Listen to a podcast interview with an industry expert about why abstaining from fast fashion is so difficult for many Americans.

Fast fashion brands sell cheap clothing by limiting how much they pay workers, using cheap synthetic material, and avoiding constraints on production levels and resulting environmental impacts.

The US apparel and textile industry was long set up to limit competition from nations in the developing world, but shifts in international trade regulation in the 1990s changed that, and paving the way for the fast fashion industry to develop.

After making its US debut in 2015, Shein's sales surged during the pandemic—in 2023, the fast fashion company was valued at roughly $66B.

There's a fast fashion graveyard in Chile's Atacama Desert full of used clothing from the US, Europe, and Asia.

Chinese clothing retailer Shein accounts for about half of fast-fashion sales in America.

Why processed foods can be so addictive

In recent years, many critics have voiced their concerns about the food industry and how ultra-processed foods affect our health. Despite our awareness of these issues, processed foods are still incredibly hard to remove from our diet. In this podcast by The Guardian, Dr. Chris van Tulleken explains how “junk food” is created to get us hooked, how it negatively affects us, and what we can do to improve our eating habits.

The Keep America Beautiful campaign shifted the blame for litter from manufacturers to individuals

This podcast examines how one organization reshaped the American public's relationship with recycling, asking why responsibility for a cleaner environment falls to individuals rather than to the companies that produce waste.

Some people are against Black Friday, saying it promotes consumerism

This comprehensive podcast video episode from NYU Professor Scott Galloway offers a deep dive into the economics of Black Friday, Galloway believes Black Friday allows corporations to exploit the worst parts of Americans’ consumerist impulses, and warns Americans should not believe purchasing things leads to greater happiness.

Fast fashion companies such as Temu and Shein often took advantage of the de minimis exemption, a US tariff loophole that ended in 2025.

Coachella fashion repurposes looks from Woodstock

Coachella attendees' flower-forward fashion sense has been widely replicated (and lampooned) since the festival became a mainstay of the cultural calendar. This podcast, featuring a panel of style writers and music reporters, traces the aesthetic back to the 1969 Woodstock festival. In the process, they also look to untangle why festivalgoers fall into certain styles—and what that means for Coachella and its attendees.

Search this database of fashion and beauty brands to see how sustainable their business practices are.

A podcast on America’s coming demographic crisis

This podcast explores how America’s coming demographic crisis is bad for employers. According to Bloomberg, businesses still need humans to make the economy work. However, too few workers in the US are actually working, and too few people are...

See the world's largest fashion companies, from Nike to H&M, ranked by their CO2 emissions.

Hear how Advent calendars have become a pricy branding tool

Advent calendars have shifted into a high-margin branding vehicle, with retailers prioritizing elaborate design and reusable packaging. This episode questions whether premium calendars—despite their rising prices, environmental concerns, and flashy marketing—actually deliver products worth the cost.

One New Yorker saved $1,600 during her 'no-buy January'

A social trend in recent years encourages participants to buy essentials only for the month (an abbreviation of the even more radical no-buy year). Hannah Marder gave the fast a go, fastidiously dividing her purchases into wants and needs and managing to save roughly $1,600 over the month.

Claire's has filed for bankruptcy multiple times

Between competition from online retailers such as Shein and Temu, and too many physical stores for today's retail climate, Claire's has had a difficult time modernizing.

View a gallery of 3D printed clothing

Many 3D printed garments represent wearable art where technology meets couture. Despite their appearances on runways since Iris van Herpen's pioneering top at Amsterdam Fashion Week in 2010, mainstream adoption has been limited due to high costs and reduced comfort when compared to fabric-based apparel.

Can we speed up our metabolisms?

Listen to this 31-minute podcast to better understand what science knows and doesn't know about metabolism, as well as the only thing that seems capable of changing it. Scientists understand that the difference between a so-called “fast” and “slow” metabolism does not affect one’s ability to lose weight.

The 'dupe' economy is fueled by the youthful thrill of thrift

Historically, you don't want people to know you have a knock-off luxury item. But today's younger generations are embracing the "dupe" economy, an open celebration of luxury knock-off items where consumers are proud to pay less for something roughly equivalent to premium brand offerings.

Interview with a pay transparency expert

Maybe you've seen one of Hannah Williams' videos on social media. On her viral "Salary Transparent Street" accounts, Williams stands on the street with a microphone and asks passersby to tell her how much money they make per year. This podcast interview with Williams details what she's learned about pay transparency in the process. Listen to it here.

Trader Joe's breaks every rule of modern retail

The successful grocer doesn't do e-commerce, delivery, or coupons. And yet Americans are still obsessed with Trader Joe's.

Wedding photographers and other vendors have tailored their services to social media in recent years

In this podcast interview with Xochitl Gonzalez—a former luxury wedding planner who wrote the viral The Fake Poor Bride article in 2023—you'll learn a lot about how the wedding-industrial complex has evolved over the past few years and how modern additions, such as the rise of wedding styling services for "wedding weeks," have driven costs up.

Rent the Runway recently lost over 90% of its value

The COVID-19 pandemic and increased competition post-2020 are just two factors plaguing the designer clothing rental company.

Listen to a podcast episode about why college sticker prices are often misleading.

'Deinfluencing' explained

You’ve probably heard of influencers, but have you heard of “de-influencers?” Basically, the de-influencing trend started when creators began making videos about products you shouldn’t buy, rather than sponsored content promoting things you should purchase. Comedian Taylor Tomlinson recently cracked some jokes about the trend, and its companion “under consumption-core.”

How plastic manufacturing could be sustainable again

From polymers to nurdles, learn how plastic is created and what we can do to slow the lasting repercussions this material will have on both our planet and our lives.

How big brands keep your loyalty

We perceive ourselves as rational decision-makers—but research about our consumption habits suggest we are easily played by clever marketing. Here's how big brands design their branding to keep you coming back.

The fitness industry has seen a lot of fads—and Peloton might be one of them

Like SoulCycle and Tae Bo, Peloton has struggled to stay at the forefront of the fitness industry. Despite periods of incredibly high interest and high-profile users (like the Obamas), Peloton has lost many users since the pandemic ended—and has struggled to add more. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

College budgets, explained

In this episode of the FutureU podcast, higher education experts Jeff Selingo and Michael Horn explore why so many colleges seem to be struggling financially. Hear how college budgets actually work, and why so many are unsustainable. It’s a crash course in revenue, expenses, and the big shifts schools need to make to survive.

Why grunge fashion lasted longer than its music

Although grunge musicians largely resisted the fashion world's overtures, the style associated with grunge—thrifted shirts, combat boots, loose-fitting flannels—continues to appear on runways and in photo shoots, with fashion icons like Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, and Gigi Hadid often sporting the look.

What exactly is college for?

The rising cost of college has many of us wondering, what exactly is a college education for, anyways? This "Freakonomics" podcast episode breaks down how colleges operate like large businesses and try to differentiate their products from one another to win market share. To find out what the overwhelming higher education system is doing wrong (and what it gets right), listen here.

The 'Strong Towns' podcast explores how American cities can become financially resilient

This weekly podcast examines why the way America has built its cities since World War II has left some communities financially fragile—and what local governments can do differently moving forward.

Listen to a podcast episode from 1440's editor in chief that explains how a credit card transaction works behind the scenes.

When you buy even something as small as a $5 latte, a global relay between banks and networks like Visa and Mastercard is triggered. It all started with a 1958 campaign from Bank of America that jump-started the credit card revolution.

Making sense of the complex logistics of product returns

Americans returned over $800B worth of stuff in 2022, more than the entire gross domestic product of some nations. This entertaining, in-depth video dives into the complex logistics of the reverse supply chain and how it works. Estimates peg the...

Consumer spending accounts for 70% of US GDP, making Black Friday significant

Lizabeth Cohen, a history professor at Harvard and author of the book “A Consumer's Republic: The Politics Of Mass Consumption In Postwar America,” has argued that the US government has presented consumerism as a way out of economic crisis or decline since around World War II.

Washing clothes is a significant source of global microfiber pollution

Synthetic fabrics shed millions of plastic microfibers during washing, which pass through wastewater treatment and end up in oceans, soil, and food chains. A single wash load can release several million microfibers, but washing with cold water can reduce this.

The drama of the car dealership quota

Car salespersons are often under a ton of pressure to meet quotas at their dealership, at least partly explaining why they are known to stoop to such lows to sell cars. In this now legendary podcast episode, "This American Life" host Ira Glass and...