Are we done over-consuming? Could we finally be nearing the end of disposable fashion and wear-once culture? According to a new report by leading trend forecasting agency WGSN, consumers are beginning to embrace a concept called “deconsumption.” And today’s economic uncertainty is accelerating this impending shift in shopping behavior.

“The data suggests we’re seeing a shift away from high-frequency, low-attachment purchases toward items that offer lasting value — financial, cultural or emotional,” Natacia Lim, WGSN Researcher and author of the report “The Future of Deconsumption,” tells Fashionista via email. “Yes, wear-once culture is fading, but not because people don’t want novelty. It’s because novelty alone no longer justifies the cost.”

Deconsumption goes beyond the “recession indicators” and thriftiness we’ve come to expect in times of financial turmoil. It involves “new mindsets” among consumers regarding what they see as valuable, efficient, cool or luxurious.

“Consumers are rearchitecting what value means,” says Lim. “Today’s mindset is shaped not only by the economic backdrop (inflation, tariffs, global instability), but by burnout, algorithmic saturation, and an erosion of trust in traditional institutions. It’s a post-optimization moment both financially and emotionally.”

So, what does this mean for the industry? Deconsumption dovetails with industry hot-topics including the rise of resale and rental, dupe culture, nostalgic re-releases and experiential retail, while calling into question the fast-fashion business models that have reigned supreme over the last two decades.

Per the report, “Brands must recalibrate for a market where consumption is no longer passive, but highly strategic. Ownership, spending and status are being reassessed through the lens of flexibility, financial security and cultural longevity. This means brands must rethink desirability, not in terms of constant newness but in how they deliver value in a world where less must be more.”

Here’s what you need to know about deconsumption, including how brands can adapt, what it means for retail and luxury, and why it’s a boon for dupe culture, but a major challenge to fast fashion.

What is deconsumption?

Of course, people aren’t suddenly going to stop buying things. The difference is in what they buy and why.

“Consumers are still interested in style and novelty, but they are buying with a very different calculus. They’re interrogating each purchase more closely,” says Lim. “People won’t just buy less; they’ll buy smarter, with different goals and signals in mind.”

In the report, WGSN defines six “new mindsets” that brands will want to align with as consumers get more intentional about their purchases: “the ownership reset,” “strategic spending,” “materialism rebooted,” “the post-algorithmic intimacy economy,” “rising legacy economy” and “beyond North-South distinctions.”

Opportunities for resale

“The ownership reset” addresses the access vs. ownership conversation. More consumers are interested in downsizing and are craving more flexibility, not wanting to be burdened by long-term commitments and excess belongings. In addition to rental services like Nuuly and Rent the Runway, consumers may increasingly engage with the growing resale ecosystem: shopping secondhand as well as investing in enduring items that will maintain value for eventual reselling.

“As consumers shift from disposability to value endurance, resale becomes a core part of how fashion is bought, used, and judged. It’s where taste and pragmatism meet,” says Lim.

In addition to the established resale players and brands’ own circularity initiatives, Lim predicts more opportunities for local, grassroots, peer-run concepts. “Youth communities are creating their own resale collectives, archive pop-ups and trading spaces around culturally resonant brands like Stüssy, Carhartt and vintage or archival pieces,” she says. “For these groups, resale is both liquidation and curatorship.”

She adds that brands don’t necessarily need to own their resale to benefit from it. “Sponsor community markets, offer authentication tools, collaborate on archive drops,” she suggests. “Done right, supporting resale as a cultural practice turns it into a frontline brand strategy that builds community credibility, elevates resale value, and keeps the brand embedded in a living ecosystem of taste long after the point of sale.”

Dupes as status symbols

The normalization of knockoffs, or dupes, is just getting started, apparently. Instead of infringements on intellectual property, they’re being seen as a sign of savvy spending and even a new kind of status symbol.

“The normalization of dupe culture reflects a shift in what signals status,” Lim explains. “We’ve moved from status as ownership to status as knowledge, from brand allegiance to product fluency. Knowing a good dupe signals deeper product knowledge and higher status than simply owning a good original. If you can identify the original and the best alternative, that’s not seen as cheap — it’s recognized as expertise.”

Affordable dupes can also be seen as “a gesture of shared protest” between brands and consumers, per the report. “Dupes allow consumers to extract the aesthetic or functional essence of a luxury item without buying into its full financial or brand apparatus,” Lim notes. “Dupe culture is a form of design literacy, but also a way of engaging with cultural capital while rejecting its traditional gatekeeping mechanisms.”

Why nostalgic re-releases aren’t going anywhere

The last few seasons have seen a rise in luxury brands rehashing archival designs and re-releasing old “It” items, like the Louis Vuitton x Murakami collaboration. This is likely to continue as, per WGSN, luxury consumers increasingly seek out heritage, “modern heirlooms” and items that are “too iconic, personal or culturally charged to let go of.” But is there risk of nostalgia fatigue, not just among fashion critics, but among shoppers as well?

“Only if it’s empty,” says Lim, who offers a more nuanced take on our appetite for nostalgia: “Consumers really aren’t asking for brands to simply recreate perfect replicas… they’re asking to relive the feeling, to experience what it meant then through the lens of now,” she explains. “For those who lived through the original era, it’s often a way of reconnecting with a time they felt most alive, most present. For those who didn’t, it’s about taking what resonates and re-situating it in their now. Either way, nostalgia only works when it’s intimate, alive and in motion.”

In other words, it’s not simply about wanting to own a J’adore Dior T-shirt again in 2025; rather, this type of item “recalls a time when the present felt more real, more lived-in, less optimized,” says Lim. “Embedded in that yearning is really a longing for a kind of reality that now feels harder to hold.”

Retail as an “intimacy flex”

Retail concepts will increasingly need to feel special and experiential, which isn’t too surprising, but the rise of “post-algorithmic intimacy” means that consumers are craving familiarity over the latest Instagrammable pop-up flooding their FYPs.

“Status no longer comes from going to the right places but from being known there, from walking in and recognizing a familiar face,” says Lim. “Your ability to make a consumer feel like a friend — whether through genuine community, remembered preferences, or just staff knowing their name — becomes a sort of intimacy flex.” She flags “neighborhood spaces, listening bars and high-context salons” as examples of more relational retail concepts, adding, “Activations will move from spectacle to stewardship, so brands must design for return rather than just reach.”

The end of fast fashion?

It’s fair to say that fast-fashion brands will face the biggest challenges in catering to this new consumer mindset. 

“Brands built on speed, seasonal churn and passive consumption will find it hardest to adapt. Endless newness is no longer the goal — what consumers want is emotional durability, resale viability, and brand ecosystems that support lasting use,” says Lim. “Brands that can reframe ownership as a relationship and embed themselves in longer-term life cycles, resale ecosystems, or cultural meaning-making will thrive. Those that can’t decouple growth from volume or evolve past the churn will fade.”

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