How Micro-Trends Are Changing the Fashion Industry
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at TCNJ chapter.
You’ve seen it happen: one day, you’re following the trend of “clean girl”, but don’t settle down too fast, because next week that’s out and “mob wife” aesthetic is in. Within the past decade, trends have started to change much more rapidly, with social media and fast fashion only exacerbating this development. In the past, people would see pictures of a celebrity sporting an outfit on the runway or walking the red carpet in magazines, and their styles would be followed by the public audience. Now that we see so many people on social media within the swipe of a finger, it seems that people just can’t stick to one trend for longer than a couple of weeks anymore.
Development of Micro-trends Vs. MAcro-trends
So, what is a micro-trend? A micro-trend is a short-lived trend that is usually specific to a unique group of people. They tend to only last a few weeks to a few months and are quickly replaced with another micro-trend that appeals to another distinct group. Micro-trends began to develop in relation to the rise of social media, especially TikTok. Trends today are more commonly set by influencers on TikTok or Instagram with large followings, instead of high end celebrities. Online influencers are seen on a daily basis, instead of sparingly in places like magazines and TV shows where trends have been set before. This development is making people get more easily bored of one style once they see another. Some examples of popular micro-trends and aesthetics seen online recently include:
Cow and animal prints
“Clean girl” aesthetic
“Coastal Cowgirl”
“Mob Wife” aesthetic
Barbiecore
In comparison to micro-trends, macro-trends are larger scale shifts in consumer behavior that may affect a fashion company over a longer period of time. These trends can last anywhere from 5 years to a couple of decades and usually stem from seeing a celebrity in a magazine or on a TV program wearing a staple piece. Much of the style in the ‘80s and ‘90s was heavily influenced by the music industry, particularly MTV(Music Television), where stars of all different genres displayed themselves in eccentric outfits. These programs began to develop the macro-trends of that time period, including goth, neon, and grunge styles which lasted for most of the ‘80s and ‘90s(Google Arts and Culture – Back to the 80s – Fashion History Museum 2015), It wasn’t until the 2010s that the trend cycle would begin to rapidly accelerate.
Overconsumption in the industry
Along with the recent acceleration of the trend cycle, the working conditions and quality of products has begun to decline just as rapidly. In the past, fashion companies would have time to design, plan, and work on a product, so as to create a good quality piece of clothing that could last a long period of time. In the age of fast fashion today, designers have little time to create unique pieces as well as they could in the past. The little time given to designers paired with rising prices of higher quality fabrics has led to an increase of cheap quality clothing, so exponential that most everyday-wear clothing is lower quality than it would have been around 20 years ago.(Roosevelt Institute – Cheap Clothes, High Costs – Sunny Malhotra 2024) Companies have more of a “quantity over quality” mindset in this age, meaning they just want to pump out as many pieces of newly trendy clothing as possible.
Due to the high demand in products produced at such a fast pace, working conditions for people have become less than adequate. Specific brands have in fact been created in order to create cheap, low quality clothing that’s style is frequently refreshed. Some of these brands include Shien, Romwe, Temu, Zara, Primark, Forever 21, and Fashion Nova, among others.(goodonyou.eco – Christine Huynh 2024) Working conditions for the average fast fashion worker of these and other companies consist of:
Unsafe conditions – exposure to harmful chemicals, fibers, and dust
Long hours – around 10 to 14 hours a day, along with forced overtime hours
Low wages – workers are often paid minimum wage, or even less
Abuse – physical and verbal abuse from bosses who have high expectations from workers
Child labor – many children are subject to these conditions, especially in countries with weak child labor laws
(Roosevelt Institute – Cheap Clothes, High Costs – Sunny Malhotra 2024)
The leaders at the top of these industries don’t care about the product’s producers or the customers. They only care about how much money can be made in the fastest way possible. Company heads haven’t been the only ones to change. A shift in the public’s mindset towards fashion has been noticed as well. People are aware that their clothes are becoming worse quality, but these facts don’t matter. Whatever can be the trendiest and cheapest is what they’ll buy.
Sales of designer brands have also dropped significantly compared to their sales in the 1900s. Consumers are obtaining a quantity over quality mindset as well, and are leaving the high-end clothing to the ultra-rich. Because of this, clothes will no longer pass through generations, but maybe it will last a few years if you’re lucky.
Environmental Impact
An effect of the rapidly changing fashion styles is the negative impact that it’s having on the environment. Because of how quickly pieces of clothing are going out of fashion, waste for these products has increased significantly, as people don’t want these products anymore once they’re not “trendy”. Much of this clothing ends up in landfills when it can easily be donated to local centers. Along with this, pollution and carbon emissions have increased with the rise of trends, due to run off from large factories.
These changes are affecting our wildlife as well. Due to the need for an abundance of materials, obtaining large quantities of materials such as leather, wool, or feathers can be harmful to animals and overwork them. In addition, when trees are being used to make fabrics, and run-off of micro-plastics from factories are polluting our oceans, a large amount of habitats are being lost for many animals. All around, the effects of micro-trends on the environment are becoming deadly, and could lead to much loss for our wildlife. (Earthday.org – Fashion for the Earth)
What can we do about this?
If we don’t collectively stop buying from fast fashion companies, not much will change. However, some things you could do to start the change include:
Donate: Instead of throwing away all of the clothes you don’t wear anymore, donate them to a local thrift store! There are many others who would still wear what you don’t want anymore. But if you may not want to let go of a piece just yet, turn it into something new with dyes or sewing techniques.
Thrift: Be the person who buys and reuses donated clothes from thrift stores! Most clothes donated are new or in good condition, and not to mention sold for a cheap price. You could even find high quality pieces for way lower prices, and at the end of the day, it’s fun!
Create your own style: Why follow every single new trend that comes out when you could just wear what you find stylish, and not what everyone else does? Experiment with different kinds of styles to figure out what truly suits you.
<p>The post How Micro-Trends Are Changing the Fashion Industry first appeared on Her Campus.</p>
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