TikTok has revolutionized a generation of teens and young adults in the ways they share and participate in fashion. While teenagers are keeping up with what’s trendy is nothing new, influencers are causing entire wardrobes to change in a month’s time. The rise of so called, “micro trends.” such as patchwork jeans, and chunky resin rings, fade almost as fast as they rise leading some environmentally minded people to blame TikTok for promoting overconsumption. Let us take a closer look at it. 

   TikTok’s rapid content makes the platform unique to other forms of popular social media. While other apps such as Instagram and Tumblr feature more of a blog like function, taking TikTok videos are less than a minute in length, causing trends to get bigger as people spend hours mindlessly scrolling. 

  A new popular trend from the show Euphoria is where they dress as if they were on the show, often involving extravagant makeup, clothes and shoes. Many notice these outfits go to waste once the trend is over and the cast is working on a new season with different styles. It’s the same with other older styles, Y2K is another example of this. When this trend was popular almost everyone wore clothes from the early 2000’s, now you hardly see it anymore because it’s not a big trend.  

   Crochet is having a big moment right now. Everything from cat eared beanies to purses and gloves, TikTok is stitch crazy. Recently, crochet has also started popping up in major retailers, such as target. Crochet is an advanced stitch that machinery is still unable to recreate, so anything in stores is handmade by laborers.  

   Youtubers are on the rise, especially DreamSMP, a group of content creators who stream video games on Twitch and other platforms. Their custom merchandise is highly covered and sought after, brought mainly by their young teenage audience. Many of these younger people discovered them through edits and other funny clips on TikTok. However, these young people are well known to fall out of love with fandoms as fast as they become a fan of them in the first place. This creates fears surrounding overconsumption, especially if fans decide to get rid of their merch when the stop likely them.    

    Consumerism is a problem manufactured by TikTok and its many trends cycling in and out of being popular. Even creative insults like the phrase “trend hopper” has been thrown around when people get onboard newer trends. There are many cute trends and merch that can be repeatedly worn and loved but because you see other people liking it so you buy the clothes, Consumers should at least wait a while to make sure it is something they are willing to add permanently into their wardrobe before you buying to create a good balance between what us trendy and being environmentally minded.