This week I had the pleasure of attending a savings event in London, it was packed with young people who were huge savings enthusiasts and wanted to have a good time. The atmosphere was phenomenal with the presence of live artists, lifting the spirits with their underground music and some popular songs played by the DJ. Apart from the area where people could rummage through clothes in the hope of finding an absolute bargain, there was also a dance floor where it was possible to have fun, bringing the best of both worlds.
young adults and teens are doing an impeccable job of removing stigma and changing beliefs around saving. Saving, formerly known as charity shopping, is an activity that recently saw its popularity rise in late 2019. At the event I managed to talk to a few people who talked about how they used to think saving was ‘unhygienic’, ‘dirty’, ‘ disgusting’, ‘disgusting’ and many other words with similar meanings, some people even talked about how they had been ‘saving’ all their lives even though they had been judged for buying ‘second hand clothes’, there seemed to be a current trend of thought, that saving used to be bad, but now it’s not. We are left to ask ourselves, why?
Another person I spoke to was a TikToker who goes by missmalz and has over 40,000 followers who support her thrifty habits. I took the opportunity to briefly ask her some questions about her thoughts on saving, she was very excited to talk about how excited she was that young people are saving more, much more than before, and how events like the one we were at really help increase the popularity of thrift stores. I also asked her why she thinks saving has become so popular and she replied “it’s all the rage” and that social media platforms like TikTok are to blame.
Saving as a trend may not be as good as it sounds because one of the things trends do is go through trend cycles. This puts Thrifting at risk of losing popularity, which is not good for the environment. The alternative to saving is to consume a lot quickly, something that young adults and teenagers are notoriously familiar with. Stores like Shein, PLT, Romwe and other fashion brands in the same industry are responsible for large amounts of emissions, Shein for example, which also saw its rise in popularity through TikTok, accounted for 6.3 million tons of CO2 in 2021. Most people are well aware of the impacts of carbon dioxide on the environment and how it is a major contributor to global warming and climate change, especially generation z.
In addition to the effects on the environment, there are also ethical reasons why fast fashion is not ideal. The clothes on these websites are produced in less ‘developed’ countries where labor regulations are different, resulting in sweatshops and overworked children and adults. all this just to keep their prices cheaper…
We can only hope that saving will continue to increase in popularity over time. Crossover events like the one I attended can help, it makes saving fun and makes it easy to meet like-minded people. Young adults and teens have already ensured that the way we consume fashion evolves towards something greener, but in a generation where trend cycles are so short thanks to apps like TikTok, Gen Z has a challenge. Keep saving in style