As I sort through my closet purging it of clothing I no longer wear my attention is caught by a plaid skirt stuffed in the back of my skirt drawer. I have not worn this skirt in years yet I have not brought myself to get rid of it, afraid that it might come in handy in the future. This was an impulse buy when I was trying to rebrand myself with the “dark academia aesthetic.” Unfortunately, that phase lasted for only a year before I moved on to some other aesthetic I’d found online. Terms such as “dark academia,” “balletcore,” “succubus chic,” and “quiet luxury” are all examples of microtrends that have dominated the TikTok fashion sphere.
If you have found yourself in a similar boat as me- getting rid of clothing you’ve only worn a handful of times because of a trend online- you were seduced by a microtrend.
Microtrends are basically another term for fads, says Lorynn Divita, an associate professor in apparel design and merchandising at Baylor and an expert on microtrends. As is the nature of fads, they tend to peak and decline sharply making way for the next new trend to take over.
Microtrends originate from the 2020s when social media usage surged due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Fashion aesthetics gained new popularity online and attempted to replicate the community that the subcultures of the past provided. Unfortunately, the current trend cycle moves too quickly for the joy that was once found in fashion to have the same impact. Sophomore Emma VonFeldt doesn’t enjoy microtrends anymore due to her desire to find her own unique sense of style.
“People try to cater to them and just not have their own sense of style,” VonFeldt said “They just kind of follow the crowd.”
Online vintage store owner Britain Hamm has firsthand experience dealing with the fallout from micro trends from digging through racks and racks of clothes at second-hand stores looking for stock for her own store. What she finds is a lot of unworn clothing, new and with tags.
“You can see a lot of Y2K pieces at thrift stores that are true vintage or newer,” Hamm said. “I think because these microtrends and just regular trends have started to turnover faster, thrift stores are starting to fill with a lot of these pieces.”
Hamm has noticed that thrift store stock is becoming repetitive due to the oversaturation of donations when microtrends go out of style. This can cause a struggle for individuals who enjoy thrifting for older fashions like junior Hayden Grace Peters.
“I think my sense of style is very much vintage-inspired,” Peters said. “A lot of the clothes I wear come directly from my mom’s closet and she’s saved her clothes since high school in the eighties so I get a lot of my inspiration from older styles.”
With thrift stores becoming oversaturated with new clothes and styles, it can make it that much harder to find these vintage pieces. Thrifting has become a popular way to shop for new styles with sustainability becoming an important factor that many people consider when shopping. A survey on consumer sentiment on sustainability found that 67% of respondents consider the use of sustainable materials to be important while 63% had a similar sentiment on the way brands promote sustainability. Divita urges consumers to think about what happens to the clothing they donate and the impact it has.
The amount of new clothing in thrift stores is a reflection of the overconsumption that microtrends perpetuate. Common Objective, a business network for the fashion industry, reports that 57% of discarded clothing ends up in landfills each year. The majority of clothing discarded is considered fast fashion and it was found that in 2012, 60% of 150 million articles of clothing produced were discarded only a few years after production.
“They’re constantly circulated because the second somebody doesn’t want it, it’s very easy to dispose of,” Peters said. “Since it was probably so cheap to buy in the first place, considering most prices on Shein, that’s why most people shop there anyway. It’s very easy to replace the pieces of clothing that you’re unhappy with and just get a new one.”
Fast fashion brands can easily capitalize on these microtrends due to their distinct characteristics. “Gorpcore” is a fashion trend that comes from the acronym “good ol’ raisins and peanuts,” a reference to the outdoor hiking clothing that characterizes the trend. Another popular microtrend is the “office siren,” which has 48.3K posts under the hashtag.
Dr. Divita explains that micro trends are a way for companies to rebrand to garner more interest. Because microtrends are small by definition and fast fashion brands are able to put out products at rapid speeds, they can sometimes capitalize on these microtrends before they gain momentum.
“Microtrends or fads impact the fashion industry by making a lot of products look the same,” Dr. Divita said. “Ultra-fast fashion brands engage in social scraping, which involves using AI to constantly monitor what influencers and other brands are showing online and then quickly coming up with a similar version.”
Microtrends can serve as a great way to explore new styles but the rapid turnover of styles makes it difficult to keep sustainability and quality in mind. While fast fashion brands like Shein serve as a hub for shopping the latest fashion microtrends, the quality of the clothing means they won’t always last.
“I’ve heard many people talk about buying products from Shein and not receiving the product that was expected,” Peters said. “Either the piece of clothing or whatever it is is too small, too big, doesn’t fit right, not the right color, not the right quality. I think that leads a lot of people to dispose of those clothes in a way that is as easy as possible.”
Shopping for new fashions from companies like Shein to explore the latest microtrends can feel exciting. The thrill that comes from receiving that package in the mail and the dopamine rush from planning what outfits you can make out of your newest finds. There is nothing wrong with being excited about expressing yourself through fashion. So whether or not you continue to shop for the latest microtrend, it’s important to be aware of the impact it has because one thing’s for sure: Microtrends are the enemy of sustainable fashion. This is exactly the reason that Hayden Grace Peters and Emma VonFeldt aren’t generally into it.