What is the viral ‘underconsumption’ trend?

Young people on social media are showing off their 12-year-old water bottles, sweaters from high school with patched holes and dish rags made from cut up old T-shirts.

It’s all part of a trend that has taken social media by storm in recent months called “underconsumption core,” where users boast about how they’re continuing to make use of the things they already own and repurpose household items instead of buying new ones, all while saving money along the way.

“The underconsumption core is really refreshing to see because it’s just making the best out of what you have,” said Christine Lan, a Montreal-based content creator who showcases her lifestyle focused on underconsumption and being environmentally sustainable.

“(I like) appreciating everything that I have to the fullest and making sure when I do buy something, that it’s made of good quality and will last.”

Lan initially found success on social media when she posted about how she made her own makeup instead of dropping serious cash at cosmetics retailers.

Experts say this trend of underconsuming is essentially a rebrand of minimalism, which has some roots in the current economic conditions and high joblessness that has particularly affected young people.

“If you don’t have a job or if you’re facing economic pressure, then certainly it’s difficult to overconsume,” said François Côté, CEO of online lender Fig Financial.

Côté said many Canadians have been practicing the underconsumption trend for a while but social media has amplified and normalized the behaviour.

Canada’s unemployment rate has been steadily rising, hitting 6.4 per cent in July, data from Statistics Canada shows, as high interest rates slow the economy. However, young people have been hit particularly hard, with the youth unemployment rate reaching 14.2 per cent in July.

While youth unemployment is always generally higher than the overall population, the current rate is the highest non-pandemic reading in over a decade, a report from BMO Economics said.

Emily Gardner, vice-president of consumer products at Spring Financial, said more young adults are focusing on what’s important to them and spending money more mindfully.

“Underconsumption core, that exact hashtag may pass,” Gardner said.

“But I do believe the underlying idea of conscious spending and consumption is likely to continue to grow rather than just being a passing fad.”

She added: “As economic challenges persist, people are more likely to adopt underconsumption practices — ways to live more sustainably and financially long-term as opposed to just a short tip-top trend.”

Jennifer Wang, a pharmacist and content creator, has been talking about responsible shopping for years and focuses on educating her followers about how to determine the quality of clothing items. Her TikTok profile description says, “buy less but buy well.”

Wang said the underconsumption trend should just be viewed as normal consumption.

“The overconsumption we see is usually from influencers who are promoting products,” Wang said. But the average person is not consuming in that magnitude, she added.

Wang said more people are realizing they don’t need to spend money on items that won’t get used over time.

But it can be difficult to defer an impulse to shop. Wang said she often pauses and asks herself some screening questions when considering buying an item — ‘Do I have something similar already? Will I get good use out of this?’

She added that avoiding online shopping and buying in-person also helps her make better decisions about her purchases.

Omar Fares, a lecturer at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University, said there’s a misunderstanding on what being a healthy consumer actually is.

“The misunderstanding that minimalism in essence means ‘Well, I don’t really buy and I live in a very frugally. I just barely meet my needs,'” he said. “Over the long term, it creates emotional distress.”

Fares said there needs to be a balance between utilitarian spending and not depriving oneself of the basics on the pretext of minimalism or underconsumption.

A realistic budget can help strike that balance, Fig Financial’s Côté said.

Treat your personal life as a “mini-business,” he said.

“Building a budget, understanding the money that’s going out and having a plan are really the first steps,” Côté said, to consume sustainably.

It’s easier to fall into the traps of the extremes — mostly overconsumption — when a budget is missing, he explained, and find yourself in a seemingly never-ending cycle of outstanding credit card payments.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2024.