Buy less junk

Hey, this is Shawn in San Francisco. A new kind of online influencer is undermining the fast fashion movement. But first...Three things you [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hey, this is Shawn in San Francisco. A new kind of online influencer is undermining the fast fashion movement. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Google ended [cloud switching fees]( • China’s chip output may [double in five years]( • Canada will grade [companies’ cyber resilience]( Deinfluencing I have five cashmere sweaters that I purchased new hanging in my closet. To the best of my memory, they were good deals. Since the chilly weather set in, it’s been hard to resist advertising language like “100% pure wool, cozy, timeless, classic.” Then a [viral thread]( on the social network X changed my mind. Derek Guy, who posts under the handle @dieworkwear, explained in a series of 27 posts the difference between a cashmere sweater that costs $50 and one that might cost $5,000. There are, of course, vast differences in quality (softness, stretch, yarn length, longevity), but Guy also highlighted the environmental and animal welfare impacts wrought by fast fashion, which describes rapidly mass produced, low-quality apparel. To some, Guy represents a new kind of social media personality known as the deinfluencer. An outgrowth of the online influencer culture, these social media figures tell their followers what not to buy. They reject overhyped trends and materialism. Often they lead with the question, “Is it worth it?” The algorithms must have noticed the time I spent lingering on Guy’s thread because shortly thereafter, my feed was filled with posts urging me to be more a conscientious consumer. Tanner Leatherstein rips apart luxury bags on his TikTok and Instagram. With acetone and a small blade, he scratches off the veneer of a Michael Kors bag. “Low-grade top grain,” he mutters under his breath. MissJodyTan brags about having only purchased six items of clothing in the past three years. Deinfluencing emerged as a trend about a year ago, “when there was a lot of concern around a recession and rampant consumerism,” said Lia Haberman, who teaches influencer marketing at UCLA Extension. It can be an effective tactic for a would-be internet celebrity to build a following. “The average influencer can generate a lot of attention and engagement by deinfluencing,” she said. “The premise is based on being contrary and going against the grain.” After developing a fan base, deinfluencers can tap a common revenue stream of influencing: brand partnerships, Haberman said. Andrea Cheong, a deinfluencer with more than 390,000 combined followers on Instagram and TikTok, barges into stores and grabs items off the rack, showing how to look for stitching, lining and materials tags. Her more recent posts include brand partnerships with [Klarna Bank AB]( and even [TK Maxx](, the UK version of TJ Maxx. As for Guy, he seems earnest in his quest to discourage reckless consumerism. He said online marketing exacerbates the problem, precisely because shoppers can’t see an item up close before purchasing. It blunts people’s ability to compare garments and gauge quality. “They are not able to touch it before they buy it. They’re buying the idea of cashmere. They want a luxury item for cheap. That’s how we get a $75 cashmere sweater,” he said. He rejects the term deinfluencer and said he doesn’t intend to put a chill on all sweater buying. He understands that most shoppers will likely be driven by savings, even above environmental concerns. “I don’t have a personal problem with consumption. People need jobs,” he said. “I try to show people how they can buy a good sweater on the secondhand market,” Guy said, suggesting platforms such as eBay. “You can look great for $50 and get a high quality item.” —[Shawn Wen](mailto:swen48@bloomberg.net) The big story The worst-performing chip stock is facing a [tough start to another year](. The stock, Wolfspeed, was the only one in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor index to decline in 2023. Get fully charged Ireland’s outgoing privacy czar said the EU policies are “clunky” and [thwarted her efforts to police the tech industry](. Spotify’s new policy could make as many as [152 million songs ineligible for compensation](. An OpenAI-backed company making humanoid robots [raised $100 million](. Programming note: We’ll be off Monday for the US holiday. See you on Tuesday! 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