In this episode, we get candid with our colleagues on how and where they actually shop for clothes—and what that says about the future of fashion.
From Pinterest and RedNote, to flea markets and Brandy Melville, we explore how social media and offline experiences are shaping buying decisions. We also dive into emerging trends like capsule wardrobes, color analysis, and whether fashion magazines still hold cultural weight.
Beyond just buying behavior, we also discuss what “fashion consciousness” looks like among today’s consumers: Do we still care about brands? Do TikTok trends actually influence purchases? And has fast fashion lost its appeal?
Tune in to hear how four women across Asia are navigating the balance between aesthetics, values—and a crowded closet.
Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcast
[AI-generated Transcript]
[00:00:00] Phyllis: Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Impulso podcast. So today we have a different cast. Here is Elody, Arana and Denise. So over lunch that day, Jianggan and Weihan, while they were doing their e-commerce report, they were studying a bit about consumer behavior, including on clothes and fashion and things like that.
[00:00:17] Phyllis: So then they asked us, where do we actually buy our clothes from? So that started to spark a debate, which we decided to film it to a podcast. So where do you guys actually buy our clothes from?
[00:00:27] Arana: So I usually would, like, over the years I have been really into local brands and usually they are, they don’t have offline stores yet, so they would so I would usually browse them through e-commerce platforms and yeah, I think I’ve been buying more local brands compared to like the big, fast fashion brands over the years.
[00:00:46] Denise: Actually, similar for me and the Philippines, local brands have been trending a lot and they actually hold the markets where they. Set up their own popups there where a lot of local brands are there and you can check out their clothes, try it on and buy it. So yeah, I usually buy it from the flea market, so pretty much offline.
[00:01:02] Phyllis: So to give Context Denise is from the Philippines, Arana is from Indonesia and Elody is from China and I’m from Singapore. Where do you guys get the inspiration or where you buy things from? So for Elody, it’s because she travels a lot, right? So she goes to a lot of these countries, like brick and mortar shops to buy, but then where do you guys buy things from?
[00:01:21] Phyllis: So for me, I go on Pinterest and to see like the styles or what clothes they currently have, and then I go on Tao to look for what? What are the exact style of clothes I want?
[00:01:32] Elody: I thought you would go to TikTok or Instagram? No. So for TikTok it’s more like daily scrolling. So I don’t go to TikTok for inspiration.
[00:01:40] Phyllis: Oh, okay. I go to Pinterest or for inspiration. And then after that I go on to like help out to search for like the exec.
[00:01:47] Elody: Yeah, that’s quite, quite similar to, I also go to Rednote first for inspiration, but Rednote is also my daily app. I don’t know why You said for your daily app from, from your, where you look for inspirations.
[00:02:00] Arana: For me, I actually go through TikTok, like there’s a couple of like these people who just do fashion stuff and then you, I just follow them and then look at the clothes they wear and then I also check in Pinterest. School, but there really helps a lot when you want to like curate, like whatever clothes you wear.
[00:02:15] Phyllis: So the question is, do you guys go to look for inspiration to buy clothes or you guys while scrolling? Oh, you see like there’s a style you really like, then you go online to find, so which comes first?
[00:02:26] Elody: Both. I feel. I also find interesting clothes on Rednote and then I start to. Sometimes they don’t even have a link where I can buy it online.
[00:02:34] Elody: So I just screenshot it and then I bring it to how, how the picture. Yeah. How has this really great feature where you just input, input, insert their picture of the outfit, and then they’ll generate like multiple options and sometimes they have the exact same one, and then they offer you different prices.
[00:02:52] Elody: Yeah. Sometimes on Rednote, the shops, they don’t even, they haven’t start to do e-commerce on Rednote yet. Yes. But they already start. To do they, or they start to list on Taobao. So sometimes you bring the shop name into Taobao. It also works.
[00:03:06] Phyllis: Yeah. So how often do you guys buy clothes?
[00:03:10] Denise: Right now, since I’m in Singapore, I buy a lot.
[00:03:15] Phyllis: Why is the only way I are in Singapore though? More options.
[00:03:17] Denise: I know. Yeah, more options here. And there’s like lots of brands that I don’t see in back in Indonesia yet. So,
[00:03:25] Phyllis: so when you buy in Singapore, you buy a shop. B or physical socks? Physical stores.
[00:03:30] Denise: Yeah. ’cause I like fitting my clothes and then seeing if it actually fits.
[00:03:34] Elody: I feel it’s
[00:03:35] Elody: a bit similar to China a few years ago. Like, we don’t have much options or we think the clothes from other countries are better than our own production. So we, so lots of people will travel out to buy clothes or buy bags of shoes and so on. So they specifically travel out to buy clothes.
[00:03:53] Elody: So a few years ago in China, people didn’t order from Taobao. For, I feel many of the goods you will buy from overseas is you, you trade it on WeChat, we call it social commerce.
[00:04:08] Phyllis: Ah, okay. Okay. So that’s a whole new different ballgame that we unfortunately don’t have. Yeah, yeah. It’s history. Yeah. In Southeast Asia.
[00:04:16] Phyllis: So you, where do you guys go buy your clothes in Singapore?
[00:04:19] Denise: I usually do the brick and mortar stores like brandy,
[00:04:22] Phyllis: like, ah, brandy. Okay.
[00:04:24] Arana: Okay. And just
[00:04:26] Phyllis: so would you guys say that you are the very typical persona for consumerism and maximalism?
[00:04:37] Denise: I just get clothes that look cute and then if it’s cute, I get it.
[00:04:42] Phyllis: Okay. So just the definition of consumer. So I have to admit that I’m, I totally fall into the track of like consumer consumerism because I buy a lot of clothes and. I don’t necessarily throw them away, they just get hidden in our corner of my cupboard until I forget about it.
[00:05:01] Phyllis: And then like one day when I wanna clear my cupboard and then I throw them away,
[00:05:04] Elody: I feel I try my best not to be consumerism, but still like a maximum.
[00:05:10] Arana: I think for me, I tend like over the years, I think to buy more staple items where I can match and match easily. So.
[00:05:17] Phyllis: So you have a capsule module? Yeah.
[00:05:19] Arana: I try. I try to.
[00:05:21] Phyllis: Quite capsule wardrobe. I think the rest of us have more colors in. True. That true. With more colors. Oh yeah. Yeah, that is true. So speaking about that, right, brands, do you guys care? Are y’all brand conscious? Do you buy clothes from like a specific brand? Specific brand? Oh, actually I feel some brand, they got their own style.
[00:05:47] Phyllis: Mm-hmm.
[00:05:47] Elody: So if that’s the case in the style, I choose my taste. Then of course I will go to the brand more often because it saves my time. They like do preselection for me already,
[00:05:56] Phyllis: so Elody not brand conscious. So because Elody buys whatever looks good to her, but that’s not the case for her. Because she has a lot of branded bags.
[00:06:08] Phyllis: So are you guys brand conscious?
[00:06:11] Denise: For me, I’m not, I’m not loyal to any brand.
[00:06:13] Phyllis: So you just buy things that
[00:06:14] Denise: look good? Yeah, that look good. And also like quality wise, like I usually check if it’s oh, a hundred percent cotton. Okay. Like those type of things, like the fabric.
[00:06:21] Arana: Nowadays I start to look for like the fabric composition materials.
[00:06:27] Arana: Really? Yeah. Just to make sure that it lasts long. Yeah. Because I’m trying to maintain my capsule wardrobe by
[00:06:33] Phyllis: Oh, okay. So a us, not a Maxima dish, a minimalist, but generally all of us, just like the. So, you know, like speaking about all this capsule wardrobe and things like that, right? There’s this trend on TikTok now is the color analysis in Korea.
[00:06:48] Phyllis: Okay? It’s not really a trend now. It’s been going on for some time. So if we look at this on TikTok, have you, have you guys saw, seen or seen
[00:06:59] Arana: a lot? I heard about season at
[00:07:00] Phyllis: all. Okay. Have any of you done it?
[00:07:02] Arana: No, I in Korea.
[00:07:05] Phyllis: And Korea, but she didn’t get to do this color. I don’t this and I have other things to do.
[00:07:12] Phyllis: Will you guys go and do this?
[00:07:14] Denise: I would want, I want to know what color suits me. Do they have in Singapore?
[00:07:20] Phyllis: I, I think they do. I think they do. Yeah. But it’s not the coffee, but it is very expensive. I mean, it’s definitely more expensive than what you are doing Korea. So our colleague, Sabrina, actually went to Korea a while back, and she did not just a color analysis, but they also analyze your body shape and tell you what kind of clothes you’ll buy.
[00:07:34] Phyllis: So I feel like if you want to minimize your wardrobe to a capsule wardrobe like aana, you should go get it done because it’ll tell you the kind of clothes you should and shouldn’t buy. So would this influence your clothing choice? Like if you, if you go through this color analysis and they tell you that, oh, the clothes that.
[00:07:53] Phyllis: For example, for me, I’m well of colors, right? But if I go to the color analysis and they tell me like, oh, you should wear less colors, will you listen to it?
[00:08:00] Arana: I don’t think so, but I, I just, I’ll just still wear what I, whatever I want and whatever I’m comforTaobaole with, I think I’ll listen to it, but then I won’t like throw away the old clothes I have, I’ll still wear them.
[00:08:11] Arana: But for the new clothes I’m gonna buy, I’m gonna think about the
[00:08:14] Phyllis: color analysis. I felt. The reason why I didn’t went through this color analysis is because I already know what kind of. Clothes will suit me well and even if I go, the feedback will be quite similar to what I have in my wardrobe. So I mean, what I’m getting from you guys is like, fashion is obviously something that increases your confidence.
[00:08:33] Phyllis: So every day for me, every day I wake up, I’m quite excited to see what I feel I on. It just makes me feel happy. Like for example, if I’m wearing yellow like I was yesterday, right? It makes me feel happier. Like sunshine, you know, very spring. Yes. So when we talk about all of this. Have you guys ever watched the Devil West product?
[00:08:51] Phyllis: Yes, it’s my favorite. It’s my favorite. Iconic, right? So there’s this one specific scene list. Look at this. It is like where Mar Miranda Priestly educates Andy and Hathaway on, on the Saru sweater, right. So
[00:09:09] Denise: in this part we’re actually watching clip from the Devil Wears Prada, where Miranda Priestly played by Meryl Streep is lecturing Andy, played by Anne Hathaway on the significance and the history of the spools sweater she’s wearing.
[00:09:20] 0603: Both those belts look exactly the same to me. You know, I’m still learning about this stuff and this stuff, oh. Okay, I see you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select, I dunno, that lumpy blue sweater for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back.
[00:09:45] 0603: But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually Ian.
[00:09:53] Phyllis: So this is like such an iconic scene, right? And it really shows how fashion, actually. It built a whole generation of people and it influences your choices and mine also. So are you guys, do you guys still read like fashion magazines or are you guys influenced by fashion magazines?
[00:10:11] Phyllis: Paper magazines, yes. Not really. Okay. But are you guys like following this trend of like for example, vogue l do you care about who’s on the cover of vogue?
[00:10:22] Denise: I see it and I look at it, but I don’t. Actively like, oh, who’s the cover? Yeah, I just said, oh, it’ll keep up with the trend.
[00:10:29] Phyllis: So it’s not so much about the magazine, it’s more about what’s on trend.
[00:10:32] Phyllis: Like for example, on TikTok, right? Yes. For example, the recent Hailey Bieber book cover. Okay. You guys wanna tell the audience about what happened recently?
[00:10:41] Arana: After many years, Hailey Bieber finally got in the cover of Vogue, and I think Justin Bieber made a post about it in and it was bad. Good way.
[00:10:54] Phyllis: It was like a backhanded compliment.
[00:10:56] Phyllis: Basically. His boss was saying that I used to say she would never get on the cover of vogue, but I’m so proud. Would you say that? Yeah. Why you say that? Right. So it, I think it’s quite obvious to see how consumer behaviors are shifting now, where maybe our parents used to be influenced by magazines or what’s on like newspapers.
[00:11:14] Phyllis: But then now it’s more on TikTok, what we are seeing on online, on Instagram, things like that. Right. So. Okay, you guys, later, you guys go and do this. Then we can include it in the clip. You guys go on our TikTok and you search clothing, and then you see what’s the first video that pops up. Okay. You know, this is the, this is a trend.
[00:11:29] Phyllis: Do you know it’s a trend on TikTok, like you search something and then the first thing that pop up describes you the most because of the Yeah.
[00:11:37] Elody: We also do the same on Chinese social media.
[00:11:39] Phyllis: Oh, you guys do the same one. Chinese. It’s a different, like, you don’t necessarily put in closing. Yes. But some other things also work.
[00:11:46] Phyllis: Yeah. So we talk so much about online and TikTok and stuff. Of course, we’re all like, we’re all genies. We all use TikTok so much. Right? Mm-hmm. Do, do you think that offline brands still matter? Do you guys still buy clothes from brands like Zara?
[00:12:03] Elody: I, I don’t know. For me, I don’t like to buy from past fashion because they, like, I don’t.
[00:12:09] Elody: I wouldn’t want to wear it again after one year or, or even half of a year. If I buy more expensive clothes, then I definitely want to buy it from offline in that I can try on and I enjoy the environment to just do the purchase. So that’s where, that’s almost only when I would do offline shopping and plus when I’m shopping.
[00:12:31] Phyllis: So that’s like your whole consumer journey. You care more about the experience? Yeah. Yeah. When I care about the experience, then I go. Have you guys heard about a love bonito in Singapore? Yes. Yes. Have you guys seen the pattern? No. You know, that’s like iconic love bon pattern. Oh. So in Singapore, love bonito is a brand that we usually classify as the AL brand because it’s usually millennials or the working class that.
[00:12:57] Phyllis: So it’s this, this, the pattern. This exact Singaporean, yeah. Will you guys wear this? I wear pattern. So it’s very obvious that this is a very Singaporean taste. So do you guys still buy from offline stores?
[00:13:14] Denise: Not us. I think maybe for me, Brandy, because there isn’t Brandy the Philippines, but that’s just about it.
[00:13:21] Denise: Like, yeah,
[00:13:23] Arana: I think it depends on who, what I’m. Looking for. And also like if I have time, I also still enjoy to like roam around store different stores to see what, what pieces of clothing I can find. So I still, I same like a lady, I, I enjoy the experience of shopping. Yeah. I also
[00:13:40] Phyllis: recall one of my reason offline purchases from upper remodel.
[00:13:45] Phyllis: It. It’s not like I recently go there in on purpose to find some clothes, but I went there and just for glancing happen to find something. Yeah. I happen to find something that is good texture and fits my taste. And I also would like to buy with a good price from a river. So now there’s offline shopping.
[00:14:01] Phyllis: It’s more like, it’s not a destination place. More like you walk past and then you see something. So it’s like window shopping. Yeah.
[00:14:12] Phyllis: Okay guys. That’s it for this episode. Please like, share and leave a comment.
The post Fast Fashion, Faster Decisions: Inside Gen Z’s Style Mindset| Impulso E120 first appeared on The Low Down - Momentum Works.
