7 tips to resist fast fashion and wasteful spending

If you have a smartphone, social media, or just use the internet, you know it happens all the time: You’re scrolling away - and bam - there it is: that same cool shirt, trendy new sneakers or the “hottest” summer dress popping up… again.

You checked it out once and now the ads are incessant - with big, bright banners screaming, “Buy now!”, “Last chance!”, “Don’t miss it!” splashed across your feed.

You don’t need it, but, it’s such a steal! Before you know it, you’re clicking, “Order Now”. 

Has this happened to you? If so, you’re not alone. 

With online shopping soaring during the pandemic and many of those habits now firmly entrenched, those “Order Now” clicks are happening constantly. But with many consumers later changing their minds - maybe the item doesn’t fit, looks cheap - or simply isn’t “in” anymore - much of it ends up in the garbage. 

In fact, according to Canadian non-profit Fashion Takes Action, more than half of fast fashion produced is thrown out in less than a year, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that 10.5 million tonnes of clothes and textiles in North America are disposed of every year - with one garbage truck of textiles landfilled or incinerated every second.

It means that the fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters in the world, and fast fashion brands - like Shein, which has taken Gen-Z by storm - are a major part of the problem.

But with influencers all over the world sharing their “#SHEINHAUL” videos (i.e. showing off their hoards of cheap deals), combined with the power of social media, plus recent inflation rates, many consumers are succumbing to the “Buy Now” button.

Want to break the habit, and avoid wasteful online purchases?

Read below to see how you can be more mindful about your spending decisions - helping you save money - and the planet.

7 tips to resist fast fashion and reduce wasteful spending

1. Create a barrier to buying
Persuasive Technology is designed to nudge us in a certain way, says RTA School of Media Professor Richard Lachman, who specializes in digital technology and culture. And while the technology is used to keep us addicted to social media and clicking the “Buy Now” button, he says there are also ways Persuasive Technology can help us resist making purchases. A few examples are:

• Taking your credit-card off of your phone/autofill/Apple Pay, forcing you to reach in your wallet each time and manually enter the information.
• Instead of buying on-the-spot, bookmark or copy links for everything you see that you might like to purchase. Then go through the list at the end of the week and see what you actually want. This way, you’ll be more deliberate with your spending, Lachman says, editing your choices beyond the heat of the moment. “Basically, it’s re-introducing ‘friction’ into the process, in opposition to the one-click impulse purchase,” he said.

Lachman also recommends using a budgeting app to track goals and spending.

‘It's easy to lose track of how much or how often we're making online purchases,” he said. “Simply seeing totals and progress is another way to use tech to help us visualize our behaviours.”

2. Hide ads
Depending on the platform, you can sometimes "tune" your feed to exclude certain vendors or advertiser categories, which Lachman says can help reduce temptation for impulse purchases. You can use the "Hide this", "Hide ads from this advertiser" or "See fewer ads like this" link on individual posts, check which ad categories the platform thinks you like, or remove personalized ads entirely. This way, you’ll need to proactively seek out the things you might want to buy.

3. Check: Where do returns go?
Buying clothing online is a risk - the item may not fit, may not be the right colour, or it might look so cheap that you don’t want it. Checking the return policy of a vendor can deter you from making a purchase if you know that the free returns offered actually just go to a landfill - which is often the case since it’s cheaper for companies to burn or destroy returns, and/or they don't have the logistics in place to inspect and repackage return items for resale. In other cases, Lachman says they're sold to bulk-purchasers for resale at huge markdowns, replaced by new products at the vendor.

So, checking return policies might dissuade you from making a purchase, or, you might feel better about clicking “Add to Cart” if the vendor donates return items to charity.

4. #OOTD - is for the day
Ever seen an “influencer” showing off their Outfit Of The Day - or #OOTD - and thought, “Oooh, I have to have that!”? Today, fast fashion brands have capitalized on the trend, instilling a sense that these are the must-have items of the moment. And, thanks to the speed of social media, that trend du jour can seemingly change minute to minute - instilling a sense of immediacy in the consumer who wants to keep up.

“But trying to keep up is exhausting - since fast fashion is designed and produced so quickly that you can’t,” says School of Fashion Professor Anika Kozlowski, whose research focuses on sustainable fashion. So, before buying that #OOTD, keep in mind that it won’t be trending for long.

5. Trying to keep up can bring you down
With fast-fashion brands continually updating styles, rendering once-trendy items obsolete, it makes the desire to stay current potent, says TRSM Professor Matthew Philp, an expert in consumer behaviour. He says it’s intrinsically linked to Social Comparison Theory, which suggests that individuals evaluate their opinions, abilities, and possessions by comparing themselves to others.

“Fast-fashion exploits this innate tendency by constantly introducing new styles and collections, fostering a sense of urgency for consumers to keep pace with evolving trends. This dynamic perpetuates a cycle of purchasing and discarding clothing to maintain social standing and acceptance. As a result, consumers may experience diminished self-esteem and feelings of inadequacy if they do not keep up… Getting influencers to show-off their ‘hauls’ on social media just perpetuates this further,” he said.

So, if you're feeling discouraged because you don't have the latest “fit", you’ll be a lot happier if you tune it out.

6. Remember - there’s always more time
Fast fashion ads are full of messaging to elicit and create a “scarcity mentality”, says Prof. Kozlowski. Emails that say “Last chance” want to make you feel that the item will be gone if you don’t order right away.

“But when we look at the fashion space, it's so homogeneous now because there's so much product being created.”

Plus, she says, the trends are global. Unlike many years ago, today, the items in an H&M in Barcelona are the same items in an H&M in New York. That is - what’s “hot” is everywhere - and there’s lots of it.

“Somehow they've really trained us to feel like there's a scarcity and you have to act now, but really, we're living in this amazing abundance,” Prof. Kozlowski said.

So, while the ad might say it’s your last chance to buy - it’s probably not.

7. Be your own brand
Ever think to yourself, “Hmm, everyone’s wearing (insert style-du-jour here), but it looks terrible on me.” ? It’s time to ignore what’s on your feed and be your own brand, says Prof. Kozlowski.

“We need to move toward being our own individual, buying things we really like, that we can restyle, and that will last,” she said.

“If you buy something you love and that looks good on you, and not just what’s trendy, it will make you feel good and you’ll want to keep it around,” she said, adding that with quality items over time, you can get things repaired or tailored as needed.

“If you feel great, that’s what matters, because you project differently. But if you buy something trendy and don’t feel good in it, you can tell. You hold your body differently, and it can impact how you feel,” she continued.

“It’s time to come back to the old rules of fashion - dress for your body type, wear what you feel good in. Those are the things you should gravitate towards.”