User Persona: Zoe
Problem Statement:
Zoe needs a platform that allows her to participate in the thrifting community without feeling pressured to buy excessively.
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Background: Student and part-time worker earning minimum wage.
Needs
Style inspiration, affordable clothing, tips and tricks for buying second-hand.
Insights
Zoe is attracted to thrifting for style inspiration and affordability but feels pressured by mainstream thrifting to buy excessively.
She enjoys watching thrifting content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram but wants a community that focuses more on social interaction and less on buying and selling.
Problem Statement
Zoe needs a platform that allows her to participate in the thrifting community without feeling pressured to buy excessively.
How Might We?
How might we create a thrifting community that focuses on connecting people without encouraging overconsumption?
How might we reshape the narrative around thrifting to emphasize "buy less, wear more"?
How might we foster participation in the community that doesn't pressure users to buy excessively?
Ask why?
Zoe needs a platform that allows her to participate in the thrifting community without feeling pressured to buy excessively.
Why 1
Like multiple trends, mainstream thrifting promotes the idea that everyone needs an endless closet, which is essentially anti-thrift.
Why 2
Teenage girls are constantly targeted as a market demographic, this can be seen on TikTok with the high velocity of manufactured trends. Zoe is a teenage girl who wants to see authentic styles and trends that generate connection and discourse among members of the community without feeling like she needs to buy an endless wardrobe to be part of every fad trend.
When?
This is a problem when fashion influencers promote buying clothes that fall within the current fashion trends rather than buying less and wearing more. This encourages impressionable teenagers who want to fit in, leading to them buying bundles of clothes, thinking they are being an environmentally friendly shopper, yet only wearing the clothes once, if even at all.
How Often?
This is a constant problem with the thrifting content on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.