The Overconsumption Problem of Collector Culture
How a frenzy for collecting has allowed consumers to shift the sustainable efforts of otherwise environmentally conscious brands.
At 9:07 A.M. PST on Aug. 8, Baggu, a reusable shopping bag brand, sent out a link for early access to their newest collection with designer Sandy Liang; but seven minutes too late, arriving on the website, one would find almost every item, from their mini shoulder bags with a bow detail to their viral medium crescent bag, out of stock. Rather, the items, which retail for no more than $72, soon emerged on resale sites for as much as $400.
Without skipping a beat, fans of the brand took to social media, clicking off the website and onto TikTok to share their thoughts.
People addressed their grievances about the drop, deservedly frustrated that the brand sold-out during early access and so many resellers were quick to upcharge absurd amounts. With fun patterns and colors, Baggu has become a brand that people love to collect; although, when you see these videos on TikTok dispersed with other content of people counting through their own immense supply of reusable bags from Baggu, it makes you wonder if anyone really needed the drop at all.
Because collectors seek out new versions of the same product, the Sandy Liang collaboration appealed to many as a unique take on the beloved bags. Yet, Baggu remains a reusable brand, dedicated to creating the perfect bag to reduce waste when it comes to shopping. Their sustainability efforts directly counter what happens on the consumer end of their products, as people collect more and more and over-consume bags meant to be solitary in their use.
Collector culture, though, isn’t anything new, and it usually doesn’t care that much about ideology of the brands being purchased. People have always collected goods, from baseball cards, comic books, and even cars. The process even became its own multi-million dollar market: in August 2022, a 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card hit a record for the industry in a sale of $12.6 million.
With collecting culture, specific items become highly coveted and exclusive. For those unable to get their hands on a new release, they can always go to resell markets where items are typically incredibly over-valued and expensive. Still, sellers know many will pay the big bucks for a new addition to their collection.
Just take a look at sneaker culture, specifically when it comes to Air Jordans. The Michael Jordan-owned shoe debuted in 1985 with Nike, and they have since unveiled a new shoe every year met with more anticipation than the last. By introducing color to a court that only allowed white or black shoes, Air Jordans created controversy and change in the game. Since then, the value of the basketball sneaker has skyrocketed, contributing to the rise of sneakerhead culture that has pervaded most brands.
At the time, the original 1985 Air Jordan 1s retailed for $65. Now, you’d be out around $20,000 for a pair from StockX. With people fighting and committing crimes just to get their hands on influential collaborations between Air Jordans like with Virgil Abloh’s Off-White, the shoes have become an insignia of what collector culture really looks like in practice.
When it comes to sneakers, most can expect that the culture of collection comes with the territory. However, when people begin collecting from brands that aren’t meant for constant re-purchasing, that instead aim for sustainability or longevity with their products, shoppers effectively reject the brand’s principles through their purchasing habits. Overconsumption, then, runs rampant for brands that very intentionally seek to reduce waste through what they sell.
To better understand, take a look at #stanleycupcollector on TikTok, with a whopping 2.5 million views. The insanely viral The Quencher Tumbler retails for $45 for a 40 ounce. While a little pricier for a water bottle, it’s easy to see why. The brand says that they are “Built For Life,” building a durable and long-lasting product that will never need to be thrown away or replaced in order to reduce demand for disposable products. However, the scenes on social media tell a different story.
In a TikTok with 6.0 million views, user @justtkass shows off at least 16 of her own Stanley Cup tumblers. Various other videos show off exclusive color combinations to thousands of likes. Because social media creates viral frenzies for trends in rapid succession, users have become obsessed with collecting every color and design available, even when the whole point of brands like Stanley Cup is to create a single product meant to last.
Scrolling through an audio on TikTok that reads, “If I like it, I’ll just grab it in a different color,” it might take a second to pick up on how many videos are talking about the signature Telfar shopping bag. With weekly drops of new colors and highly coveted collaborations with brands like Ugg, Telfar knows how to use the craze of collector culture to sell out their products. With an equally durable and good product promoted by the likes of Beyoncé and Zoë Kravitz, it’s easy to see why the bag has become so viral.
To get a hold of the iconic bag, people often have to turn to resale or purchase a color they didn’t want just to own one at all. According to a 2022 report from Rebag, Telfar made it to the top of their charts with a “surprising yet widely impressive 195% of their retail value.”
The New York-based brand, though, understands the harm of exclusivity when it comes to overconsumption of their products. Founder Telfar Clemens takes a unique approach to shopping through efforts like Telfar Live, a reverse method of sale that keeps the price incredibly low and increases it in small increments until the product sells out. At that point, whatever price it sells at remains permanent.
The website describes the process well: “If we price our clothes according to their flyness– less fly people can get them and the people that get them will be less fly. If less people get them, we can’t make as many. If we can’t make as many– the price stays high. But if we lower the price– will people think it’s less fly? Are we stuck? Na– we go Live.”
While its true that the problem comes from the end of the consumer, Telfar’s attempt to make their pieces more affordable has the potential to reinvent online selling. Though that doesn’t really stop particular collectors from seeking out every version of the bag, it can hopefully mitigate the reverberations of exclusive drops that create the craze of viral products in the first place.
Another way that brands can curb the impacts of overconsumption from collecting culture returns back to Baggu. Planning on releasing a second drop of their Sandy Liang drop later this year, Baggu decided to try something new and collect pre-orders for the restock.
With the same items still available for pre-order for any Baggu connoisseur, Baggu forces shoppers to consider if they truly need any of the products rather than blindly clicking checkout in the haze of a limited single-time drop.
Other companies like Farfetch have adopted the preorder model for products, but with the convergence of so many different aspects of shopping, from drop culture to collecting to sustainable efforts, it can be hard to reconcile consumption habits with conscious shopping. It takes a level of accountability on the part of the consumer to make decisions about their shopping habits and on the part of the brand to acknowledge how to make their distribution most reflective of their sustainable efforts. So, DIY that dainty bow onto your own Baggu bag, get a color you won't grow out of, or simply pass on that new release you’ve been eyeing and take a pause before purchasing next.
