NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF FASHION CONSUMERISM ON ENVIRONMENT

Many people in the U.S. have gotten used to our consumerist society and endlessly partake in it. We can declare to being
constantly bombarded by visual stimuli, bear witness to the long lines for limited-edition collaborations between brands,
splurging on clothes in-stores or online, and of course, seeing the crowds of people in stores during Black Friday trying to
land a “good deal”. As much as consumerism has helped the economy, it has also had its negative consequences which
have become more prominent due to the increasing awareness of the overwhelming amount of consumer debt and of
environmental issues.

First, we have to address the definition of consumerism. So what is consumerism? In today’s world, it has been widely
accepted as the social and economic force for the demand for mass-produced goods. However, there are many more
definitions and explanations of the concept of consumerism. Peter Stearns, a professor from George Mason University,
explained it as “a society in which many people formulate their goals in life partly through acquiring goods that they
clearly do not need for subsistence or for traditional display” (Beyond Consumerism: New Historical Perspectives on
Consumption). So, its definition can be expanded from a social and economic force to a popular and widespread mentality
and behavior shared amongst most Americans. It is this mentality and behavior that many think about when they hear the
word consumerism. Such has shaped the American consumerist culture.

This consumerist mentality and behavior began to really take shape going into the 1920s and World War I. The line
between items of necessities and those of luxury and leisure began to become increasingly blurred from then on. Products
invented during the “roaring 20’s” included things such as the washing machine, iron, radio, the refrigerator, and the most
defining of the era, the automobile which was Ford’s Model T. Many people saw these newly invented goods as
necessities but the average American, at the time, could not yet afford them. Therefore, Ford made the automobile more
available to everyone through consumer credit in which Americans would pay for products through installments, dividing
the total cost into smaller payments and paying them over a span of time. These “installment payments [were introduced
and] pioneered by Singer Sewing Machines” (Consumerism). Through the availability of consumer credit, many were
filled with the instant gratification of purchasing a product even though the product had not actually been paid for with
cash. In 1920, there were 8 million of the Model T produced and in the homes of Americans. Only 10 years later, there
were 28 million in total. Nowadays, we can still pay through installments along with credit cards.

As aforementioned, consumer credit began to be available to the common person in the 1920s through installment
payments. Credit cards were only “issued by specific merchants or groups of merchants. In 1958 the general-purpose
credit card was born when Bank of America created a bankcard that eventually became the Visa card. In 1966 a group of
banks joined together to create what became Mastercard” (Consumerism, Erik Wright, and Joel Rogers). As a result of the
use of credit cards, consumerism started to exponentially increase. Nowadays, applying for a credit card requires steady
employment and minimal effort. Credit cards are given to whoever has good employment regardless if the person is new
to credit, educated about credit, or responsible. Consumption skyrocketed even though people knew that their purchases
did not fit well within their budget. This is where the ugly side of credit in consumerism comes into play.

Although we can use credit to get something we want immediately, many do not use and manage their credit cards wisely.
We are encouraged to use our earnings for necessities such as food, water, shelter, insurance bills, and the occasional
hospital bills. Then, out of our earnings, we are encouraged to save a certain portion over time to be able to buy goods we
want. Yet, in our hyper-consumerist culture, we want things now instead of later. People purchase goods sometimes not
knowing if they will have enough money in their paycheck to pay off their credit card bill or they don’t take into
consideration the number of bills they are paying with that credit card and eventually the total accumulates and becomes
too much to be able to pay it off completely. In the process, hurting the finances of that person and their credit score. This
leads into credit card debt. The numbers are appalling. According to Erik Wright, an American sociologist, and Joel
Rogers, an academic, stated that “ in 1968, consumers’ total credit card debt was $8.8 billion (averaged over the year, in
2008 dollars). By 2008 the total averaged over $942 billion” (Consumerism). Such statistics illustrate how alarming credit
card debt is. Yet, the numbers for consumer debt in general are more disheartening. Wright and Rogers further provide us
with considerable larger numbers with “[t]he size of the total consumer debt [growing] (in constant dollars) nearly 3 times
in size from $898 billion in 1980 to $2.6 trillion in 2008” (Consumerism). One of the solutions to this growing debt is to
utilize credit in the correct and responsible manner. If we don’t change our behaviors, and how we think about credit
cards, we can find ourselves in even worse waters.

Since the day we become aware of our surroundings, we constantly see ads online or off. Whether we want to or not.
Promising us that if we purchase a certain product, it will change our lives in some dramatic way, shape, or form. A study
was conducted and “found that by age 16 the typical American will have seen almost six million ads. This translates into
more than one ad per waking minute” (So, What’s Wrong with Consumerism?). Since a young age, the practice of
consumption is laid upon us. We see billboards, TV commercials, and strategically placed ads in media we use daily. They
influence American culture. They urge us to buy the latest phone, the latest fashion pieces, or buy fast food. We become
really knowledgeable about slogans brands use and become brand logo savvy to the point where mobile games are being
based off of such knowledge. Americans are all too familiar with Nike’s “Just do it” and its iconic swish to McDonald’s
“I’m Lovin’ It” and its famous golden double arcs. The problem, however, does not arise from our knowledge of brand
symbols/slogans and what they represent. The issue truly begins to take shape when advertising convinces us that
consumption is the answer to life’s challenges. As if buying temporary and materialistic things, we definitely do not need,
will magically relieve us of all the problems we face in life. Nonetheless, many of us fall into that rabbit hole and do not
learn from our fall. We sometimes get caught up in a loop and do not learn from our meaningless purchases. Instead, we
consume repeatedly, each time coming up with an excuse for why the previous buy failed to improve our lives in a
meaningful and dramatic way and why we need to buy even more. This introduces the problem of impulse and online
shopping.

Online shopping has become more widespread and prominent due to the convenience of the internet, debit/credit cards
and our brain’s response to it. With the convenience of online shopping, we now don’t have to take time to drive to the
nearest shopping mall/center, wait in queues to check out and drive back home. Now, we can avoid that and shop from the
comfort of our homes at any time we want. Thanks to warehouses such as Amazon, we can get things cheaper even
though they come from a different city, state or even a different country. Many proclaim their love for online shopping
since “consumers have a better experience online than in the store…and there is a broader selection online and deeper
inventory” (Online Shopping). We can see how much more, people prefer online shopping through the recent
development of Cyber Monday. We were used to the idea of physically going out to hunt for the best deals but “[o]nline
retail shopping in the United States — excluding travel and autos — has grown fourfold since 2002 and surged 15
percent… reach[ed] $186 billion in sales, while growth in overall retail sales… was in the low single digits” (Internet
Shopping). Whenever we buy anything online, we are hit with that instant gratification when we click “place order.” In
brain chemistry, we get a dopamine hit, the happy hormone, when we buy something. With online shopping, we get an
additional dopamine hit when it arrives and another when we open up the package. Apart from the convenience, minimal
effort, and inexpensiveness of online products, this is another reason for the increasing popularity of online shopping.
However, this growing demand for cheap products can be detrimental to the workers that are employed in such
warehouses.