The algorithm is dressing you
Real talk: do you actually pick your outfits, or is your closet basically an extension of a corporate algorithm? Back in the day, fashion was all about what designers at houses like Chanel or high-end magazine editors decided was ‘in.’ Now, thanks to the ultra-fast fashion machine, that power has shifted to computers.
Fashion newsletter writer Amy Odell notes that companies like Shein have taken this to the extreme. While brands like Zara pump out roughly 20,000 styles a year, Shein uses data to track trends and test demand, dropping about 4,700 new apparel styles every single day. It’s giving… consumption overload.
Thrifting: From counterculture to main character energy
Fashion journalist Hannah Marriott points out that thrifting has been the ultimate move for countercultures for the last hundred years, from the 1920s surrealists to 1960s icons like the Rolling Stones. Back then, it was about the stigma, but today? The vibe has totally shifted.
Thanks to the pandemic and the explosion of apps like Depop and The RealReal, buying secondhand has gone from ‘bottom of the barrel’ to a massive social currency. “The stigma has really gone away, and it’s almost reversed,” says Marriott.
The Goodwill drama
But is thrifting still actually affordable? Many shoppers are lowkey stressed because thrift giants like Goodwill have definitely bumped their prices. While inflation is a factor, resellers snapping up the best items to flip for profit online have made finding those legendary thrift-store deals way harder. In some places, you can even pay $75 for a ‘thrift tour’ to get early access to the racks. Say less, it’s not exactly the bargain hunt it used to be.
Why it matters
After 30 years of fast fashion getting faster and more aggressive, people are tired of the cycle. Thrifting remains the best way to score original, one-of-a-kind pieces that aren’t dictated by a computer, helping you keep your personal style from becoming just another carbon copy of the algorithm.
