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, #cloth
