When looking for style inspiration, where should someone look? Pinterest, Google, Youtube? What about the millions of new trends posted on TikTok, Instagram or even Twitter? Almost every day, a new trend is created and is out of style by the end of the week. This is called a microtrend. To keep up with demand from consumers and to keep them invested in their products, companies tend to mass-produce stock. Once the trend dies, companies are left with items that won’t sell. At the same time, customers are left with a style that died before the package could even ship. This leads to overconsumption, where clothes get tossed in the back of a closet, donated, resold, or even thrown away.

Co-president of SHS’s Fashion Club Senior Samantha Achim said microtrends aren’t just harmful to the fashion industry, they are environmentally and ethically immoral.

“We are finally seeing the problem with Shein and Temu, but we all know they sell cheap clothes for cheap labor,” Achim said “It doesn’t just affect our closets, it affects the environment and people. It’s just bad.”

Americans produce around 16 million tons of waste from textiles. While 2.5 million tons of that waste is recycled, 10 million tons are sent to the landfill each year. This is due to fast fashion companies producing microtrends, and since the prices are lower than big brands, consumers buy at a quicker rate. This leads to an abundance of clothing, accessories, gadgets, etc. to be bought at a high speed due to what is popular online. These trends eventually create a cycle of creation and consumption that makes a trend a fad. This fad ends up being tossed away and to in a landfill. These landfills then convert garbage into gas that produces 40-60% of carbon dioxide.

AP Environmental Science teacher Nicole Geiger, said she is concerned about the impacts on Earth’s environment from the internet’s pressure to contribute to microtrends to fit in.

“You know it’s great for the world of fashion, but not for the environment because the resources that go into making cloth and textiles and usually cold [unprofessional] labor that [fast fashion] involves is a whole ‘nother ethics issue,” Geiger said. “But when it comes to the environment, ultimately if it’s not getting upcycled, repurposed, or donated it’s going to end up in a landfill, so we are perpetuating the cycle of single-use.”

From thrift stores, consignment shops and budget bins, the Solon community has attempted to repurpose items not used anymore. Even SHS has set up programs and fundraisers to donate used clothes, toys and supplies. The programs are an attempt to stop unused clothes from going to waste.

As overconsumption continues to rise, microtrends continue to surge on social media. Advocates have been bringing awareness to why overconsumption is so detrimental.

“The carbon emissions are an issue, because as we’re mass producing things, there’s going to be CO2 release, there’s going to be you know chemicals that are dumped into waterways, there’s going to be landfills that are filled, so we are going to be running out of space, resources and fresh air,” Geiger said.

Even some high schoolers and college students, who are in the highest range of users on social media, agree with scientists about the harm done to the Earth and humans via overconsumption. Anya Evdokimenko, a junior at Solon High School has strong opinions on the matter of microtrends and how they affect society.

“I think it’s ridiculous how capitalistic [the] kind of society that we live in,” Evidokimenko said. “We always think we need more and more, and obviously, greed is a human trait that we all have, but it has gone to a kind of a ridiculous point. It’s not even things that we necessarily need and we end up throwing them out.“