Week 7: Digital Citizenship Case Study: Social Media Influencers and the Slow Fashion Movement
Are you all fashionable? Even if it's not fashionable, we humans buy clothes and wear them. Then we enjoy fashion in our daily lives.
There are many fashion concepts; one is slow fashion. The slow fashion movement is a way of thinking that slows production and consumption to break the fashion cycle and reduce resource waste. For consumers, it refers to a socially conscious initiative that encourages them to prioritize quality over quantity and to use good products for the long term (Jung & Jin, 2014). One factor that contributed to the growth of slow fashion is digital citizenship and social media influencers.
Digital citizenship is not only the ability to participate in an online society where users can gather and interact on social media platforms (Mossberger et al., 2008), but it also includes the question of how to leverage digital platforms to address social and environmental issues. Therefore, social media influencers can use social media platforms to educate consumers about ethical consumption, transparency, and sustainability, share personal experiences of embracing slow fashion, and cultivate a critical perspective on fast fashion through the hashtag #slowfashion (Papaioannou, 2024). The reason social media influencers are effective is that parasocial relationships with digital celebrities, based on the illusion of closeness between influencers and followers, play a significant role in prompting impulsive purchases among consumers (Zafar et al., 2020).
Kara Fabella is a BIPO content creator, sustainable lifestyle advocate, and ethical fashion stylist. She is an inspiration on social media feeds. She shares her slow-fashion styling tips and introduces her followers to carefully selected ethical brands (Ringbe, 2022). Furthermore, Kara thinks sustainable slow fashion is the opposite of fast fashion; it is clothing made with a focus on people and the environment. It is about emphasizing fair production without exploitation and transparent supply chains, devising and using the clothes we have for a long time, and respecting diverse body types, genders, and cultures (Mumtaz-Cassidy, 2021). Her style, with its elegant, vibrant use of color, perfectly captures the essence of slow fashion.
However, while influencers promote slow fashion, the contradiction is that their continued dissemination encourages consumption, and their role is limited. Their recommendations are highly reliable if their expertise in slow fashion is recognized, and can influence audience attitudes, perceptions, and purchasing decisions (Munaro et al., 2024). This highlights the need for digital citizens not only to be inspired by influencers but also to critically evaluate the information and consumption practices they promote.
Ultimately, digital citizenship in slow fashion is not just about what clothes we buy. While social media influencers play a crucial role in promoting slow fashion and raising awareness about sustainability, their influence can also drive continued consumption. Therefore, digital citizens must not only draw inspiration from such content but also critically examine their consumption habits and make responsible choices.
References
Jung, S., & Jin, B. (2014). Theoretical investigation of slow fashion: sustainable future of the apparel industry. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 38(5), 510–519. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12127
Mumtaz-Cassidy, M. (2021, April 7). Conscious Creators: Kara Fabella (@theflippside). Consciously. https://wearconsciously.co/blogs/articles/conscious-creators-kara-fabella-theflippside
Munaro, A. C., Barcelos, R. H., & Maffezzolli, E. C. F. (2024). The impact of influencers on sustainable consumption: A systematic literature review. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 52(2352-5509). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.10.024
Papaioannou, T. (2024). Articulating Sustainable Fashion through Digital Storytelling: Actualising Citizenship in Vlogging of H&M’s “Conscious” Collection. In M. F. A. K. Panni, H. R. Kaufmann, & D. Vrontis (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Consumerism Issues in the Apparel Industry (pp. 483–503). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59952-1_23
Ringbe. (2022, July 20). 15 Sustainable Fashion Influencers to Follow in 2022. https://ringbe.com/blogs/news/15-sustainable-fashion-influencers-to-follow-in-2022
Zafar, A. U., Qiu, J., & Shahzad, M. (2020). Do digital celebrities’ relationships and social climate matter? Impulse buying in f-commerce. Internet Research, 30(6), 1731–1762. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-04-2019-0142