Social media has had a profound impact on the fast fashion industry, shaping the way consumers interact with brands and influencing their purchasing decisions.
Social media influencers, bloggers, and celebrities have become powerful tastemakers, promoting the latest fast fashion trends and encouraging their followers to buy new clothes and accessories. Fast fashion and Ultra Fast Fashion brands such as Shein have been quick to capitalize on this trend, collaborating with influencers to create buzz around their latest collections and increase brand visibility.
The last few years we saw, on social media, new fashion trends appear and disappear in a couple weeks if not less. They are called Micro Trends. A lot of those trends come from ultra fast fashion companies as Shein, PLT…, and are promoted by some influencers all around TikTok or Instagram. Every week a new “must-have” appears and get out of trend the next week, when a new trend pops out. Micro trends lifespans are so short that we already have forgotten some of the ones that raise in 2023.
“What makes Micro trends rise that fast?”
Social Media creates a culture of instant gratification and constant consumption. Those platforms are designed to encourage users to share and consume content quickly and frequently, creating a sense of urgency and novelty around new fashion trends.
Fast fashion brands understood this. Those companies, releasing up to 7,000 new products every week needed a way to market and promote them quickly without losing too much money. They have jumped into this culture of instant gratification, working with some selected influencers, and sending them new clothes multiple times per month.
Social media users see those videos, wants to join the “new trend”, place an order, keep scrolling online, find a “new trend”, place an order again. Ultra fast fashion brands keep producing new collections quickly and inexpensively, feeding consumers’ new consumption habit. And here we are: micro trends’ vicious circle was born.
So next time before getting that new trendy top, we have to ask ourselves: “Will I still want it in a month?”
