All year round, students turn to thrifting and sustainable shopping as an alternative to fast fashion, claiming to abhor its exploitation of child labor and natural resources. When fall arrives — amid preparations for arguably the most overblown holiday of the year — social media influencers and clothing brands mass release their Halloween themed collections. New trends grip the media, and in a rush to keep up with the current cultural moment, promises of sustainable shopping are flushed down the drain. Ultimately, a mere couple of days after the Halloween rush is over, costumes end up stacked in landfills.
Whether it be an influencer dressed up as Sabrina Carpenter or your favorite celebrity cosplaying a Disney princess, every over-the-top costume is designed to target us, the oblivious audience, as we follow along like a row of ants after a block of sugar. These limited edition Halloween-themed collections incite urgency, pressuring the buyer to invest. When the spookiest day of the year comes around — on a Friday, no less — the environment must bear the cost of three new, different, and perfectly trendy costumes for each night of Halloweekend.
Sustainable trends and habits that freed us from being shamed for outfit-repeating have unfortunately not extended to Halloween — a holiday that encourages ephemerality in our fashion choices. In an attempt to offer our bank accounts some respite, some of us feel forced to turn to cheap fast fashion. Those fairy wings you’ll never wear again are almost certainly from Shein or Temu and will end up in a landfill three days from now. Every year, this cycle of seasonal consumerism endangers the very environment that sustains us.
In the U.S. alone, an estimated 35 million Halloween costumes are thrown out each year. These costumes often take longer to degrade due to the cheap plastic and non-recyclable material used. San Diego city officials estimate that the Miramar Landfill will reach its capacity limit in four to six years, forcing the city to search for a new plot of land to dispose textile waste. This reality must finally force residents to face where their Halloween waste truly ends up. News flash: It doesn’t vanish on its way down the trash chute!
Even if we completely ignore the disastrous impact of overproduction on the environment, there is always the question of how cheap clothing is made. Shein and Temu are both infamous for their sketchy labor practices, including cases of child labor. With the abundance of demand that props up the fashion industry, companies in today’s capitalist society often resort to unhealthy, exploitative working conditions and underpaid labor. All of these vicious practices culminate on Halloween.
Multinational companies have long realized the profits inherent in consumer-driven holidays like Halloween. Advertising, marketing, and social media, in turn, propagate a culture that cloaks immoral fast fashion in the veils of “creativity” and “fun.” By mirroring trend after trend, we risk our ability to formulate original thoughts and exist independent of external influence.
So, no, you didn’t need that dinosaur costume this year, and yes, you can reuse your skeleton costume next year, too. And even if you absolutely need a new costume, keep all those sustainable options available — you could thrift, DIY, or repurpose some of the clothes in your donation pile. Best of all, these practices will compel you to delve into your individuality and develop a style that is consistently authentic, in the true spirit of Halloween. Last year, I DIY-ed my own mermaid costume, bejewelling a skirt and top with shells and sequins. Making your own costume is not only thrilling and rewarding but also ensures that it is truly one of a kind.
I myself have bought my fair share of cheap Halloween costumes and fake accessories. However, this is the first Halloween season where I’ve considered whether the global ramifications are worth two Instagram pics that’ll get 50 likes. By changing our perception of Halloween, we might come to realize that the real cost of our Halloween costumes is not measured in money but forced upon the people and planet that surround us.
