Fashion appeals to me in different ways now. Even though there are usually at least five tabs open on my laptop that are related to fashion at any given time there is a growing reluctance to engross myself in fashions shows.
I browse mostly for daydreaming purposes and the browsing almost never ends with a sale just in case you were wondering. I have personally made it difficult for that to happen. It really started to seem frivolous to indulge in anything more even though price temptation is considerably high. Perhaps this is because the reality of retail seems bleak. With so many stores going into administration, people losing their jobs (the majority of whom are women), and the ever-so-often snap lockdowns, the guilt of having unopened packages staring back at me started to wear in.
The pandemic has changed us and perhaps even the way we see the urgency to latch onto new trends. So many of us are starting to interrogate our impulses and with less demand/need for new clothes it has finally put into perspective how much we actually have.
The average American throws away about 70 pounds of clothing and other textiles per year. In the UK 1,130,000 tonnes of new clothing was purchased in 2016 and that number increased year after year. Even with these realities, because of increased screen time, and seemingly permanent online sales, impulsiveness could be a hard thing not to give into.
You are bombarded with placed advertisements based on your searches and browsing history. So much so that it sometimes feel like a necessity to complete the purchase. And with the mundane reality of our lives, the idea of having to something to look forward to feels nice.
I always get a release of dopamine when I click pay now, but over a year into the pandemic, I have learnt the curb my impulsiveness by trying to religiously maintain the following rules.
Forget card details
Online shopping is so convenient and a big part of why it is easy to become addicted to is because the money transaction part hardly requires any thought. Details are usually saved, and it is a hassle free process. The more time you have to spend on finalizing a purchase the less likely you are to complete it. I try to not save my card details so that the buying process requires more effort like searching for my card and always filling in the tabs. If it requires more effort you are less likely to go ahead with it.
Clear cookies and block ads
Most of the purchases I have made were due to the fact that they were always popping up. It felt annoying and almost like a nagging mother calling me and reminding me to buy bread on my way back home. Try to clear your cookies and browser history as often as possible and develop a habit to always block ads. If you really like or need it, you wouldn’t need an ad to remind you.
Unsubscribe and sleep on it
I always found subscribing to stores to get news to be pointless. This just serves as another form of aggressive marketing to push you to buy. I believe the best purchases are made with reason and personal desire, not by intentional convincing. Unsubscribe for mailing lists and for those you decide to keep, try to complete purchases they have influenced in a two-day time frame. When the instant excitement is removed, and reasonable thought comes into play we tend rationalise better.
