Young consumers known as Gen Z consumers are constantly taking to social media to express their deep concern over the impact of the fashion industry on the environment at all levels.
Generation Z comprises people born between 1996 and 2010. This generation’s identity has been shaped by the digital age, climate anxiety, a shifting financial landscape, and COVID-19.
Consumer intelligence platform Ipsos Synthesio analyzed 3.4 million fashion and sustainability online mentions in the US, UK, and France, and found that online conversations about fast fashion had increased by 52 percent in the last 12 months.
Of the 600,000 online mentions relating to fast fashion trends show that 9.9 percent revolved around overconsumption of fast fashion. Most Gen Z consumers according to the report allege that fashion brands are regularly introducing new fashion trends luring consumers to buy more new clothes.
Results also showed that climate change was among the top phrases negatively associated with fashion-related online conversations. On average 18 percent of social media users in the US, UK, and France cite climate change as a top issue facing their country. At the same time, the volume of sustainable fashion mentions on social media had also increased, by an average of 16 percent in the UK.
The top hashtags in online conversations related to fashion include #shopmycloset, #etsy, #poshmark, #gentlyused, and #sustainability. In particular, the social media platform TikTok had made use of the hashtags and this had resulted in second-hand shopping and thrifting becoming ‘trendy’ among younger generations, the report says.
It also highlights the power of influencer culture, showing an increase in public figures who are “shining a spotlight on sustainable fashion”.
Gen Z consumers concerned over the environmental impact of the fashion industry
