If you find yourself unable to walk past Zara
without popping in "just to see," or regularly dropping $20 on a night-of outfit at Forever21, you’re not alone. While it’s easy to
assume that your fast-fashion addiction derives from stores’ one-two punch of stocking the most current trends at prices that help prevent buyer's remorse, the explanation might actually go far beyond cute
clothes. Actually, it might be in your head.
According to The Atlantic, there’s a scientific reason behind the allure of fast fashion. Back in 2007, a research team sent subjects out shopping and monitored their brain activity. They
discovered that the subjects' nucleus accumbens (a key part of the brain's reward system) not only lit up with activity when they spotted an item they wanted, but it reacted more intensely when the item was on sale.
Buying something we want makes us feel good — that seems obvious. But, the findings show that getting it at a great price makes us feel even better. As Scott Rick, one of the
study’s authors, explained to The
Atlantic, “It seemed to be responsive not necessarily to price alone, or
how much I like it, but that comparison of the two: how much I like it compared
to what you charge me for it.”
Tom Meyvis, a
professor of marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business and an expert in
consumer psychology added, “You see this a lot with clothing. Part of the joy
you get from shopping is not just that you bought something that you really
like and you’re going to use, but also that you got a good deal.”