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Hasina Khatib profile imageHasina Khatib

We live in a world of strange paradoxes, and chief among them is the fact that the ‘influence’ in ‘influencer’ appears to have left the building.

Will de-influencing on Instagram affect how we consume fashion?

A new movement is pulling the curtain back on repetitive influencer content on social media by encouraging some long overdue introspection of our consumption habits

We live in a world of strange paradoxes, and chief among them is the fact that the ‘influence’ in ‘influencer’ appears to have left the building. It would be hard to pinpoint when exactly the rift first began, but somewhere in between watching Kim Kardashian advertise appetite-suppressant lollipops and a fashion influencer with two million followers failing to sell 36 T-shirts, the splinters grew into a gaping canyon. 

And there’s data to prove this. Even as brand-sponsored posts skyrocketed from 1.26 million in 2016 to 19.9 million on Instagram in 2022, engagement rates have been plateauing at an all-time low—studies state that engagement on Instagram has nosedived by 30 per cent this year. Supply has overtaken demand in the influencer-verse while users’ attention spans have been halved from 15 seconds to an ever-shrinking eight seconds, leaving behind a truth that no amount of flower crown filters can dress up: influencer fatigue is real. 


Focusing on the larger picture

It is this fatigue that Aditi Mayer, a vocal sustainability advocate, has been feeling in her bones as she navigates the social media landscape as a 26-year-old on the cusp between a millennial and Gen Z. She elaborates, “I came of age online in many ways—watching the evolution of social media platforms from being a space where you share your life with your IRL friends to becoming a hugely commodified platform that’s laced with ad space.” However, witnessing the overconsumption of fashion on the Internet—which has normalised buying clothes just for an Instagram post—prompted her journey as a blogger advocating sustainability who subverted the idea of the typical fashion influencer by focusing on the larger issues of social and environmental justice in fashion, she shares. 

In a bid to counter the rampant reaches of deceptive marketing, a certain faction of influencers are offering their followers a more honest and transparent take on what’s worth their money and what isn’t. Image: Pexels

In a bid to counter the rampant reaches of deceptive marketing, a certain faction of influencers are offering their followers a more honest and transparent take on what’s worth their money and what isn’t. Image: Pexels

“I came of age online in many ways—watching the evolution of social media platforms from being a space where you share your life with your IRL friends to becoming a hugely commodified platform that’s laced with ad space,” says Aditi Mayer. Image: Pexels

“I came of age online in many ways—watching the evolution of social media platforms from being a space where you share your life with your IRL friends to becoming a hugely commodified platform that’s laced with ad space,” says Aditi Mayer. Image: Pexels

A growing crop of voices like Mayer’s have ushered in the de-influencing movement which tells people what not to buy—a call-to-arms against the raison d'être of the influencer economy. In a bid to counter the rampant reaches of deceptive marketing, a certain faction of influencers are offering their followers a more honest and transparent take on what’s worth their money and what isn’t. 

For Kriti Tula, founder of clothing label Doodlage, questioning her consumption patterns has been ingrained in her mind since childhood. “As a kid raised in the 90s in India, upcycling was a deeply-rooted tradition in most middle and upper-middle class families. We were not so wasteful and everything was less disposable as everyone had much less money to spend. It was a good time for the earth,” she reflects. 


Buying less can be made fun 

For those looking to make a lasting change in their consumption habits, Tula recommends educating yourself. “Buy what you need and ask questions with every purchase—do you really need this? If you are looking for further incentives, reducing your environmental impact can be turned into a fun activity. Go on a thrifting adventure, host swap parties, learn about materials together, or pick a hobby to repair together with your friends,” she advises.

Even as brand-sponsored posts skyrocketed from 1.26 million in 2016 to 19.9 million on Instagram in 2022, engagement rates have been plateauing at an all-time low—studies state that engagement on Instagram has nosedived by 30 per cent this year. Image: Pexels

Even as brand-sponsored posts skyrocketed from 1.26 million in 2016 to 19.9 million on Instagram in 2022, engagement rates have been plateauing at an all-time low—studies state that engagement on Instagram has nosedived by 30 per cent this year. Image: Pexels

The argument that de-influencing poses is that asking followers to buy a particular product instead of another doesn’t do much to counter overconsumption, but Mayer believes it is a good place to start. “While de-influencing might be seen as another form of influencing under a different guise—be it encouraging people to buy another product or consume less overall—it’s clear that the conversation triggered by the movement has marked a key shift in the cultural zeitgeist,” she concludes.

Also Read: What is fuelling fashion’s overconsumption problem?

Also Read: What drives brands to work with influencers on product collaborations?

Also Read: Is Instagram Stories changing the way pre-loved fashion is sold?


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