Thrifting, Emma Chamberlain, and Networks
Today’s fashion industry has been overtaken by the rise of consumerist “fast fashion” brands, which cycle through trends by season and, combined with social media, have transformed the industry. However, for the younger generations, ethical consumption and buying from sustainable brands which take responsibility for environmental and social issues is a priority, leading to the critique of fast fashion brands. Because of Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube’s influence on young people’s consumption in the fashion industry, the current “trend” has been thrifting – shopping for one-of-a-kind used pieces. Thrifting is more sustainable because it takes the focus away from constantly buying brand new clothing and emphasizes reusing and repurposing. But when exactly did thrifting become so popular, and how did it gain so much popularity so quickly?
The CEO of thredUP, one of the most popular e-commerce thrifting sites, has projected that the total secondhand apparel market will double in just five years, reaching $51 billion, which is largely driven by younger people’s concern about environmental issues and sustainability [1]. A lot of the push for thrifting and sustainable fashion choices has been encouraged by social media “influencers.” Influencers reach a massive audience that would not be possible without their platforms, and research has shown that 84% of millennials are likely to be influenced into buying something based on content by strangers, in this case, influencers [2]. One such example of an influencer who has transformed the fashion industry is Emma Chamberlain [3]. Chamberlain, a 19-year-old social media influencer has amassed over 10 million followers on Instagram and over 9 million subscribers on YouTube. Known for her quirky and unique sense of style, much of which is thrifted, Chamberlain’s massive following has helped to spark the rise of thrifting. This overtaking of young people’s impact of fashion follows the fundamentals of networks. Take, for example, 2 of Chamberlain’s followers who are friends with each other. The tie between each of the friends to Emma is a weak tie, but the tie between the two friends is strong. If the two friends both start thrifting, a mutual friend between them is more likely to start thrifting. Then, because of Strong Triadic Closure, if this mutual friend has strong ties to two other friends, these two other friends will also likely have some kind of tie between them, and these two other friends will likely both start thrifting too. In addition, we know that a characteristic of networks with close friends is that they share information with each other, so the whole friend network will learn about thrifting and each friend has a higher likelihood of starting to thrift. For example, if each of Chamberlain’s 10 million followers shares a post about thrifting with two of their friends, this reaches the original 10 million plus another 20 million, totaling to a reach of 30 million people. Thus, because Chamberlain’s fan network is so huge, this accounts for a rapid spread of the thrifting trend.
Example friend networkIn addition, Emma Chamberlain’s (and other influencers’) influence on thrifting can be looked at from a structural balance standpoint. When a fan sees a positive edge between thrifting and Chamberlain, and they have a positive connection between them and Chamberlain (because they are a fan), because of the principles of structural balance, this creates a scenario with three positive edges (a balanced network).
structural balanceSo, the rise of thrifting can be largely attributed to two things which go hand in hand: younger peoples’ concern for the environment and social issues, and the broadcasting of this new trend of sustainable fashion over social media through influencers who have a massive reach.
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/rise-re-commerce-everything-old-new/ [1]
https://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/social-media-marketing/how-social-media-and-its-influencers-are-driving-fashion/4871 [2]
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/style/emma-chamberlain-youtube.html?auth=login-google [3]