TikTok Trend Underconsumption Core Ticks Consumer Concerns on Spending, Sustainability
With more than 46.1 million views and counting, #underconsumptioncore is TikTok’s latest hot hashtag. Influencers are pushing back against haul videos, and even the app’s own move to shoppable videos and ad-driven content. They discuss cost-per-wear of clothing, how to repurpose or repair items, and live more frugally as environmental and economic headwinds rattle.
“It’s quite a perfect storm of different concerns for consumers,” said Emily Gordon-Smith, content director and sustainability lead at trend analysis firm Stylus.
More from WWD
What Is Sustainable Fashion? The Environmental Impact and Future of the Fashion Industry, Explained
EXCLUSIVE: Circ Launches Second Collab With Zara - and Why It Matters
Entrupy Announces Expanded Partnership With TikTok as Pre-owned Sneakers Authenticator
Consumers are not only grappling with inflation and feeling the pinch of the cost-of-living crisis, but also a growing unease about the environmental impact of the fashion industry as well as personal wellness concerns. “Then you layer that with something like #underconsumption — a TikTok-ism — and then suddenly it becomes a trend.”
The hashtag follows last year’s “de-influencing” movement, in which influencers would discuss what was not worth buying, and January’s “loud budgeting,” in which people were encouraged to be firm — and vocal — about their financial limits instead of trying to keep up with fashion trends. “Underconsumption-core” started trending in mid-July, and is part of that broader movement.
“It’s kind of divisive, the term ‘underconsumption,’ because it would allude to having less than you need, whereas in actual fact what we’re talking about is consumers shifting towards having just enough,” she said.
Gordon-Smith cites brands such as the British direct-to-consumer label Rise & Fall and Swedish brand Asket which are touting luxury-level staples at a fair price and producing to demand, as well as giving customers a high level of transparency about their production costs and value.
Outside of #underconsumption, some influencers dissect or even dismantle items to analyze what they are made of. “We’ve seen the kind of tearing apart of prices. The transparency piece is becoming more prevalent, with consumers wanting to know and actually being interested in what is the real value of [an item].”
It’s not only inflation. As the prices of luxury goods have increased — up 52 percent since 2019 in Europe, according to Stylus’ data — there is increasing customer pushback on helping to boost fashion companies to record profits.
“You’re seeing people really hacked off by these price increases and turning to cutting back and finding other ways to spend their money,” she said.
“We’re seeing, particularly amongst younger consumers, questioning shopping or ‘retail therapy’ as beneficial, questioning that and thinking, ‘What are other routes to better mental and emotional well-being? Buying a new dress isn’t actually fixing the problem.’ And that taps into the [Gen Z] approach to consumption,” said Gordon-Smith.
While a catchy hashtag may be appealing to Gen Z, Stylus’ data sees the spending shift span both age and socioeconomic demographics. They’ve also seen an increased interest in crafting, secondhand shopping and thrifting — trends which show no signs of slowing down.
Cue secondhand marketplace Vinted’s “Too Many” ad campaign, which highlighted clothing consumption. The videos showed people pulling trails of handbags, buried under stacks of hats or hunched under excess outerwear to highlight consumers’ full closets.
“What if you actually had to wear all the things that you have? It’s such a silly question, but visually it was inspiring and creative,” said Vinted creative director Emma Sullivan. The took their creative cue from a U.N. study that showed people are buying about 60 percent more clothing than 15 years ago.
The ad rolled out in parts of Europe earlier this year but went viral outside of its original markets, receiving more than 100 million views across platforms. It was clear the message resonated.
“What we see from our side is just a movement towards a more mindful way of consuming,” said Sullivan, such as buying more durable pieces or trying new styling instead of tossing.
“It all links together in a way that secondhand is bringing a lot of value across people’s wallets, their style and environmentally,” she said.
Sullivan noted that in the company’s latest impact report, two-thirds of Vinted members’ closets are made up of more than a quarter secondhand clothing. “That’s a big testament that the composition of people’s wardrobes is changing,” she said. “So we’ve got a lot of positive signals that show us this really is here to stay and not just a flash in the pan.”
The company will launch the next iteration of the campaign in the U.K. later this month, and it will roll out in additional markets later this year.
Influencer Shelby Orme, whose #underconsumptioncore videos have gone viral on TikTok, has seen trends go through several iterations, from Marie Kondo-style minimalism to de-influencing, to this moment of underconsumption.
Some of that lays squarely on TikTok’s algorithm and app updates.
“Now it feels like every few finger swipes and I have an ad,” she said, noting that with individuals promoting product inside their personal content now being interspliced with brands it creates an even more pronounced “double ad” effect.
The launch of TikTok Shop last September also shifted the app’s vibe from the feeling of community fostered during the pandemic to consumerism, Orme asserted.
Data from research firm Disqo released earlier this summer shows that the type of content being produced on the platform today has shifted from just a few years ago, in part due to the integration of ads alongside influencer-created videos.
“The de-influencing trend last year was a direct response to your ‘for you page’ changing from where you’re seeing people and you’re relating to them and learning things, and now all of a sudden, it’s just like scrolling through Amazon. People are very sick of being marketed to 24/7,” said Orme.
This week’s catchphrase may have already moved on to “very demure, very mindful” dressing, but the overall movement will likely have a longer lasting effect on social media — and the real world.
“I think ‘underconsumption core’ will be in itself a short-lived trend, assuming the economy makes a recovery,” said Orme. “But I hope that it brings more people to consciousness about reasons why consuming less is good for your mental health, your wallet and the planet as well.”
Best of WWD
