What Is Underconsumption Core? Experts Explain the Trend Putting Dirty Shoes All Over Your Feed

She’s quick to level expectations for the “mini-core trend,” as she called it (underconsumption has some 7,500 hashtagged posts on TikTok). “I think that there are a lot of conflicting movements in the world these days. On the one hand, you have a huge regulatory push, which is mostly affecting companies doing business in Europe with very ambitious regulations that are raising the bar on performance and disclosure from an environmental and human rights perspective. But on the other hand, those regulations are also frustrating for a lot of business executives. [Sustainability] is just not as ‘cool’ as it was – even from a CEO perspective – as it was one or two years ago.”

Despite her concerns, Niemtzow is hopeful. “There’s frustration, there are geopolitical concerns that are overshadowing sustainability, and as the economy also weakens, and as the cost of living crisis escalates, people’s attention is just sort of drawn away from sustainability, and that’s what we have to avoid at all costs – sustainability being seen as something that costs more that is only for the wealthy and rich, even though they have high-impact lifestyles.”

For many Gen Z-ers, sustainability lifestyles could complement healthier financial habits. A July study from Bank of America found Gen Z continues to struggle with building savings and contributing to their retirement with nearly half – or 46 percent – relying on their parents for financial assistance. To merely keep up, they are delaying financial milestones – like buying homes – and trading down their lifestyles. At the same time, Gen Z appears to be more vocal on budgeting preferences and financial boundaries with 63 percent of respondents saying they “do not feel pressured by friends to overspend.”

Taking Power Back

In its essence, influencer culture is a form of network and crowd-based power that never ceases in allure. “Buying less is a very substantial exercise of power,” said Michelle Gabriel, program director of Sustainable Fashion and director of Career Services and Strategic Partnerships at Glasgow Caledonian College in New York City. “[Consumers] are talking of ways to disengage. They are gaining time, space, resources, energy – and money.”

“Whenever we use methods of consumption – which is what social media is – the main purpose overtakes the dialogue. TikTok and Instagram are interested in selling us things and selling our attention. When we are talking about underconsumption or decelerated consumption, we are asking TikTok to operate outside of its best interests.”

Hernandez thinks an aversion to mainstream trends — and labels — is generational. Repackaging it online doesn’t take away from the meaning. “Perhaps our generation, or generations of people or consumers in America, don’t want to attach themselves to a word, because then they become very scared of doing it wrong,” Hernandez says. “I think that we can’t create new terms anymore but create a culture where we don’t have to identify ourselves as sustainable.”