As someone who is in her 30s and has been online all her adult and teenage life. Hauls started on TH-cam. They just are currently more popular on TikTok because that is where the age group most likely to overshop watches most.
As someone who has been on the internet since the beginning it's really sad to see the direction it has gone; Over consumption, over consumerism and just no soul. Instead of getting news, current events, and seeing what my friends are up to I just see ads, AI and people doing the same pointless thing over and over and over or posting specifically to ruffle feathers :(
I didn't get on to the Internet until 2000 by which time it was still full of 90s HTML basic pages. Much simpler time but I do remember it and preferred it to now.
Yes, and the organising videos that basically amount to "buy these products and your pantry/closet/whatever will be pretty and clean and you will feel good about yourself!"
My Asian household could never lol. I grew up primarily shopping at thrift stores and I’m very attached to my clothes, I’ve had the same shirts for years. It’s kinda sad seeing people be so willing to throw out clothing these days. Cool video, keep up the good work!
The stuff I've found while thrifting tops anything new I've seen over the recent years in terms of originality and quality, and the experience of finding a gem in a thrift shop can't be matched by online shopping imho.
The influencer who spent $3,000 of mommy and daddy's money made me irrationally angry. Haul videos just really turn me off. I just feel like some of the Influencers come off as so fake, spoiled and environmentally ignorant. Hauls are so incredibly wasteful, and many times Influencers are supporting Fast Fashion brans like Temu and Shein without knowing how horrible these companies are.
I'm right there with you. Spoiled is definitely the word that always jumps to the front of my mind. Waste and overconsumption aside, haul videos are so tasteless to me because they're just a gloat about how much stuff once can afford to buy in such tough financial times where so many people have so little.
I was guilty of rampant consumerism for so long and have recently come around to really putting thought to the long term destination of the things I buy. Still a long way to go, but videos like this are a helpful reminder to hold strong against the psychological attacks we're constantly under to buy stuff.
I used to start my school 'shopping' by pulling out boxes of clothes from family friends with older kids to see what fit me that year and passing on stuff that I'd outgrown, then we'd go to the Salvation Army thrift shop, then K-Mart for the necessary new things, usually shoes. P.S. I still have a pair of leather (?) Airwalk shoes from 1997/8, I've had to re-glue the souls a few times but they still make good in/outside shoes around the house. I think I got them off the discount rack for $10-15.
I’m an artist who sometimes outgrows some of her mediums but I usually give them away to people who draw or the kids down the street to try out. Sometimes they go to thrift stores and since I take care of my items they go in good condition for the next person who uses them. I like to leave books on community bookshelves when read or I’ll try to donate to libraries. I would never chuck it out. Clothing usually gets donated to thrift stores but I worry how much of that ends up in landfill. I often get large amounts of clothing as Christmas presents and the like. Whilst I do appreciate it, I don’t always have the space or need for those sorts of things. I’ll admit I do have a Zara dress that I wear in the summer that I absolutely love. However, I bought that two years ago and still wear it now and haven’t been in there since. I also patch up tears in clothes I like as I don’t want to throw them away if I really like them and they are still wearable. Best way to get better quality clothing is to wait for out of season sales or end of fiscal year sales. You can snag nicer longer lasting outfits for a fraction of the cost. Or visit a thrift shop and deep dive to see what shows up. Do this if you can. I know some people don’t have the time or cash. However, you don’t need to follow the online. Buy things YOU love and make YOU feel good for years to come.
Most of my clothes are 15+ years old. I can never donate them when I get rid of them because they're so worn out no thrift store would take them. So, like my mom, I turn them into rags that I use in cleaning, or, if they're cotton, you can make paper. Or you can use them in fabric sewn collages. Mainly, I don't enjoy shopping for clothes and if I have something I like, I'd just as soon wear it into the ground. I had to have a friend throw away a 22 year-old-pair of shoes because I couldn't bring myself to do it. They were pretty ratty, but good times, you know? (I use my air fryer every day!!!) Ha ha.
This is an annoying and perturbing trend, pure consumerism for the sake of it. And let’s not forget that those same ‘influencers’ will be doing ‘de-stashing’ vids to get rid of the stuff they sensessly accumulate to make room for some more. It’s a snake biting it’s tail.
I have to admit I bought some stuff I've seen on influencers that they provided unsponsored reviews of. I don't buy too much stuff, and when I actually do I want to make the most informed decision, so I sometimes reach out for things somebody's tried before. But I do realise the problems with that. I'm afraid into succumbing into the cult of the influencer completely and killing my own personality for it. I want to be more careful of that in the future
I feel like people should feel the bad quality of clothes, like are you telling me you are comfortable in some weird plastic clothes that can't survive more than 5 wears ?
Honestly! I can barely stand to wear synthetics any more. And that's actually some interesting research out there on the frequency of fabrics and how they can match the human body's own frequency. Organic cotton and hemp are really close to our own frequencies whereas polyester is much lower and said to dampen the body's energy. I've only really just started reading into this but it's an interesting perspective to be sure!
I have embraced a life of J.O.M.O, the joy of missing out! And if I have seen an influencer promoting something I will actively avoid it. Your Temu video struck a chord too as if I can buy a new socket set to fix my car for just £1.78 can I just throw the money in the bin and save myself the disappointment of receiving something made of cheese/wax/balsa wood...? Keep up the good work!
I bought new shirts about 3 years ago, and I'm still wearing them. They were to replace the new shirts I bought 8 years ago that were starting to wear through. My trousers last approximately two years per pair before I have to re-stitch at least one of the seams, and then another 6 months after that (I'm not great at sewing, and usually the problem is the material wearing through, rather than just a torn stitch...). I just don't get how people can buy new clothes every month or so. Where do they even store them? Do they just throw out clothes they might not even have worn yet? It's bizarre to me.
Watching this while wearing the poly blend t-shirt I got for participating in 6th grade rec soccer. It's translucent now but still great for layering under a sweater. Once the holes get too big, it'll become rags. The dopamine from new cothes doesn't compare to wringing the absolute most out of my existing clothes.
I've rarely seen a thrift haul that isn't about reselling and it makes me avoid them all together. Even thinking about influencers that don't haul, but do promote a product usually they're given stuff for free by their sponsors that they just throw away/donate. It's almost unavoidable for any video creator to not be wasteful if they want to make money unless you're selling a course about how to make money.
I like the discount grocery-haul videos where someone feeds their family of 6 for $20 for a week, but I don't care about all the make-up you just bought at Sephora.
Totally! Those are great because it's something consumable that will actually get used and in fact is very very necessary! Unlike these sort of haul videos where that 20th swimsuit is most certainly not. I've never actually seen many grocery haul videos but now I'm curious. Like I couldn't feed myself for $20 a week with grocery prices these days I don't think so definitely want to learn these peoples' secrets!
Another plus from buying trifted clothing is that you can buy better quality. I skip the fast fashion even in the thrift store. I buy the better brands that I can’t afford new. Better quality at a very low price. I was however guilty of buying too much thrift store clothing, but I stopped doing that. I simply skip the clothing and only browse the hard goods I can resell. As I always have had the same size, I can pick and choose from the things I already have (that is still to much…) 😅
back in the day this was everywhere on subculture youtube, the irony of people yapping about being anti capitalist and oooh so rebelious while showing off $3000 of killstar polyester junk
It can be second hand, though, let's not forget that. I have a bunch of fast fashion items I got second hand. Kristen Leo had the same issue when she was called to appear on a Greek tv show and she was using second hand fast fashion: many people were calling her a hypocrite for wearing Zara, but she had bought the item at a thift store. I get what you mean, but at the same time we should overall have a more complex understanding of how these things work in order for everybody to better understand it.
For sure! Great thoughts. The thrift haul debate is an interesting one because yes, much more sustainably, but it's also raised some ethical questions about taking needed clothing (typically the higher quality stuff, too)from folks who may not be able to afford to shop elsewhere, all for the sake of making a video. It's a pretty nuanced issue and I'm considering doing a video on just that. Obviously I'm a huge proponent for thrifting for what you need but I also think even thrift haul culture is getting a little out of hand. Nothing should be purchased just for the sake of purchasing and showing it off, even if that stuff is secondhand.
As much as I like your content (and I just subscribed), I'd like to point out that the graph at 8:26 is a bit misleading. The way it's presented, it suggests we didn't produce any clothing before the year 1976 (24 years before 2000). I know it's intended to illustrate the idea, but graphs like this one are a pet pet peeve of mine, so...
$3000 haul lady started her video saying how exhausted she was from shopping but all of those clothes were shipped from online. It can’t be understated how fake these videos are on topic of unsustainable. We are being sold something anchored in a different reality, so of course we are not going to be satisfied chasing that high
Next time you have an itch to buy something, just think WWAD. What would Amber do, but seriously, after watching these videos, I just try to be more mindful of what I buy. So thank you!
Water usage is a more complex, than just the (mis)calculated consumption. Water has a cycle, unless they drain a river or a lake, like they did with the Aral Sea. The bigger problem is the contamination.
I'm probably wired differently but I never enjoyed shopping for the sake of shopping all that much. I find hauls a bit disgusting to be honest because they scream "so much waste" to me. Buying clothes or shoes is something I only do when I really have to. And I'd love to shop at sustainable brands but most of them to not cater to fat people. Some call themselves size-inclusive but then their version of 3XL is nowhere near standard measurements or their "inclusiveness" ends at an XL. Thrift stores aren't really much better. Most don't offer much in bigger sizes and if they do it's often only made synthetic fibres. I'm not going to wear this. My solution to this problem is buying at brands that offer natural fibre clothing for a reasonable price in my size even if they aren't a 100% considered sustainable and then wearing those items until they can't be repaired. My winter coat is going through its 14th season now. I expect a few more years from it. My other strategy is knitting stuff myself. Any kind of sweater, cardigan, shirt or top that went into my closet in the last five years was made by me. I have full control over design, color, fibre and fitting. I know this is a very privileged way to deal with this because I have the ability, time and disposable income for yarn. And added bonus is that I can reclaim the yarn if it turns out I'm not really wearing something.
While complaining about plastic in plastic etc I noticed something...is that a plastic case you've aed to a phone with lits of pladtic in it? Also, is that lplastic plants on the table? Hard to tell.
Yes, my phone case is plastic but plastic phone cases are not actually much worse than bioplastic ones in terms of end-of-life disposal. Plastic is not inherently bad if you care for it and make it last. This is the ONLY phone case I own (I don't treat them like fashion accessories) and I've had it for two years now and have no plans of replacing it anytime soon. Most of what I'm criticizing here single-use plastic. And no, every plant in my house is 100% real.
As someone who is in her 30s and has been online all her adult and teenage life. Hauls started on TH-cam. They just are currently more popular on TikTok because that is where the age group most likely to overshop watches most.
For sure, hauls have been around much longer than TikTok, especially with beauty influencers!
As someone who has been on the internet since the beginning it's really sad to see the direction it has gone; Over consumption, over consumerism and just no soul. Instead of getting news, current events, and seeing what my friends are up to I just see ads, AI and people doing the same pointless thing over and over and over or posting specifically to ruffle feathers :(
I didn't get on to the Internet until 2000 by which time it was still full of 90s HTML basic pages. Much simpler time but I do remember it and preferred it to now.
yay end-stage capitalism!
@@AlexMitchell-i1g the tiny special interest BBCode forums and newsgroups were so much better than modern mass-social media
very important! and we should call out the restocking videos, mukbangers, howtobasic etc.. it's like you can't make videos without a ton of waste
Absolutely!
Re-stocking? If it's anything like the kind of re-stocking I have done, it must make for a very boring video!
Yes, and the organising videos that basically amount to "buy these products and your pantry/closet/whatever will be pretty and clean and you will feel good about yourself!"
My Asian household could never lol. I grew up primarily shopping at thrift stores and I’m very attached to my clothes, I’ve had the same shirts for years. It’s kinda sad seeing people be so willing to throw out clothing these days. Cool video, keep up the good work!
The stuff I've found while thrifting tops anything new I've seen over the recent years in terms of originality and quality, and the experience of finding a gem in a thrift shop can't be matched by online shopping imho.
The influencer who spent $3,000 of mommy and daddy's money made me irrationally angry. Haul videos just really turn me off. I just feel like some of the Influencers come off as so fake, spoiled and environmentally ignorant. Hauls are so incredibly wasteful, and many times Influencers are supporting Fast Fashion brans like Temu and Shein without knowing how horrible these companies are.
I'm right there with you. Spoiled is definitely the word that always jumps to the front of my mind. Waste and overconsumption aside, haul videos are so tasteless to me because they're just a gloat about how much stuff once can afford to buy in such tough financial times where so many people have so little.
I was guilty of rampant consumerism for so long and have recently come around to really putting thought to the long term destination of the things I buy. Still a long way to go, but videos like this are a helpful reminder to hold strong against the psychological attacks we're constantly under to buy stuff.
I used to start my school 'shopping' by pulling out boxes of clothes from family friends with older kids to see what fit me that year and passing on stuff that I'd outgrown, then we'd go to the Salvation Army thrift shop, then K-Mart for the necessary new things, usually shoes.
P.S. I still have a pair of leather (?) Airwalk shoes from 1997/8, I've had to re-glue the souls a few times but they still make good in/outside shoes around the house. I think I got them off the discount rack for $10-15.
I’m an artist who sometimes outgrows some of her mediums but I usually give them away to people who draw or the kids down the street to try out. Sometimes they go to thrift stores and since I take care of my items they go in good condition for the next person who uses them.
I like to leave books on community bookshelves when read or I’ll try to donate to libraries. I would never chuck it out.
Clothing usually gets donated to thrift stores but I worry how much of that ends up in landfill. I often get large amounts of clothing as Christmas presents and the like. Whilst I do appreciate it, I don’t always have the space or need for those sorts of things.
I’ll admit I do have a Zara dress that I wear in the summer that I absolutely love. However, I bought that two years ago and still wear it now and haven’t been in there since. I also patch up tears in clothes I like as I don’t want to throw them away if I really like them and they are still wearable.
Best way to get better quality clothing is to wait for out of season sales or end of fiscal year sales. You can snag nicer longer lasting outfits for a fraction of the cost. Or visit a thrift shop and deep dive to see what shows up. Do this if you can. I know some people don’t have the time or cash. However, you don’t need to follow the online. Buy things YOU love and make YOU feel good for years to come.
Most of my clothes are 15+ years old. I can never donate them when I get rid of them because they're so worn out no thrift store would take them. So, like my mom, I turn them into rags that I use in cleaning, or, if they're cotton, you can make paper. Or you can use them in fabric sewn collages. Mainly, I don't enjoy shopping for clothes and if I have something I like, I'd just as soon wear it into the ground. I had to have a friend throw away a 22 year-old-pair of shoes because I couldn't bring myself to do it. They were pretty ratty, but good times, you know?
(I use my air fryer every day!!!) Ha ha.
This is an annoying and perturbing trend, pure consumerism for the sake of it. And let’s not forget that those same ‘influencers’ will be doing ‘de-stashing’ vids to get rid of the stuff they sensessly accumulate to make room for some more. It’s a snake biting it’s tail.
I have to admit I bought some stuff I've seen on influencers that they provided unsponsored reviews of. I don't buy too much stuff, and when I actually do I want to make the most informed decision, so I sometimes reach out for things somebody's tried before.
But I do realise the problems with that. I'm afraid into succumbing into the cult of the influencer completely and killing my own personality for it. I want to be more careful of that in the future
And here I was worried about the fact that I wore the same jeans for 4 days last week
Jeans never get dirty, you just get the feeling at one point that "now is probably a good time to wash them".
I feel like people should feel the bad quality of clothes, like are you telling me you are comfortable in some weird plastic clothes that can't survive more than 5 wears ?
Honestly! I can barely stand to wear synthetics any more. And that's actually some interesting research out there on the frequency of fabrics and how they can match the human body's own frequency. Organic cotton and hemp are really close to our own frequencies whereas polyester is much lower and said to dampen the body's energy. I've only really just started reading into this but it's an interesting perspective to be sure!
I have embraced a life of J.O.M.O, the joy of missing out! And if I have seen an influencer promoting something I will actively avoid it. Your Temu video struck a chord too as if I can buy a new socket set to fix my car for just £1.78 can I just throw the money in the bin and save myself the disappointment of receiving something made of cheese/wax/balsa wood...? Keep up the good work!
this needs more views
Thank you!
Came into the comments to say the same thing!
I bought new shirts about 3 years ago, and I'm still wearing them. They were to replace the new shirts I bought 8 years ago that were starting to wear through. My trousers last approximately two years per pair before I have to re-stitch at least one of the seams, and then another 6 months after that (I'm not great at sewing, and usually the problem is the material wearing through, rather than just a torn stitch...). I just don't get how people can buy new clothes every month or so. Where do they even store them? Do they just throw out clothes they might not even have worn yet? It's bizarre to me.
Watching this while wearing the poly blend t-shirt I got for participating in 6th grade rec soccer. It's translucent now but still great for layering under a sweater. Once the holes get too big, it'll become rags. The dopamine from new cothes doesn't compare to wringing the absolute most out of my existing clothes.
I've rarely seen a thrift haul that isn't about reselling and it makes me avoid them all together. Even thinking about influencers that don't haul, but do promote a product usually they're given stuff for free by their sponsors that they just throw away/donate. It's almost unavoidable for any video creator to not be wasteful if they want to make money unless you're selling a course about how to make money.
This is craaaazy, the numbers are too high. I really hope this video reaches more people. Sending love
Thank you so much! Your support means a lot ❤️
I like the discount grocery-haul videos where someone feeds their family of 6 for $20 for a week, but I don't care about all the make-up you just bought at Sephora.
Totally! Those are great because it's something consumable that will actually get used and in fact is very very necessary! Unlike these sort of haul videos where that 20th swimsuit is most certainly not. I've never actually seen many grocery haul videos but now I'm curious. Like I couldn't feed myself for $20 a week with grocery prices these days I don't think so definitely want to learn these peoples' secrets!
Another plus from buying trifted clothing is that you can buy better quality. I skip the fast fashion even in the thrift store. I buy the better brands that I can’t afford new. Better quality at a very low price. I was however guilty of buying too much thrift store clothing, but I stopped doing that. I simply skip the clothing and only browse the hard goods I can resell. As I always have had the same size, I can pick and choose from the things I already have (that is still to much…) 😅
back in the day this was everywhere on subculture youtube, the irony of people yapping about being anti capitalist and oooh so rebelious while showing off $3000 of killstar polyester junk
It can be second hand, though, let's not forget that. I have a bunch of fast fashion items I got second hand. Kristen Leo had the same issue when she was called to appear on a Greek tv show and she was using second hand fast fashion: many people were calling her a hypocrite for wearing Zara, but she had bought the item at a thift store. I get what you mean, but at the same time we should overall have a more complex understanding of how these things work in order for everybody to better understand it.
For sure! Great thoughts. The thrift haul debate is an interesting one because yes, much more sustainably, but it's also raised some ethical questions about taking needed clothing (typically the higher quality stuff, too)from folks who may not be able to afford to shop elsewhere, all for the sake of making a video. It's a pretty nuanced issue and I'm considering doing a video on just that. Obviously I'm a huge proponent for thrifting for what you need but I also think even thrift haul culture is getting a little out of hand. Nothing should be purchased just for the sake of purchasing and showing it off, even if that stuff is secondhand.
As much as I like your content (and I just subscribed), I'd like to point out that the graph at 8:26 is a bit misleading. The way it's presented, it suggests we didn't produce any clothing before the year 1976 (24 years before 2000). I know it's intended to illustrate the idea, but graphs like this one are a pet pet peeve of mine, so...
$3000 haul lady started her video saying how exhausted she was from shopping but all of those clothes were shipped from online. It can’t be understated how fake these videos are on topic of unsustainable. We are being sold something anchored in a different reality, so of course we are not going to be satisfied chasing that high
Next time you have an itch to buy something, just think WWAD. What would Amber do, but seriously, after watching these videos, I just try to be more mindful of what I buy. So thank you!
I contributed to consumerism as a young adult but since my mid 20s I've been doing pretty good I think as I mostly buy secondhand.
Water usage is a more complex, than just the (mis)calculated consumption. Water has a cycle, unless they drain a river or a lake, like they did with the Aral Sea. The bigger problem is the contamination.
I'm probably wired differently but I never enjoyed shopping for the sake of shopping all that much. I find hauls a bit disgusting to be honest because they scream "so much waste" to me.
Buying clothes or shoes is something I only do when I really have to. And I'd love to shop at sustainable brands but most of them to not cater to fat people. Some call themselves size-inclusive but then their version of 3XL is nowhere near standard measurements or their "inclusiveness" ends at an XL.
Thrift stores aren't really much better. Most don't offer much in bigger sizes and if they do it's often only made synthetic fibres. I'm not going to wear this.
My solution to this problem is buying at brands that offer natural fibre clothing for a reasonable price in my size even if they aren't a 100% considered sustainable and then wearing those items until they can't be repaired. My winter coat is going through its 14th season now. I expect a few more years from it.
My other strategy is knitting stuff myself. Any kind of sweater, cardigan, shirt or top that went into my closet in the last five years was made by me. I have full control over design, color, fibre and fitting. I know this is a very privileged way to deal with this because I have the ability, time and disposable income for yarn. And added bonus is that I can reclaim the yarn if it turns out I'm not really wearing something.
I’ve bought every piece of my clothing in thrift stores in the past 2-3 years. Most of which looked like it had never been worn. What does that say?
Hauls started on TH-cam way before Tiktok was even a thing.
"you guys are my friends" gross, she's manipulating her young audience on top of the ludicrous waste
We need to hype this up people 🙌
Thank you so much!
EXCUSE ME! ME AND MY AIRFRIER ARE DOING JUST FINE TOGETHER! I still use it on occasion, no need to call me out like that...
Zara as fast fashion? They cost a ton here and is sometimes considered high end. What age am I in?
The movies Wall-e & Idiocracy are visions of our future. Its really sad.
Nice intro 😂😂
I'm watching Temu ads during your videos...
Ugh, I know. Those ads are EVERYWHERE. I wish we as creators had literally any control over the ads that get shown on our content, but alas :/
👏👏
While complaining about plastic in plastic etc I noticed something...is that a plastic case you've aed to a phone with lits of pladtic in it?
Also, is that lplastic plants on the table? Hard to tell.
Yes, my phone case is plastic but plastic phone cases are not actually much worse than bioplastic ones in terms of end-of-life disposal. Plastic is not inherently bad if you care for it and make it last. This is the ONLY phone case I own (I don't treat them like fashion accessories) and I've had it for two years now and have no plans of replacing it anytime soon. Most of what I'm criticizing here single-use plastic.
And no, every plant in my house is 100% real.
I hate these videos