Influencer culture and the ENVIRONMENT

Scroll through TikTok for five minutes and you’ll see it: creators unboxing piles of clothes, rating outfits from Shein, or filming “Get Ready With Me” videos featuring new pieces every single week. The clothes are cute, the content is catchy—but something about it feels off.

Influencer culture has completely changed the way we think about fashion. It’s no longer just about wearing clothes—it’s about performing a lifestyle. And fast fashion makes it easy to perform, over and over again. The low prices and endless new styles fuel a cycle where overconsumption isn’t just normalized—it’s admired.

A 2023 article from The Guardian explained it perfectly: “Fast fashion and influencer marketing form a feedback loop. Creators need constant content, brands need constant exposure, and followers are left constantly wanting more.”

It’s easy to feel left out if you don’t keep up. When viral trends change weekly, and creators link entire outfits with a swipe-up or promo code, resisting that pressure can feel like swimming upstream. People aren’t just buying clothes—they’re buying relevance.

But the environmental cost is enormous.

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the fashion industry emits more carbon than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Most fast fashion items are made from cheap, synthetic materials like polyester, which take centuries to break down in landfills. And with brands releasing thousands of new styles every week, the system is built to throw things away.

So, what can we do?

We can start by changing how we view clothing—not as disposable content, but as something worth caring for. Repeating outfits shouldn’t be embarrassing. Wearing the same thing twice on social media shouldn’t be a big deal. And maybe we can learn to admire creators who promote slow fashion, thrifting, or rewearing what they already own.

Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner, psychologist and author of You Are What You Wear, says it best: “What we buy and wear reflects more than trends—it reveals our values.” Maybe it’s time to rethink what kind of values we want to put on display.

Because every like, view, and purchase shapes the world we’re living in. The algorithm might want us to keep consuming—but we still get to choose what we support.