"It has only been half a decade since it launched, - it happened in 2018 but most of us didn’t get addicted to it ‘till 2020 or so - and it has already passed the mark of a 100 million downloads."
The internet has been one of the best ways to find inspiration when we don’t know what to wear, how to do our hair or how to do our make up for some occasion - or if you’re just into this world like me, just to keep track of everything that’s going on. At first, at what now seems like ages ago, people would look for fashion blogs and Youtube channels, then it was the time for social media to steal the spotlight and we would use Instagram as a real searching platform. Pinterest also had some love but not as much - at least from where I see it. But now, we’re not going into any of those for inspiration and answers, not now that we have Gen Z’s dearest app to help us: TikTok. But do you know how big the influence of the app on the industry really is?
Even though we’ve been hearing about TikTok for what seems to be decades now, that’s not the case and it is still considered to be a new social media platform. Maybe it can be seen as Youtube’s grandson or something like that, just so you get the passing of time here. It has only been half a decade since it launched, - it happened in 2018 but most of us didn’t get addicted to it ‘till 2020 or so - and it has already passed the mark of a 100 million downloads. And as we didn’t expect anything different, it’s popularity hits mainly Gen Z, our teenagers and young adults that are crazy about a dopamine hit.
The numbers might be shocking but it’s not hard to understand why people got so into it - and so fast. The concept of the app is pretty simple and I’m sure you’re familiar with it by now, but if anyone has been out of the web for too long, I’ll explain. Anyone that creates an account can post their videos, and those videos have to be short, with a maximum of three minutes - but we don’t really enjoy watching anything over a minute - and those videos will be shown to both your friends and on general users ‘For You Pages’. And then all you have to do is scroll down your personally made page, created by an algorithm that makes it literally just for you. It will allow you to watch and interact with content that you’ll like for sure, and that’s why we tend to spend hours on that infinity scroll. Also, the whole point of the app is to provide a very fast-paced experience, so I guess that helps too.
Now that we understand what it is and how it works, let’s get to the point: the impact that TikTok has had on Fashion. I would say it was always a great way to influence people and discover new things but there’s no denying that it all became a lot more important in 2020, when we needed a way to consume and create content without leaving the house. But time has passed and we’re still stuck on TikTok and all its new trends, aesthetics and ‘cores’ - we might be hooked than ever actually.
It is so big that almost every brand - even the luxe ones - are using the platform to determine trends and drive sales, so imagine how big it is. If you are of a certain demographic or a regular online shopper – it is likely that fashion brands often show up on your For You Page, and the videos that go well enough to go viral will almost certainly tempt you to buy the next most wanted product of the month - even though it’s going to change in less than 15 days. But how and why did TikTok become so big of a deal for us? Walk with me as I explain.
The thing that really puts TikTok and Instagram on different tables is how filtered the content is. When you’re scrolling through Instagram, it’s most likely that you’ll see content that is almost - or totally - fake, something that is not that frequent on TikTok - some influencers are trying really hard to change that so I don’t know for how long we’ll get to say it. But the fashion content we get from TikTok is a lot more real, more influential and more accessible - so we can identify with it a lot more, increasing interactions and making those videos go viral, one view at a time. And that’s why we can’t escape all of these new trends and trendy styles and even trendy lifestyles we watch there everyday - more like every minute, really. So it’s only natural that we’ll get this urge to be part of the group and get some pieces from whatever is most popular at the time.
And we’re not alone at all, actually there are people that have the main goal to make us want some specific things. And that’s on brand ambassadors and fashion influencers, the people that sell us things we didn’t even know we wanted. Brands are reaching young consumers based on big events and the influencers that drive interest in them. Brand sponsors usually gain exposure through TV coverage and in-person spectators, however, consumers are watching less and less TV – for that we can always blame the huge amount of streaming platforms available - and spending more time on social media, so TikTok is proving to be an effective marketing channel. Influencer partnerships are now a natural choice for many fashion brands on the platform, and that’s what makes us all want the same clothes at the same time.
I know you’ve probably gone through the experience of buying clothes that you discovered on TikTok, in colors and shades and patterns that some fashion influencer said would be best, or even tried whole different styles and aesthetics. That’s the beauty of TikTok, it allows you to discover new things everyday, things that you might never have known you liked if it wasn’t from that. But as trends and aesthetics pass us by so fast, we have to be aware of where it ends and our own personal style starts. It’s not a problem to see most of your clothes on you For You Page - it actually makes a lot of sense considering that it was made for you - but make sure to add some you to it. I promise it will look even better!