Hauls, hauls, hauls! It’s all I see on my instagram feed, I may need to go on an unfollow spree soon. I’m not completely innocent, I used to be the haul queen. I couldn’t just treat myself to one thing I would have to buy ten different outfits. I had to open my eyes to the harm this has on the environment and change my ways. Nowadays I do depop hauls but not without a bit of work finding the goods.

I also found it so hard to keep up with trends and it was hard on my pocket. Seeing hauls from Zara and Shein crop up on your feed every day can be very stressful actually when you’re not in a position to follow the same trends and purchase the same amount. So I’m saying “Haul No!”.

The first thing you can do is unfollow or mute the content you don’t want to see anymore. Sometime’s seeing content that promotes fast fashion makes me really angry and can effect my mood negatively, so it’s better for me to just mute. You can’t control what others post but you can control how you interact with it. If you are trying to quit fast fashion, follow pages that will help you on this journey and not tempt you. There are so many pages that promote sustainability, vintage fashion and slow fashion that will inspire and motivate you. Following hashtags such as #sustainability and #slowfashion will help you discover these accounts.

Trends come and they most definitely go! I see people buying clothes that will most definitely be out of style in a few months and they’ll end in the back of everyone’s wardrobes and eventually landfill. The likes of the Zara “arm warmer ” and short gilet are very fashionable now but won’t last. I think buying long-lasting staple pieces from fast fashion brands is fine but not things that will soon be irrelevant. Think about the longevity of pieces before you purchase. Try not to be overly influenced by the hauls that show us all the irrelevant clothing trends we don’t need in our wardrobe.

It’s very common to feel insecure when watching people share their hauls on instagram, whether it’s because you haven’t the funds to support haul culture or you have a very specific style and don’t want to follow every trend or you’re trying to embrace slow fashion. It can make you inadequate when you’re not engaging with the “norm”. It’s important to invest in pieces that you like and fit your style and not what is on every influencers instagram page. It can be hard to get comfortable with this. I know from experience that I would be so concerned with following every trend whether I really liked it or not and so much of my clothes ended up in a bag for charity. I wanted everything all at once and it never made me feel fully satisfied. I prefer now to save up for clothes I love and find hidden gems on depop, charity shops and vintage stores.

Hauls are still everywhere, no one comes online to show just one new piece of clothing, it’s always ten! That’s some people’s interest and even careers so I would never begrudge anyone that but I am choosing not to engage with it anymore. And I hope others begin to think about the harmful effects over-consuming and sharing to social media can have our mindsets and environment.