By Elisabeth Palacios

Since the 1920s, consumerism in America has increasingly defined both our economy and culture–whether we can afford it or not. In the last year, credit card debt was the highest it has ever been. According to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, it surpassed $1.08 trillion. “We are still largely a paycheck-to-paycheck nation,” based on the words of a senior economic analyst, Mark Hamrick. 

Consumerism is the theory that increasing the consumption of goods is not just economically desirable, but is also necessary to attain happiness. This can be seen in countless trends on social media with various types of clothing and products being pushed towards consumers at an alarming rate, only for the product to become undesirable once the next trend surfaces, fueling a never ending cycle. These trends rely on people believing that obtaining a certain item will make them happy, but that feeling is very temporary, similar to the trends and products themselves. 

People in the United States throw out more than 34 billion pounds of used textiles per year. That’s over 100 pounds of textile waste from each person, and 66% of this waste gets sent to landfills. This can be accredited to the 2-6 week fashion trends that circulate social media, mainly TikTok, that bring masses of people to buy a specific article of clothing from a specific brand. Once they die out, most people throw out their short-lived items immediately. This continuous cycle has become one of the main causes of immense waste. However, even if people tried to keep the trendy clothing items for longer periods of time, the clothing itself isn’t built to last.

Planned obsolescence is an increasingly used business tactic by technology and clothing companies that is both a cause and effect from the rise of consumerism. It consists of purposefully making products faulty to a certain degree. They will still function as intended, but with a short lifespan that will lead customers to having to buy different or upgraded versions of it shortly after. This ranges from clothes easily ripping to computers not working only after a couple months.

Overconsumption and a disregard for quality in clothing is an issue predicated on many other social, political, and economic factors—it cannot be dismantled in a vacuum. Individually, we can ensure that we make thoughtful and sustainable choices when we consider buying something. This includes not giving in immediately the moment something starts “trending” on social media, and prioritizing buying quality clothing that will last a lifetime.