Let’s face it — malls are dead. Online shopping with the click of a button is alive and thriving. And a lot of us enjoy a quick fashion pick-me-up from our favorite cheap online store. A $2 tank top? Add to cart, no questions asked. The China-based brands of Shein, Temu, or TikTok Shop have dominated the market. Most of us have given in to the fast fashion frenzy — especially when we’re broke college students just trying to feel our best on a budget.
However, with President Trump’s plans to impose a tariff of 240% on China and 10% on other international markets starting May 2, our days of binge ordering may be over.
What even is a Tariff?
Let’s be honest — a lot of people hadn’t even heard of tariffs before the 2024 election. And if they had, they probably had no idea what they actually were. Unfortunately, though, this was a key concept to understand in 2024 to make an educated voting decision.
Tariffs are essentially a tax imposed on goods that are coming in from another country. The tax is usually a percentage of the product’s original price. This tax makes imported products more expensive, and shipping rates increase. And who ends up paying for them? The American consumer.
What’s the point? Tariffs may help increase the domestic product on U.S land. However, here’s the catch: millions of products, including foods, infrastructure materials, and…well…clothing, are imported every single year to the United States, and it’s now impossible for domestic markets to make up for it. This results in a lot of people feeling the financial pressure, and forces most to hit the brakes on their usual shopping habits.
How were these shops originally so cheap?
Many may wonder, how were these Asian fashion hotspots so affordable?
Other than the fact that clothing sold on websites such as Shein and Temu is made out of cheaper polyester and microplastic materials, they were ultimately cheap due to unethical labor practices.
Untold: Inside The Shein Machine documentary from reporter Iman Amrani revealed that workers in Shein workshops made less than $20 an hour. The film ultimately reveals that the company will work employees up to 75 hours a week while underpaying them in order to keep their products cheap and sales high.
Therefore, we might consider that the same reason these products were cheap might be exactly why it’s a good thing they’re falling out of favor.
Conclusion: Hello, slow fashion, goodbye, fast, cheap commodities
The end of the online fast fashion craze perpetuated by President Trump may seem like the end of experimenting and affordably hopping on all of the latest trends. However, fear not, as there may be a very inexpensive solution: your local thrift store.
Over the past few years, there has been a slow but steady rise of thrifting, popularized by those who, from the start, have recognized fast fashion’s unethical practices. Could the death of the Chinese online market signify a full-blown national wave of buying second-hand clothing?
The answer would depend on whether the general public would be open to wearing used clothes, and whether most would be open to vintage silhouettes. Not to mention, many could find local affordable outlets to unleash their guilty pleasure-esque retail addiction. However, it seems that with popular online stores soon tripling in price, we may see more and more people visiting their local Goodwill and flea market.