He
of hauls, we've got try on hauls, tech hauls,
toy hauls, vintage hauls, anti hauls, every type of haul.
Hauls that will make you feel excited, jealous,
anxious and so much more.
Love them or hate them,
the internet cannot get enough of hauls.
Hey all, Alexia Saubau here
and this is
If you're a frequent user of
you've probably seen a haul.
A haul is basically a video of people showing off items
they've recently purchased,
especially after a shopping spree.
Most hauls include multiple items, with many showcasing
an over-the-top amount of items.
Hauls are a popular type of video in a lot of communities,
but especially with fashion and beauty creators.
This trend is dominated by young women,
but people of all ages and genders participate.
Haul videos have racked up millions of views
since the trend exploded in the 2010s,
with many big influencers building their profiles
and careers off of this type of content.
Since then, the trend has grown and changed,
from basic halls to trials to reviews
of outrageous products.
The haul may have started on
but now it dominates on
To better understand this trend,
I turn to fashion and trends experts, Danielle Testa
and Jordan Foster.
You could have a book haul or a video game haul,
clothing hauls and so on.
So it's a rather large genre with these sort of clusters
of subgenres among them.
Haul videos have garnered tens of millions of views
in some cases and they are uploaded every day.
One staple of hauls is fast fashion
from long standing brands like
to the newer online giant
This trend, especially when it's paired with fast fashion,
brings up a lot of questions and concerns around
over consumption and waste.
Over consumption is when resources are consumed at such
large amounts and speeds that it causes harm.
For individuals, that can mean buying more
than they need, spending more than they can afford,
and ending up with so many things that they
become overwhelmed.
On a wider scale, over consumption is when
we consume so much that we harm the environment.
Fast fashion is specifically designed to promote
large amounts of consumption.
The purpose is to have cheap and trendy clothing that
isn't expected to last, both in style and in quality.
In a lot of cases, that clothing is disposable
and not meant to be worn more than a few times.
So what is so appealing about hauls?
Why do creators make this type of content
and why does the audience watch?
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When you go through a haul,
when you go through all these things,
you have that excitement of shopping,
of picking something out, of seeing what you like,
so you're kind of in this euphoria of shopping,
a little bit extended.
For influencers and creators, hauls are good for business.
Hauls are content and they can come with the added benefits
of sponsorships and free clothing.
Brands pay influencers to make videos about their products.
Creators can also make money from the brands when their
viewers buy the products that they review.
One version of the haul is the PR unboxing?
We have more products than you can imagine to go through.
Alexia:
show off all the free stuff they receive from brands.
OK, so there are a lot of reasons why creators
make these videos, but why do we watch them?
I mean, for one, they're fun.
Viewers enjoy seeing what's new and what's out there.
Some might be watching to gain insight on their own
purchasing decisions.
Many influencers review the items that they bought
and give recommendations to their audience.
Some viewers even say they watch hauls to replace
shopping themselves, instead of buying the items,
they get enjoyment by just watching other people
experience them.
Others might watch to experience something that
is unattainable for themselves, especially when it comes
to hauls of luxury items.
Jordan Foster says that some viewers respond to haul
content with jealousy.
A part of what's going on is aspirational,
and a part of it, I think, is driven by envy.
Our desire to consume as the
Um, but in a way that's sometimes slightly a little bit
more negative.
One of the consequences of hauls is that influencers
need a constant cycle of new items to try.
That creates what are called micro trends.
So instead of the normal cycle of seasonal trends every few
months, new trends appear at a nearly endless rate.
We've always had fads.
We've had trends that come in and out and or are popular
with a small group of individuals.
What happens now is that we have micro trends that
get more attention due to our availability of information.
Alexia: Shein
They use software and algorithms to determine
what is trending, and those algorithms decide
what to produce more of and what to stop making.
In some cases, developing and producing new items
takes only two weeks.
These quick trends made of cheap clothes create
a lot of waste and can be extremely exploitative.
Many workers who create cheap clothes are paid very low wages
and are exposed to dangerous working conditions,
and the manufacturing process often pollutes
the local environment.
Clothing is very difficult to recycle.
Many of our old clothes end up being shipped to developing
countries where they are dumped into huge piles.
So because of these concerns,
not everyone is a fan of the haul.
Many fashion influencers and creators have responded
to the issues of sustainability
by participating in counter trends.
Those trends include upcycling and thrifting,
which can also come in the shape of hauls.
Upcycling is when you take an item that otherwise
might have been thrown out or wasted and give it a new life.
Some upcyclers take items and recreate them.
From making a shirt into a dress to constructing
whole collections of clothes out of scraps.
Even high end brands have gotten into upcycling.
Several celebrities, including Billie Eilish,
wore outfits to this year's
from upcycled material.
Thrifting is a simple way of upcycling by buying clothing
that someone else no longer needs or wants.
Thrifting hauls have become increasingly popular and while
it may be more sustainable than fast fashion hauls,
they can still promote over consumption and a desire
to always be replacing what is already in your closet.
Another trend is the anti-haul.
Anti-hauls come in different forms from influencers
sharing items they bought that they don't recommend
to combing through online stores to tell their audience
what they aren't going to buy.
Another form of the anti-haul is the declutter.
That's where creators share products that
they regret buying.
Some creators have even shared that they are reducing how much
they purchase overall, and some have stopped
doing hauls altogether.
I used to film hauls, and a lot of them.
It became something toxic.
It didn't start from a toxic place,
it just became something toxic and not even I want
to do it anymore.
Despite its critics, the haul does not seem
to be going away anytime soon.
As long as there is a desire to watch,
then creators will continue to make them.
So what do you think? Are you a fan of hauls?
Does social media make you feel like you have to constantly
buy new things?
I know for me, I have been inspired lately to try thrifting
to reduce just how much I'm spending and wasting.
Well, that's it for
For
To create this explainer,
we turned to various sources of research.
First off, thanks to our experts Danielle Testa
and Jordan Foster.
Additional research came from reporting by:
The
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