Our society has recently become increasingly dependent on fast fashion, the appeal of quickly delivered gifts, and the intriguing sales that catch every customer’s attention. Fast fashion is the process of mass producing ‘In-trend’ products at low costs, mostly clothing, bringing them to consumers quickly while demand is high. 

Because of the infamous Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, the holiday season promotes unnecessary commercial consumption of fast fashion and other useless items. With the growth of social media over the years, these holiday savings events have grown to become more popular than ever.

According to Bank of America’s shopping pull, Americans will spend an average of $2,100 this holiday season outside typical necessities, a 7% increase from 2023. 

Due to the influence of social media platforms, Gen Z is a big contributor to this growth in money spent during the holidays. More data from Bank of America’s holiday shopping pull admit that 62% of Gen Z will overspend this holiday season. That’s more than half of the generation, making Gen Z the leading group in overspending this season.

Growing trends on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram influence users into buying items or gifts that they do not need. The majority of users buy these unnecessary items on cheap shopping sites such as Shein or Temu, which have grown to be very popular due to their shockingly cheap and affordable prices. 

“There’s a lot of options and varieties of things you’re looking for because it’s affordable for people who can’t afford expensive or trendy stuff,” said Ava De Ramos (11)

Though these cheap prices are very tempting, consumers should understand that these prices are the direct result of fast fashion. Most products sold on these sites sprout from fast-growing trends that quickly die off. Companies like Shein and Temu get most of their business from the desire of teenagers to keep up with trends, especially during the holidays.

It is not surprising how popular Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are every year due to the savings of hundreds of dollars just from these savings events. Many find these saving events an opportunity to not only buy gifts for others but to also stock up on items or buy gifts for themselves. 

However, while these affordable prices may be enticing, the majority of people take these sales to the extreme. Many then ultimately purchase items way over their budget and buy way more than what they need. 

Many also ignore the fact that fast fashion does extreme damage to the environment. 

According to biologicaldiversity.org, fast fashion introduces pollution that results in destructive impacts on both terrestrial and aquatic environments. This is linked to habitat degradation, microplastics in waterways, and an increasing impact on climate change from greenhouse gas emissions. 

With the increasing rate of climate change, the escalation of fast fashion during the holidays only makes matters worse. Many people need to stop buying unnecessary items and contribute their money to something more useful during this holiday season.