Generation Swipe: How to shop like Gen Z

Sunday, 8 September 2024

Welcome to Generation Swipe, a series by and about today’s young adults. Our team of under-30s journalists debunks the myths, sheds light on the challenges, and celebrates the successes of today’s youth. Follow the series on The Press, The Post or the Waikato Times. Today HARRIET LAUGHTON looks at how young people view the fashion world. Tomorrow, Gen Swipe considers climate change.

Lockdown boredom prompted 26-year-old Mikaela Venimore to start selling second-hand vintage clothes on Facebook and Instagram, under the name Preloved Charlies.

Her target audience is Gen Z, a generation that shops in a world of fast-changing internet trends that go in and out in a month.

Bloomers are in. So is gingham. Leopard print came in real hot, but now is out. Long gone are the days of decades defining trends like cookie cutters.

“A saying I’ve heard is there’s 52 seasons. But today that’s every day thanks to companies like Shein,” Venimore says.

For 22-year-old Kate Seager, the amount of fast fashion is “ridiculous,” Arie Roskam says he likes to buy good-quality clothing that won’t “fall apart”, while fashion student Georgia Coomber finds it hard to shop in an industry that values “fast and cheap”.

They're among a growing number of Gen Zers who buy most of their clothes second-hand. But low-cost, mass-produced items, the bulk of which are made in Asia, still dominate the market.

According to the BBC, the average cost of a Shein-branded clothing item is just £7.90 ($16.73) and at any one time, it has as many as 600,000 items for sale on its online platform.

NZ Post's recent market sentiment report for e-commerce revealed Temu was now rated by 17% of New Zealanders as the online retailer they used the most.

“That is a very problematic thing for our planet because we are buying a lot more than we consume and the way it’s being produced isn’t ethical,” says Venimore.

Two years after Venimore opened Preloved Charlies online, she quit her degree and opened a physical store on Vivian St in Wellington where customers can buy summery, sporty and girly vintage sourced from the 90s and early 2000s.

Preloved Charlies is one of many stores taking a stand against fast fashion by only selling vintage.

But buying vintage is about more than sustainability; Venimore says customers just get better quality for their money.

And gone are the decade-defining trends - fashion now is a “big collection of all of them”.

“I like being a skater girl one day and a girly dainty, jumping-in-the-fields girl the next day. I feel like this generation accepts that switch-up.”

Preloved Charlies social media manager Maiya Mason says there is “a shame around some people her age” buying fast fashion, with second-hand shopping becoming “such a normalised thing”.

“We’re reclaiming it.”

A punk-inspired maximalist is how Massey University fashion design student Georgia Coomber describes her style.

She makes her own clothing and prefers to use and wear wools, linen and cottons for quality reasons, but says it is hard to choose in an industry that makes clothing “fast and cheap”.

It is conflicting when her ethics demand shopping sustainably, but her “bank account needs her to buy groceries next week”. This is the reason thrifting is so big within Gen Z.

“I think thrifting has definitely opened up because people want brand-new clothes but it's hard to justify the price tag of buying something brand-new.”

Coomber wonders what thrift shops will look like in the future.

“Clothes 20 years ago, even if they were what we consider fast fashion now, they were just a better quality overall.”

In the face of this, Coomber says fashion today is more accepting on those trying new things.

“If you're in a rural town in New Zealand, you might have a community online who is happy to see you dress up however you want to be.”

Kate Seager has a chest of drawers “full to the brim”, her T-shirt drawer is overflowing and she hangs two to three items on each hanger.

Despite this, she often doesn’t know what to wear.

Social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram reels are used for outfit inspiration and she believes her constant exposure to fashion online could be to blame for her overconsumption.

The amount of stuff now bought from fast fashion brands is “ridiculous” and Seager recalls a time her friend ordered off Shein.

“She opened it up and … just kept pulling things out. Everything was wrapped in plastic as well.”

Seager mainly buys second-hand or from ethical brands, but occasionally shops at chain stores for affordability.

“It kills me a little bit because places like that, they're not the worst in the world, but they're definitely not the best either.”

She has noticed brands using labels saying “made with recycled fabrics” without explaining where the fabric is from and how it was recycled.

She guesses about 10% of her clothes are sewed or knitted by herself, her mother or her grandparents.

“I definitely think, like making your own clothes is making a huge resurgence with our generation.”

Seager worked at World of WearableArt as a garment assistant and she says her passion for fashion came from the event, after her mother brought home wrapping paper with photos of garments on it when she was young.

“I cut it up and put it on my school books the next year.”

Tucked in shirts and leather shoes is how 21-year-old Arie Roskam decides to dress most days.

He buys all his clothes second-hand, mostly through platforms like TradeMe and Facebook Marketplace, but says this kind of shopping is “a given” for Gen Z at this point.

“Good fashion and sustainability kind of go hand in hand together and you kind of can't have one without the other, at least from my opinion.”

He likes to buy clothing that is good quality. Clothes tailored to his preferred style ‒ looser-fitting or cropped fits ‒ are difficult to find in men’s stores, especially in New Zealand.

Affordability plays a big role in his shopping habits and Roskam often tries on new shoes in store, then looks for them second-hand online.

He likens today’s fashion to the current music scene, which draws from past decades and isn’t its own defined genre.

“A huge hallmark of like our generation is we are drawing from an eclectic range of past trends instead of kind of having our own unique style or taste.”

What do you think? Email sundayletters@stuff.co.nz. Please include your full name and address.