What Other People May Think of You When You Buy Fast Fashion

Consumers love fast fashion. Purchases of clothes that are trendy, cheap, and not meant to last for a long time have been rising. Although we know that cheap clothes might not have been produced with sustainable materials and practices, many of us have at least some items from fast-fashion brands in our closets. It is indeed tempting to buy fast fashion: Some brands manage to produce items that are on trend with the latest luxury fashion within just a few weeks after the newest fashion shows up on the runways of the fashion capitals of the world, for a fraction of the price. And many influencers contribute to fast fashion’s popularity by creating haul videos where they show off their latest purchases.

Perception of Lower Self-Control

Fast fashion promises consumers to look trendy and chic, without breaking the bank. But what if fast fashion also sends other messages about its wearer? That’s a question that Yunhui Huang and colleagues explored in a recent publication. In several experiments with online panel members and American university students, the authors found that people who buy fast fashion are seen as having lower self-control than those who don’t buy fast fashion. From past research, we know that it’s generally desirable to be seen as someone who has good self-control, because people trust others with better self-control and generally see them in a more moral, positive light. However, buying fast fashion undermines such a positive image, because those who wear fast fashion seem to have less self-control.

A Focus on the Short Term

Why would people think that fast fashion fans have less self-control? This surprising finding is based on the idea that fast fashion is very disposable. Because it’s so trendy, it’s only meant to be worn for a few times, until it quickly goes out of style or loses its shape. People who treat clothes as something disposable are seen to have a focus on the short term. Such a focus is common to many self-control problems, when people focus on immediate pleasures over long-term benefits. Anyone who has ever chosen going to a party now instead of studying for a test that’s coming up next week knows what I mean. When consumers buy fast fashion, they show others that they focus on the short-term trend and low price of their clothes instead of being able to wear them long-term and saving environmental resources. People think this even more of others who wear lots of fast fashion, compared to those who only do so occasionally.

I think it’s a bit ironic that fast fashion consumers often buy these clothes to make a positive impression on others—for example, being on trend, being a smart shopper, or having exciting outfits that they never wear twice. Fast fashion might indeed give that impression, but at a cost: being seen as someone who focuses on the temptations of the here and now, with disregard for the future consequences of their choices.