Be Original and Buy from Small Businesses

Small Businesses and Social Media

The Relationship between small businesses and social media has been ever so prevalent. Social media plays a crucial role for small businesses, as they use it to leverage these platforms to enhance their presence. From their storytelling and personalization in market strategy to the innate community-building, the craze for small businesses has become a sort of rejection of trends and stive for originality and uniqueness. 

Is It Anti-Trend?

From the late 90s to the early 2000s, fast fashion peaked as online shopping became increasingly obtainable, and brands like Zara, H&M, and Topshop surpassed the desire for high-end luxuries. This notion snowballed into the massive consumerism we know today. Because of the quaint nature of small businesses, and their small-scale business model, their contribution to consumerism isn’t as significant. As well as the presumption that they offer the customers an original object and a good conscience that makes them a rejection against trends. 

Creating Originality Through Materialism

Compared to the 90s, today fast fashion has lost its luster of “what a good price!”, and,  thanks to social media, the truth behind the ‘good’ prices has revealed an unethical history. Furthermore, as the ages of social media users decrease significantly faster than previously,  and the primary subject to fast fashion content has become impressionable children. Thus, seeing hundreds of people wear the same things every day, it is only a natural progression that we have come to dislike the trends, and therefore there has been a desire for originality. We sense the need to establish our identity by distinguishing ourselves from others. Once this idea was established, the department from trends to oddities was palpable. An example of this is the pursuit of unique perfumes, and what we call ‘signature scents’. Scents have been known to be a defining aspect of oneself, meaning they should be represented accurately. No more are we buying big designer fragrances, but importing Arabian perfumes, or even the invention of scents that change according to your PH levels, promising the customer a truly unique and personal representation. The search for a unique representation and self-expression can also be seen in the sudden popularity of thrifting.

However, second-hand places have become aware of this, and thus have started to cater to a wider audience, curating the clothes instead of donations. From another perspective, I have noticed the movement of regular clothing stores with disheveled window displays, miss-matched outfits, and a random assortment of jewelry, clothes, and shoes as if it was a hole-in-the-wall gold mine of a depot, but really it is just a regular store with fast fashion at the forefront. This is where small businesses persevere for it is likely that your money is being put to good use, you supporting entrepreneurs and the product is unique and never-before-seen. 

In conclusion, fast fashion briefly satisfied consumers’ desire for an outfit formula, one that required no hardship. However, as this notion became a widespread ideal, we chose ourselves over the simplicity of trends. This fostered attention to small businesses, who sell the idea of uniqueness through their quaint boutiques and authentic history.

References

Srauturier. 2023. “What Is Fast Fashion and Why Is It so Bad? – Good on You.” Good on You. August 7, 2023. https://goodonyou.eco/what-is-fast-fashion/.

Peek, Sean. 2023. “Why Small Businesses Need a Social Media Presence.” Business.Com. April 10, 2023. https://www.business.com/articles/social-media-small-business-importance/.

Hosie, Rachel. 2017. “A Company Has Created Scentless Fragrances That Smell Different on Each Wearer | The Independent.” The Independent, February 3, 2017. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/scentless-fragrances-perfumes-smell-different-each-wearer-cologne-escentric-molecules-a7554991.html.