buying new clothes essay

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Ielts writing task 2 sample 1084 - clothing should be bought and used more wisely, ielts writing task 2/ ielts essay:, buying fashionable clothes is wasteful because people don't need new clothes all the time. clothing should be bought and used more wisely..

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The Buy Nothing movement

Read about the Buy Nothing movement and answer the questions to practise and improve your reading skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.

Preparation

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Social media, magazines and shop windows bombard people daily with things to buy, and British consumers are buying more clothes and shoes than ever before. Online shopping means it is easy for customers to buy without thinking, while major brands offer such cheap clothes that they can be treated like disposable items – worn two or three times and then thrown away.

In Britain, the average person spends more than £1,000 on new clothes a year, which is around four per cent of their income. That might not sound like much, but that figure hides two far more worrying trends for society and for the environment. First, a lot of that consumer spending is via credit cards. British people currently owe approximately £670 per adult to credit card companies. That's 66 per cent of the average wardrobe budget. Also, not only are people spending money they don't have, they're using it to buy things they don't need. Britain throws away 300,000 tons of clothing a year, most of which goes into landfill sites.

People might not realise they are part of the disposable clothing problem because they donate their unwanted clothes to charities. But charity shops can't sell all those unwanted clothes. 'Fast fashion' goes out of fashion as quickly as it came in and is often too poor quality to recycle; people don't want to buy it second-hand. Huge quantities end up being thrown away, and a lot of clothes that charities can't sell are sent abroad, causing even more economic and environmental problems.

However, a different trend is springing up in opposition to consumerism – the 'buy nothing' trend. The idea originated in Canada in the early 1990s and then moved to the US, where it became a rejection of the overspending and overconsumption of Black Friday and Cyber Monday during Thanksgiving weekend. On Buy Nothing Day people organise various types of protests and cut up their credit cards. Throughout the year, Buy Nothing groups organise the exchange and repair of items they already own.

The trend has now reached influencers on social media who usually share posts of clothing and make-up that they recommend for people to buy. Some YouTube stars now encourage their viewers not to buy anything at all for periods as long as a year. Two friends in Canada spent a year working towards buying only food. For the first three months they learned how to live without buying electrical goods, clothes or things for the house. For the next stage, they gave up services, for example haircuts, eating out at restaurants or buying petrol for their cars. In one year, they'd saved $55,000.

The changes they made meant two fewer cars on the roads, a reduction in plastic and paper packaging and a positive impact on the environment from all the energy saved. If everyone followed a similar plan, the results would be impressive. But even if you can't manage a full year without going shopping, you can participate in the anti-consumerist movement by refusing to buy things you don't need. Buy Nothing groups send a clear message to companies that people are no longer willing to accept the environmental and human cost of overconsumption.

What do you think about the buy nothing trend?

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If everyone could follow this practice every year it would be a good way to change our consumption habits and we could reduce the environmental pollution but actually I think that not all the people could stop doing it, mainly because it is already dictated by our nature. The human has a big ego that he will always want to buy the newest thing of the moment to be predominant from the rest and although deeper topics such as economics and politics come into play here, our planet is already adapted to continue spending on unnecessary things but a similar and improved solution would be the key to achieving this.

In our society where the consumerism is law, avoiding to spend and buy something it’s complicated. We are bombarded daily by advertisements, so our brain must resist against the sudden impulse to buy something. It’s like a drug, it isn’t simple to keep away this insane need and of course companies use our weakness to improve their profit.  

I don't consider I belong to this movement or totally agree with their ideas. But I must recognise the damage I have produced to our planet by buying things I don't really need like clothes, perfumes, etc. It's difficult to buy only the essential things that we need, mainly because society has created an idea of "more is more" and the comsumerism of nowadays has growed to unsuspected levels. However, I don't consider myself a thrown away person because if I buy a jacket or pant, I make sure I'll use it more than three of five times.

I agree with Maryamabata that its important to have a good balance and enjoy buying things that I really want. In my perspective, refraining from spending money can let us feel frustraeted which is not a favorable outcome.

I think it's a very good trend. I appreciate minimalism and decluttering, but instead of just throwing things away, I've been trying to sell or give away items that I no longer use. This makes me think more carefully about buying things in the first place so I don't have to declutter them later.

It’s a really good movement, but it should’n be only a trend, it would be a day by day habit for everyone in every country all over the world, those whom have extra money to buy things they do not really need should think twice before do it and spend their money in local services or products they’d really would use in Long term.

Thanks for the lesson. Great site!

Personally, I'm against overconsumption because I only buy clothes or anything else when need them otherwise I don't buy anything.

For me, I think to be in balance is the strong side. Just to be aware of what I need and what I don't. Sometimes we could buy something just for pleasure, there is no issue, the essential is not to be a habit and then an addiction.

in our actual world we also spend a lot of money with some foods that we dont really need, just for pleasure not for necessity.

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279 Fashion Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Looking for hot fashion essay topics? The fashion industry is really important, controversial, and exciting. It is definitely worth studying!

🏆 Top 10 Fashion Essay Topics

💃 fashion essay examples & topic ideas, 🥇 controversial fashion topics to write about, 🎓 hot fashion essay topics, ⭐ fashion argumentative essay topics, 💡 most interesting fashion topics to write about, ✅ simple & easy fashion essay titles, ❓ fashion essay questions.

Our article will inspire you whether you want to write an argumentative essay about fashion history or a persuasive paper about modern fashion. Here you’ll find a huge list of fashion topics to discuss and write about, outlining tips, and excellent fashion essay examples. Enjoy!

• Fashion as a form of self-expression
• History of Western fashion
• National differences in fashion
• The role of technologies in fashion industry
• Fashion industry and its key sectors
• Fashion trends: causes and effects
• Fashion as a social phenomenon
• Market research in fashion: the main methods
• Politics and fashion
• Fashion blogs as a marketing channel
• Clothes and Personality In addition to this, it is not difficult to notice that Field had a good idea about fashion and personality based on the outfits and make up for her characters.
• Fashion Clothing Company’s Financial Statements The opening statement of financial position helps to identify capital intensity, the availability of cash to run the business, assets, and the tools available for the firm to continue smoothly.
• Fast Fashion’s Negative Impact on the Environment And this is the constant increase in production capacity, the low quality of the product, and the use of the labor of the population of developing countries.
• Fashion in the Period of Modernism The main content of the Modern was the desire of artists to contrast their creativity with the historicism and eclecticism of art of the second half of the XIX century.
• Zara Fashion Retailer’s Organizational Change Although this report has mentioned many areas within Zara’s operational and human resource strategies that need redirection as a direct consequence of the ever-shifting business environment, it lays its focus on how the fashion retailer […]
• The Effects of the Fast Fashion Industry on the World This led to the creation of shops that made garments to meet the needs of such a category of people in the community.
• Zara Fashion Retailer: Brand Awareness and Loyalty Discussion: This chapter of this study will organise considering the research question, such as it will describe Zara’s marketing strategies to develop brand awareness and customer loyalty; Conclusions: Finally, the chapter six will scrutinise all […]
• Sandro Fashion Brand The company began in the Marais district of Paris and focused primarily on women’s fashion. In 2009, the company acquired fashion brand Claudie Pierlot in preparation for the creation of the SMCP group in 2010.
• The 18th Century Children’s Clothing in England With that background in mind, this paper shall discus the characteristics of girls’ and boys’ dresses in the eighteenth century as well as the similarities between the dresses of both sexes.
• Fashion and Identity Werner continues to argue that the contemporary generation is deceived to think that personal identity is determined by the physical attributes in a person.
• Fashion Advertising and Its Influences on People A study on the fashion advertising processes and their influences on people will help to understand some of the impacts created by increased advertising.
• Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Fashion In this paper, the aim is to discuss the eco-friendly and sustainable practices in the fashion industry and forces that may affect the efforts of the stakeholders in this industry as they try to embrace […]
• Harry Winston Fashion Brand and Its Evolution Harry Winston Diamond Corporation was founded in the year 1932 and is headquartered in New York. Harry Winston has remained a powerful brand in the global jewelry industry.
• 1990s Fashion: A Challenge of the Decade From a more consuming and conspicuous style of the 1980s, a more defined and individualized style of dressing and composing oneself emerged in the succeeding decade.
• Supply Chain Management in the Fashion Industry This paper is also aimed at mapping out Louis Vuitton’s supply chain, at identifying and making recommendations for addressing the most significant problems in the management of Louis Vuitton supply chain, and calculating the losses […]
• UK Fashion Industry: ASOS Marketing Campaign The success of the re-launch of the modified products will greatly depend on a proper understanding of the internal and external factors that would impact the marketing campaign of ASOS.
• Fashion Clothing Designs: The Golden Mean Ratio The concept of the golden ratio has achieved uniqueness and becomes a fascinating exercise in mathematics because the ratio appears in several elements and creations, such as the human body and face.
• Fast Fashion and Ethical Consumption A narrative literature review is selected to analyse and synthesise available information on the impact of fast fashion on society. The integration of articles is expected to reveal the gaps, tendencies, and limitations that exist […]
• Successful Advertising in Fashion This essay looks at advertising in fashion and some of the ways used to make advertising in fashion successful. It suffices to mention that scholars have created a link between advertising in fashion and the […]
• Fashion Capitals of the World The fashion industry is a dynamic industry, which is a product of history and ‘an objective term that depends on context to give it its emotional qualities.’ For a long period of time, Paris and […]
• Fashion and Cinema: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” According to Veblen, the aforementioned perspective as displayed in the fashion aspects of the movie indicates that the leisurely class uses dressing to express their way of life and social phenomenon.
• Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani: Fashion Philosophy The shift that occurred in the fashion industry toward Italy and designing dresses for movie stars and celebrities linked his name with luxury style and opulence.
• Gucci Luxury Fashion Brand Bizzarri describes the reinvention of the brand as the renovation of its image in the effort to recapture “the spirit of innovation” and redefine the notion of luxury.
• Fast Fashion and Sustainability This paper includes a brief analysis of the ways to address consumers’ fashion-related needs and reduce the negative environmental impact of the fast industry.
• Motivation in Fashion Industry As a student set to join the industry in the future, my dream is to be the best designer and prioritize the needs of my customers.
• The American Dandies and Fops History: Men With a Great Passion for Fashion, Style, and Art This paper delves into the 19th-century use of dandies and fops in the American fashion industry, how dandies and fops came to America, and their effects on American men and Masculinity.
• Fashion and Reasons to Love It The second reason for me to love bags is that my bag is a very important part of my image. The second reason why I love hats is that it adds a touch of elegance […]
• “Fashion Cycle” of Louis Vuitton Most of the products sold by Louis Vuitton go through the five stages of the fashion cycle, and the company has to use different strategies.
• The Impact of Fashion Marketing on Culture The primary aim of this study is to investigate the impact of fashion marketing, specifically in the clothing sector, on culture.
• Balenciaga Fashion Brand’s History Born in a village in the Basque region of Spain in the year 1895, Balenciaga spent much of his early life with his mother who worked as a tailor. The Spanish royal family and the […]
• Blogging about Fashion The blogs, as Huang, Chou, and Lin note, allows for individuals with common interest to come together to share information and ideas, as well as to gain knowledge from other members of the virtual community, […]
• Fashion as the Avatar of an Avant-garde In the discussion that follows, the links between fashion and art will be explored, the potential for fashion to represent the Avant-Garde will be addressed, and the specific case of Viktor and Rolf will be […]
• Western Pop Culture and Street Fashion of Japanese Youth The research of the topic needs to be preceded by the explanation of the key subjects and notions used in the current paper.
• Fast Fashion Brand Advantages and Risks in Chinese Market The paper also looked at the risks that the fast fashion brand has to face in the Chinese market and ways in which these risks can be managed to help the organisations consolidate its advantages.
• Zara Apparel Fashion Store Zara used in-house designers to supply new products to the market twice a week to customers in response to the sales and fashion trends.
• Comparative Analysis of Fashion Designers Donna Karan and Donatella Versace Janet Hethorn and Connie Ulasewicz, famous fashion researchers, consider sustainability as a process that Evades harm to people, eliminates harm to the ecosystem, strengthens the well-being of individuals who socialize with it, and improves the […]
• Just in Time: Management Operations in the Fast Fashion Industry Sourcing is implemented using the famous lean or Just in Time (JIT) models. This means that required materials are acquired and delivered whenever they are needed.
• Fashion History’s Understanding Fashion distinct classes of people in the society where complex and sophisticated fashion is related with the rich and modernity. Tailors, dressmakers, and designers have contributed to the increased trend in change of fashion.
• Fashion and individual identity This fact makes the clothes a reflection of the person, which is why the choice of fashion is taken to represent personal identity.
• Discussion: Ethics and Fashion Ethical egoism is the notion of the pursuit of one’s own interests and the total exclusion of their duty to protect someone else’s interests.
• Fashion History – Women’s Clothing of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s And yet, due to the war, limiting legislation was in effect, which caused firms to reduce the use of cloth and led to the use of more practical garments.
• Fundamentals of Fashion and Design Through this strategy, the firm will be in a position to design and develop fashion products that align with the customers’ needs and expectations.
• “Escaping to Reality: Fashion Photography in the 1990s” by Elliot Smedley Written by Elliot Smedley, “Escaping to Reality: Fashion Photography in the 1990s” explores how contemporary fashion photography is adopting realistic styles by using realistic activities contrary to ideal styles that had dominated art and photography […]
• Fashion as an Integral Aspect of Modern Culture: Identity Importance In this paper, we will aim to substantiate the full validity of an earlier articulated thesis, while exposing the concept of fashion as such that derives out of the notion of progress, which in its […]
• Fashion Design and Famous Designers His character narrative is about the blend of the past and the present as he tries to make his collections more relevant.
• ASOS Fashion Company’s Market Entry Into Dubai The purpose of the report is to highlight the appropriate market entry strategy for ASOS in Dubai. The report considers the business, industry, and consumer factors affecting the suitability of the business location.
• Fashion Designer Jeremy Scott The collection is inspired by the theme of monsters and the unknown future. He is capable of creating new forms and exploiting the most striking concepts.
• Fashion and Gender: Globalization, Nation and Ethnicity Today, fashion is changing drastically to compose fashion trends, which is very relevant in the contemporary society as it’s reflected in the new colorful and stylish designs.
• Winter 2020 – 2021 Fashion Trends The following are the most recent winter and holiday fashion trends of 2021. The fashion world is rapidly shifting to the new era of jeans, forgetting skinny models and returning to the silhouettes of the […]
• Careers in the Fashion Industry The duty of a manufacturer’s representative in the sphere of fashion is to market and sell the lines of clothes. In conclusion, all of the careers selected for this paper include a lot of responsibilities […]
• Fashion Advertising Impact on Social Identity The concept of social identity in modern society is increasingly becoming important in a global society as people try to identify with specific cultures and practices.
• Bahrain Fashion: Culture and Antiquities The main purpose of the paper is to provide the information regarding the cultural and historical peculiarities of the country with the relation to the Bahrain fashion.
• The Fashion Channel Marketing Plan The firm needs to effect radical marketing strategies to help it increase the value of its service in the market. This approach will help TFC increase the ratings of its products to make it more […]
• French Fashion in the Eighteenth Century The eighteenth century is a distinct period in the history of the French fashion because during that time, France became the main arbiter of style in Europe.
• Teen Fashion Advertisement From magazines, to the television, to the internet, to the billboards; there is almost no limit to the ways in which teenagers are exposed to fashion advertisements.
• Men’s Fashion and Shopping Habits Associating a brand with a powerful personality is however a strategy that has been adopted by many marketers in the past and that is why some of the major world brands like Sean John and […]
• Counterculture Fashion: Patched Denim The presentation focuses on patches and their role in the counterculture fashion. Over the century, the significance and meaning of patches in fashion have evolved.
• Versace Fall Winter 2021 Fashion Show Review Flipping the script for the fall 2021 season, the brand introduces its fanbase to a new discussion inside the Versace-verse, monogramming.
• Child Labor in the Fast Fashion Industry To free girls from this choice and reduce the presence of kids in factories, it is necessary to combat poverty in rural areas actively.
• Fashion Industry’s Challenges & Negative Effects In this regard, average women are used to illustrating the beauty of the fashion products being displayed. This has significantly reduced the negative effects of the fashion industry on women.
• XL Ladies Clothing: Fashion Industry in the UAE In this particular business proposal, SWOT analysis will be used as a practical tool to assess or appraise the current market condition of the clothing industry in the United Arab Emirates.
• Generational Trends in Fashion Although the development of the present-day generation of young people should be discussed as the complex phenomenon, it is possible to focus on analyzing fashion, technology, and parenting skills as the most remarkable elements which […]
• The Characteristics of the Fashion Industry and How They Influence Supply Chain The fashion industry thrives on the efforts of retailers who mostly take up the role of supply, sales and merchandising of products to the consumers.
• How Do Craftsmanship Challenges the Fast Fashion Industry The values of hand processes, including macrame, lace, applique, and embroidery, lie in the technical and aesthetic beauty and the techniques’ historical and cultural significance.
• Fashion Industry: The Role of Marketer I preferred the choice of a marketer because it would allow me to monitor the current preferences of people and find effective ways of adjusting marketing to the demand.
• Political Geography: Fast Fashion’s Environmental and Social Impacts In this study of the dark side of fast fashion, based on the Fashion’s Dirty Secrets film, attention will be paid to its impact on the environment and the population and what this leads to.
• The Fashion Scholarship Fund Website Rhetoric Analysis There are also shared personal stories of alumni and other people who have benefitted from using the website before that, making one visit the website to feel a connection on the importance of the website.
• Avant-Garde Fashion: The History of Modernism and How It Changed the World One of the main reasons why this particular movement resists the main fashion trends is that the garments are abundant with black color, the combination of leather and cotton, and multiple layers.
• How AI and Machine Learning Influence Marketing in the Fashion Industry As governments shut down factories, stores, and events to stop the transmission of the virus, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the worldwide fashion industry.
• Zero Waste Fashion and Its Perception The ingenious sales strategy of the fashion industry has a devastating impact on the environment. Mannarino explains that unlike other industries such as manufacturing and transport that have attracted the attention of the governments and […]
• Fashion Consumerism and Its Negative Effects The fashion industry is one of the fields that is consumerism saturated the most. It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic caused another wave of consumerism in fashion because people felt alone and bored.
• Casual Fashion Trends Now vs. 60 Years Ago While this is a natural part of life, any kind of alteration can be rather frightening, as it usually means that every decade or era will inevitably become a part of the past, as opposed […]
• How 40 to 50-Year-Old Irish Women Choose Fast Fashion and Why The replication of styles and the use of synthetic materials is meant to ensure that the product is made as affordable as possible while at the same time meeting the expectations of the market.
• Fashion Impact on International Students in London The proposal looks at the personal experiences of a small group of international students living and studying in London, utilizing first-hand accounts of how they make sense of their university experiences abroad and integrate them […]
• Native American Fashion Discussion Native American fashion collections aim to show respect and immortality of the indigenous culture; however, implementing the items in modern life is false memorization.
• Analysis of Simone Rocha Fashion Designs The designs are inclusive and relate to women’s outer beauty as they bring out a sense of femininity in terms of skin tones, freckles, and skin lines.
• Generational Attitudes Toward Fashion Sustainability To explore generation Z and millennials’ attitudes and product expectations towards sustainability in the fashion market. To explore the overlap in fast fashion and sustainable fashion markets.
• In America: A Lexicon of Fashion Exhibition The different installations operated back and forth in interesting ways throughout the show, and it was a highlight of the curators’ strategy.
• Waste Management Sustainability in the UK Fashion Industry In spite of the presence of the overarching goal, the exact nature and direction of sustainable policies may vary across different contexts and regions of the globe.
• 3D Printing Development for Fashion Industry The fashion industry was not moved or altered by 3D printing during the earlier days because most of the inventions covered the need to modify and improve the printing capability.
• Purchase of Fast Fashion Clothing and Ethical & Personal Values On the other hand, the emergence of the practice threatened the aesthetic value and ethical approach based on the utilization of the available facilities.
• Vintage Fashion Styles Overview While there were many different trends in fashion during that time, this loose clothing is a major feature of the ’90s.
• Discussion of Sustainability in Fashion In conclusion, the widespread problem of the usage of unsafe chemicals by the textile industry may well be avoided by including a precisely controlled and preventive strategy.
• Sustainability in Fashion: Clothing Rental Services Having rented an outfit, you do not have to think about what to do with ten different dresses worn for girlfriends weddings or family dinners, because, as a rule, it is a pity to throw […]
• Analysis of Major Fashion Trends and Their Perspective For this reason, this paper will look at such trends as the use of AI, sustainable fabrics and China’s e-commerce in fashion to predict their future development and impact on the fashion industry.
• Socio-Economic Future of Fashion Industry Hence, in order to minimize the negative impact of this problem on the world, fashion experts encourage people to export used clothes to others with the help of second-hand markets.
• Is Fashion Destroying the Planet? Before starting a review of the documentary, I feel it is necessary to give a definition of sustainable fashion and establish a connection between the fashion industry and the environment.
• The Fashion Industry: Discrimination Case To conclude, although the fashion industry seeks to contribute to cultural and ethnic sustainability, there are some issues that require discussion.
• Voids in the Fashion Industry Performing a PEST Analysis of the fashion industry provided an opportunity to find specific voids in this market and think of the ways to fill them.
• The PEST Analysis of the Fashion Industry The brands focusing exclusively on such products in demand during the summer or the winter as, for example, swimwear or parkas, have to account for the potential losses during an off-season.
• Luxury Fashion and Digital Experience In addition, such a sequence of events causes the loss of exclusivity, which also prevents clients from sticking to this brand.
• Fashion Forecasting and Trends There are a lot of spring tendencies that are widely awaited; however, the designers are most thrilled about the new bottom silhouette.
• Changing the World Through Fashion: Eva Kruse at TEDxCopenhagen The speaker says that the solution to the problem of clothing sustainability lies in understanding the changing behavior of consumers and studying the essence of the fashion industry and brands.
• Fashion Industry: The Role of Insiders In the fashion industry, the insiders imply that one should work hard to present to the world the best products. Sometimes one does not know how people will react to the content; the vital part […]
• Fashion and Architecture: Relationship The paper goes ahead and gives view of the positive aspects and negative aspects of the relationship of the field in view of the current, past and possible future trends. Areas of similarities between architecture […]
• Fashion: Studying Complexity of Industry However, most of them have a limited understanding of how the industry functions, its unique peculiarities, and laws that affect the cooperation between designers, models, photographers, and multiple roles people perform to create the basis […]
• Red Color in Branding of McDonald’s and Christian Louboutin Fashion House The above examples of the use of color in brands are typical marketers’ techniques to draw attention to the brand and increase sales.
• Brands’ Analysis in the Fashion Industry For the fashion industry, the ability to support the interest in a product or idea is one of the success factors.
• Pricing With Fashion Retailers The key to success in price setting and approaching customers more effectively is focusing on the transformation of non-transactional data into some analyzable form.
• Examining Vintage Luxury Fashion The recent evidence demonstrates that the re-sale of high-quality clothing becomes especially demanded, and the market seems to increasingly offer the desired products.
• Analysis of Developing Fashion Trend Some of the ideas that shape fashion in the contemporary world are: This is an inspired theme that has emphasis on the significance of local values as one takes note and appreciates the moment.
• Journal Entries: Advertising in Fashion The main argument is that advertising practitioners use an advertising imagery labelled the grotesque to generate narrative transportation for fashion consumers and also to assist in overcoming consumer resistance through fostering a more powerful experience […]
• Legal Context of Fashion and Design: Trade Dress This is one of the strategies that can often be adopted by designers to defend their rights in court. This is one of the points that can be made.
• Google Jumps Into Fashion E-Commerce In addition, the organizational strategy of the company is to find new ways of serving customers. It is important for managers to embrace information systems in order to achieve the corporate goal of a business […]
• California Fashion Brand Juicy Couture Applications of this technique is appropriate, because the use of cheerful colors and an adorable design is a mode of igniting emotional and physical responses from its targeted audience hence, arousing in them the curiosity […]
• Fashion Retail Trends In the modern age, traditional advertising is becoming obsolete, and distributors are forced to find new ways to connect with their audience.
• 20th Century Dress and Culture – Punk Fashion This firm has a large share market in the current fashion industry providing trendy products in clothes and shoes. Culture in fashion is essential in enhancing the social grievances of a discriminated group of population.
• Evolution of Clothes and Fashion in Twentieth Century The first half of the century was notable for the development of artistic movements, which contributed to the emergence of new elements in clothes.
• “Management Fashion” by Abrahamson To be able to contribute effectively in the fashion setting process, scholars should internalize the knowledge that fashionable management approaches must appear both rational and progressive, management fashion should not be adopted due to sociopsychological […]
• The History of the Fashion Industry: The Economy and Market Because of the significant numbers of the middle class, people are able to mold and shape the business and industry of fashion.
• The History of Corsets in the Context of Fashion History Corsets may be a perfect illustration of the expression ‘beauty has its price’, and ladies from the past centuries were willing to sacrifice the health in order to look beautiful and win attention.
• 70’s Fashion as a Freedom of Choice However, with the end of the Vietnam War, the public and the media lost interest in the hippie style in the middle of the decade, and began to lean toward the mod subculture. The 70’s […]
• Female Image in Alexander Wang Fashion Advertisement In the “Alexander Wang” fashion advertisement analyzed in this essay, the female image is exploited to create a provocative symbol which lacks the sexual self-empowerment of feminist ideology. The woman’s shirt is white, with the […]
• Fur Coat as a Controversial Fashion Garment Proponents state that fur is fashionable and therefore it is the way to go in terms of new fashion designs. The proposed use of refurbished fur and synthetic materials.
• The Fashion Show: Famous Designers Feathers were very much in at the latest shows and they certainly add to the movement. There were many very lovely creations and the idea of creating the animal look was more successful than fur.
• Social Media and Fashion Trends The influence of fashion on social media runs the gamut today. Prabhakar, Hitha.’How the Fashion Industry is Embracing Social Media’.Web.
• Fashion Industry and Vera Wang The fashion industry is one of the most rapidly growing industries in the world. The lack of fashion and good designs in the bridal wears forced her to bring new designs to the bridal industry.
• The Influence of Jacobs and Cornish on Fashion Born in 1963 in New York, Marc went to the prestigious school of arts, The New York High School and later went on to join The University of Art and Design, Parsons, to further his […]
• Art Deco: Fashion Merchandising The model on this picture is wearing a fur trim jacket from Bisou Bisou that has been clearly influenced by the fashion of 20’s.
• Coco Chanel: Life, Fashion, Designs, Perfume & Facts The places and people that came into Chanel’s life and helped her take the turn of life that brought her the success she achieved include; the magazine “Time 100: The most important people of the […]
• The Indigo: International Fashion Exhibition The fashion exhibition offered designs, embroideries and appliques, knits, fabrics and a lot of other aspects that deal with the fashion industry.
• Haute Couture: A Fashion Design Only for the Privileged Haute couture and high fashion is a flight of fancy of the best designers around the world. One of the most prestigious events in the world of fashion is the week of high fashion in […]
• Fashion Behavior and History: The Impact of Fashion Behavior on the Mechanisms in Society As a result of social influences, the fashion process performs in many areas of group life, particularly in the area of clothing and adornment.
• Miuccia Prada: Luxury-Fashion Pioneer The restlessness of her essence makes her perfect in modern-day fashion circles as she absorbs the dynamism of her world. Miuccia Prada is a symbol of the union between fashion and art.
• Fashion in Society: School Uniforms and Self-Expression The use of school uniforms can actually enhance a child’s personal character development as “such requirements of standardized dress also include a symbolic rhetoric of legitimate authority, a reservoir of institutional and organizational values of […]
• Cultural Borrowing: Ethnic Fashion Obscures Cultural Identity I write this article from the larger perspective of what kind of cultural items can be borrowed and the benefits of the same and at the same time the tendency to obviate the subtext.
• Cultural Identity vs. Ethnic Fashion A part of the modern lifestyle that looks hip and very happening without actually understanding the real meaning of the cultural item as it pertains to the ethnicity of the person.
• Off Season Fashion Sales: Procurement in Retail Karakul’s 2008 article “Joint Pricing and Procurement of Fashion Products in the Existence of a Clearance Market published in the International Journal of Production Economics, cites that in the apparel industry, the dilemma of always […]
• Eco-Friendly Design in Contemporary Fashion In this case, fibers are plants that need to be treated during processing; designing and they too require the usage of herbicides, fertilizers, and other chemicals that are hazardous to the environment at large.
• Fashion: Why Does It Change in the US? Many people spend a lot of income in the fashions in US this is because with the changes in the technology and culture changes in America, people are becoming more civilized and are ready to […]
• Gay Culture’s Influence on Hip Hop Fashion Gay men have the influence of female fashion design due to the fact that most of the designers of female clothes are men and most of them are homosexual.
• Fashion as a Mirror for Social Change The restrictive clothing of the previous years, counting up to the ‘Flapper’ era, had been a mark of the suppression of women and was shrouded in societal myth and sexual restraint but became a lesser […]
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Why We Buy Things We Don’t Need

S earching for an explanation for compulsive shopping, I recently ran across the story of a woman who couldn’t stop buying rabbits . Her husband told doctors that each day, she would visit the market and return home with yet another furry creature in a compulsive habit that appeared almost like an addiction. Then she would feel guilty about all the rabbits she had purchased.

The reason this 70-year-old woman was suddenly buying so many rabbits? She had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which scientists believe is caused by a lack of dopamine in some parts of the brain, and she had then been put on drugs to trick her brain into believing it was getting the dopamine it needed. But some patients who received these “dopaminergic” drugs started compulsively shopping , gambling, and binge eating—their brains were getting inundated with dopamine, which made rewarding behavior feel even better than usual.

I think about the woman who bought so many rabbits every time I look at the many recent Amazon orders on my account, or receive a new package on my doorstep and scurry to move it inside so my neighbors don’t judge my consumption habits. I know that buying more new stuff is bad for the planet—the production and use of household goods and services was found to drive 60% of greenhouse gas emissions —but every time I buy something, I get a little jolt of happiness that’s hard to give up. Like the woman buying rabbits, I can’t stop.

But a new book has helped me understand that my desire to keep buying things isn’t necessarily a personal flaw—it’s the way our brains have evolved. And there may be a way to break the cycle.

“All things being equal, we are predisposed to try to acquire more and more stuff, and to try and work less to get it,” says Ann-Christine Duhaime, a Harvard neurosurgeon who explored how to rewire the human brain to stop needing more stuff in her new book, Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis .

We are, after all, evolved from blobs that survived because their networks of cells learned to repeat decisions like moving towards a tasty treat or backing away from a predator. Today, we have some 86 billion neurons, the “action cells” in the brain, that are constantly creating circuits to reinforce rewarding behavior, releasing dopamine as they do so, in order to help us learn how to get a reward. We seek out those releases in dopamine, and at the same time, learn to repeat the actions that lead to them.

Our brains especially like it—and release more dopamine—when we get an unexpected good reward, Duhaime says. Our ancestors likely learned the benefits of “intermittent small variable rewards,” as Duhaime calls them, to teach them to explore. Maybe they were walking through a new patch of woods and stumbled across an unexpected patch of blueberries, she writes. Different networks in their brains told them that the blueberries were a good thing, which also caused their brains to release dopamine, and they learned to repeat the behavior that led to the blueberries.

The good feeling associated with unexpected rewards is partly why we like shopping. Maybe you weren’t even thinking about buying watercolor paints and then you read something that reminded you that you like painting, and you went online to buy yourself some watercolor paints. Even better: the watercolor paints were less expensive than you expected and, when they arrived on your doorstep the next day, they were higher-quality than you thought they’d be. Your brain will be drawn to repeat the behavior that got you something unexpected and good.

You don’t buy those watercolor paints every day because the dopamine hit decreases every time you repeat the same new learned behavior. People get addicted to things when the appeal of getting that new, unexpected reward doesn’t fade with time, which helps explain why that woman who was on a drug that kept the dopamine flowing continued buying so many rabbits.

( Some scientists argue that modern society is so addicted to shopping because so many people are stuck in repetitive mind-numbing jobs—buying things is one of the few ways they are able to do something out of the ordinary.)

Read more: Here’s the Carbon Footprint of Four Families in a Week

Of course, all humans are different, and our brains work differently depending on our genetics and our life experiences. Maybe you inherited a particular kind of receptor for a specific neurotransmitter that makes you react faster in a certain circumstance, so you take more risks than most people do. Or you might have learned in childhood that overspending can lead to poverty, which made you thrifty even if your parents weren’t.

More from TIME

A larger study of Parkinson’s patients published in 2010, for instance, found that not all people receiving dopamine treatments had a tendency to overshop. Those who had impulse control problems tended to be younger male smokers who lived in the U.S. and who had a family history of gambling, which suggested that both genetics and environment played a role.

That’s why Duhaime stresses that our brains are not “hard-wired” to keep consuming more and more. Yes, we have learned over time that the key to survival is acquiring more resources, but the brain also has a tremendous amount of plasticity. The challenge is that our systems are designed for short-term decision-making, and curtailing our own individual consumption for the long-term health of the planet may not benefit an individual person today. When a predator approached, we’d throw a rock at it and be rewarded, but the long-term deterioration of the planet is a little harder for the reward centers of our brains to understand, even if we are intellectually aware of it.

“The problem is, we topped out, and now more and more is bad for us,” Duhaime says. “It’s bad for us climate-wise, and it’s bad for us health-wise.”

The best way to alter the overconsumption habits that have gotten us here is not to stop buying things completely; a better solution may be to substitute new rewards for the old rewards that we know, in the long-term, aren’t good. I told Duhaime that as the days get shorter, I can’t stop eating chocolate just before bed for comfort, even though I know I don’t need the calories. She told me about her new before-bed treat: a glass of almond milk with a scoop of fancy cocoa powder, which gets her that same feeling of comfort without the calories of chocolate bars. Once she started losing weight, Duhaime says, the reward of being able to fit into her old clothes felt as good as the chocolate once did. We need that same substitution for shopping.

Buying used items, as I’ve written before , is an elegant substitution that could help fulfill our desire to acquire. You can buy something that’s new to you, and get that same good feeling of an unexpected reward without requiring a company to extract more resources from the earth.

Read more: I Tried Buying Only Used Holiday Gifts. It Changed How I Think About Shopping

Our current economy is still evolving toward a place where buying used items is rational; sometimes, buying new clothes online is cheaper and easier than buying old ones in a thrift store. But the secondhand market is growing—and is projected to more than triple within the next decade. And even companies like Apple, which long resisted calls from consumer groups to allow customers to repair their devices, rather than just buying a new one, now has a Self Service Repair Store that provides repair manuals and genuine Apple parts.

Creating social rewards can also help nudge more people toward behavioral change, Duhaime says. There’s a reason humans still cooperate and share—our brains get something out of having connections with other people. When like-minded people reinforce each other’s decisions—think about the successes of groups like Alcoholics Anonymous or Weight Watchers—they can help each other change. Already, there are so-called Buy Nothing groups cropping up, forming communities to help people exchange used goods—and there’s a hashtag #BuyNothingDay circulating on social media aimed at discouraging people from shopping unnecessarily on Black Friday.

Duhaime points to a successful project in the Netherlands called Eco-Team Programme, in which neighborhood teams got together to try and change their behavior, perhaps tracking the weight of the trash they generated or the amount of water they consumed. Over time, environmentally friendly habits replaced more harmful ones, as neighbors created new connections with each other by sharing the experience of changing their behavior. “If it’s not rewarding,” Duhaime says, “we simply won’t do it.”

Whether that approach would work in the U.S. is up for debate. There have been efforts to encourage similar behaviors. In his 1995 book, Ecoteam: A program empowering Americans to create earth-friendly lifestyles, David Gershon, an author and expert on social change, set out a strategy. It included forming teams of family members or neighbors and agreeing to some shared goals, like keeping their thermostats at 65°F or getting their names taken off junk mail lists.

Of course, the book is available on Amazon if you are hankering for something to buy.

More Must-Reads from TIME

• Where Trump 2.0 Will Differ From 1.0
• How Elon Musk Became a Kingmaker
• The Power—And Limits—of Peer Support
• The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
• Column: If Optimism Feels Ridiculous Now, Try Hope
• The Future of Climate Action Is Trade Policy
• FX’s  Say Nothing Is the Must-Watch Political Thriller of 2024
• Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision

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