Would people still do massive clothing hauls if they couldn’t post them?
- hbirdseye10
- Sep 28, 2022
- 2 min read
Social media glorifies overconsumption.
Social media, particularly TikTok and YouTube, has caused an increase in excessive fashion hauls. clothing haul is a video in which someone, typically an influencer, shows the items they recently purchased or received. Generally, the clothing focused on in these hauls is from cheap and affordable sites such as SHEIN, H&M, Urban Outfitters and Zara. Whilst hauls can be small and conscious, the majority are large and unnecessary which cause environmental harm.
When searching #haul on TikTok, there is 18.8 billion views making it a top trend on the platform. Furthermore, the terms SHEIN and TikTok often trend with one another. As hauls are popular videos to watch, many social media influencers create them to gain status on social media such as followers, views and likes.
Would people still do massive clothing hauls if they couldn’t post them?
It is very unlikely. The social aspect of hauls is precarious. Influencers post clothing hauls to gain followers, their mass following view these hauls and are encouraged to do hauls themselves.
A lot of clothing from these large and unnecessary hauls is donated or discarded soon after the videos. The quick rise and fall of trends encourages those seeking affordable and fashionable wardrobes to continue creating a viscous cycle of creation, purchase and waste. Online fashion hauls only contribute to mass overconsumption and fast fashion which damages the environment.
Overconsumption leads to excess wastage ending up in landfill due to short term purchases focused on price and not quality and longevity. Approximately 10% of global emissions annually are derived from the fashion and textile industry. In addition, consumers are keeping their clothes for half as long as they once did.
Influencers need to influence a global change and stop encouraging overconsumption.
Let me know what you think!
Examples of clothing hauls on TikTok:
Examples of clothing hauls on YouTube:
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