [Accessed 29/01/24]
  • The Green Solutions (2022) Consumption of Natural fibers and Synthetic fibers between 2000-2017 [graph] Available online: https://thegreensolutions.net/p/a-crisis-of-fast-fashion [Accessed 29/01/24]
  • Trinbagocares (2020) Can We Stop Over Consumption? [Image] Available online: https://www.trinbagocaresfoundation.org/can-we-stop-over-consumption/ [Accessed 30/01/24]
  • According to Hippocrates “Everything in excess is opposed to nature.” – Hippocrates 1915 Book by E. Comyns Durnford, p. 90, 1915.
  • Free word cloud generator (2024) Available online: https://www.freewordcloudgenerator.com/generatewordcloud [Accessed 05/02/24]