Are School Uniforms the Answer to Gen Z’s Overconsumption Problem?

Are School Uniforms the Answer to Gen Z’s Overconsumption Problem?

By Charlotte Roberts, age 16

Across millions of TikTok videos marked with the hashtag #haul, the scene remains consistent: a Gen Z influencer unboxing dozens of items worth of clothing, usually at an attractive price to the consumer but a detrimental one to the environment. Viewers can usually count on seeing these outfits appear once in an Instagram story or TikTok clip and then deemed “out of style” and discarded to make closet room for the next shipment. The cycle repeats itself, and with each new trend comes more waste and environmental harm. 

While the desire to keep up with the latest trends is not unique to Gen Z, social media, such as TikTok, with 60% of its one billion users being Gen Z, has made it easier than ever for young adults, including high schoolers, to see what their peers and popular influencers are categorizing as trendy must-haves. With over 45 billion views across the TikTok hashtags #haul, #clothinghaul, and #sheinhaul, social media has normalized buying excessive amounts of clothing made from cheap and harmful synthetic materials.  

Despite their detrimental effects, many high schoolers follow these trends to avoid social ostracization. As confirmed by a 1992 psychological study, when searching for a peer group, students use clothing to judge socioeconomic status, which in turn can determine social group acceptance. As modern-day social media continues to amplify social pressures relating to wardrobes, these findings are more relevant than ever. However, implementing school uniforms in high schools can help solve this issue by reducing the pressure to conform to fashion trends while simultaneously promoting sustainable consumption habits.

By standardizing dress, a school uniform minimizes the social pressures responsible for excessive purchases, reducing the total items of clothing consumed and therefore discarded. Furthermore, requiring students to re-wear an outfit can instill a mindset of sustainability by normalizing getting good use of quality clothes. 

Some may argue that while school uniforms reduce overconsumption, they nonetheless have an equally negative impact on the environment due to the PFAS chemicals used to stain-proof their fabrics. Although PFAS are unable to naturally break down, similarly, 60 percent of all other non-uniform clothing is also unable to decay and, when incinerated, emits toxic gasses. As 57 percent of discarded clothing ends up in landfills, increased overconsumption directly correlates to increased fossil fuel emissions. If the average American teenager were to invest in a few uniforms rather than consuming their current average of $1,300 of clothing annually, fossil fuel emissions would nonetheless reduce. With 2030 set as the Climate Change deadline for gas emissions to be halved, with seven years to go, efforts to reduce climate change from large corporations and institutions, including high schools, must not wait any longer for implementation. 

VIA CREATIVE COMMONS/FLICKR

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Works Cited 

Francis, S. K. (1992). Effect of perceived clothing deprivation on high school students' social participation. Clothing & Textiles Research Journal, 10(2), 29–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887302X9201000205

Le, Ngan. “The Impact of Fast Fashion On the Environment.” PSCI Princeton, 20 Jul. 2020. Accessed 28 Feb. 2023.

“PFAS in School Uniforms.” Green Science Policy Institute. 

Schlossberg, Tatiana. “How Fast Fashion Is Destroying the Planet.” New York Times, 13 Sep. 2019. Accessed 28 Feb. 2023.

Smith, P. “Gen Z annual apparel spend U.S. 2021.” Statista, 12 Sep. 2022. Accessed 28 Feb. 2023.

“TikTok Statistics.” Wallaroo Media.